Captain marvel vs shazam12/21/2023 Enterprises tried to capitalize with a new character named Captain Marvel-generally considered one of the worst superheroes ever put to paper. Marvel was a buzzword again, and in 1966, a short-lived company called M.F. The next decade would see a superhero revitalization, beginning with DC’s revamped takes on The Flash and Green Lantern in the late 1950s, and exploding just a few years later when Timely Comics changed its name to Marvel Comics and launched a roster of heavy-hitters like The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and The Hulk, all by 1962. Instead, the publisher closed shop, leaving Superman to soar the skies of Metropolis without any square-jawed competition on the newsstands. By now, though, the superhero market was near extinction, so for Fawcett, it wasn’t even worth it to appeal again. Legally, Fawcett would never be allowed to print another Captain Marvel book. It wasn’t until 1948 that the case actually went to trial, with the dust finally settling in DC's favor in 1954. The claim was simple: Captain Marvel was a bit too close to Superman for DC's comfort.ĭC wanted Fawcett to cease production of the serial and comics by the early 1940s, but Fawcett fought to delay a court battle for years. But as Captain Marvel reached larger audiences, DC was in the midst of legal action against Fawcett for copyright infringement. Seniority mattered little to young comic book readers, and once Captain Marvel found his footing, he was outselling Superman at the newsstand and beating him to the screen by receiving his own live-action film serial in 1941. But while Clark Kent got his powers from his Kryptonian physiology, Captain Marvel was, in reality, a young boy named Billy Batson who would receive his powers by shouting the magic word “SHAZAM!” If Superman was the straitlaced Boy Scout, Captain Marvel earned his moniker of "The Big Red Cheese" through sheer camp, a wink, and a nod. The similarities were unmistakable: Here were two caped strongmen with heroic squints and circus tights leaping around cities and battling mad (and bald) scientists. In Action Comics #1, Superman made his debut by hoisting a similar car over his head and driving it into the Earth, as the criminals inside fled. On his first cover, Captain Marvel is shown carelessly throwing a car against a brick wall, as two criminals bolt out of the windows. ENTER: THE BIG RED CHEESEįawcett’s Captain Marvel was created in late 1939 by Bill Parker and C.C. Though most of these were fly-by-night analogues, Fawcett Comics’s attempt at its own superhero wasn’t an inferior model-it quickly became real competition. Soon after his first appearance in 1938's Action Comics #1, there was a deluge of knockoffs from publishers looking for a piece of the Man of Steel pie. Like many comic book tangles, this dispute was made possible because of the debut of Superman. And one of the most complex and long-lasting disputes in the industry has focused on Captain Marvel-or at least the two distinct versions of the character that have coexisted in a state of confusion at both Marvel and DC for decades. Behind-the-scenes struggles and legal wrangling have played just as big of a part in the history of comic books as the colorful battles on the pages themselves.
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