The Many Faces of the Captain Marvel Name

When you’re a hero named Captain Marvel, the first thing people assume is that you’re the most powerful superhero around. But it turns out that’s not entirely true. For decades, several different heroes have shared the name, and not all of them were mighty warriors.

The character of Captain Marvel was originally created in 1939 by Fawcett Comics, a company that saw it as a way to cash in on the success of DC Comics’ Superman. But National Publications, the publishing giant that owned DC at the time, saw Fawcett’s hero as a knockoff and sued.

After a lengthy legal battle, Fawcett settled and agreed to never publish stories under the Captain Marvel name again. But they retained the rights to their characters, including the superhero known as Shazam.

Over the years, DC continued to use Shazam in various titles and team-up books. And while the hero was still called Captain Marvel, fans commonly referred to him as simply “Shazam!”

In 2012, writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita Jr. introduced a woman who earned the nickname of Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau. A policewoman from New Orleans, Rambeau gained some of Mar-Vell’s powers and was able to transform into energy. Her mentor assured her that Mar-Vell would not have minded her taking his name.

But it wasn’t until this year that DC formally renamed the character to just “Shazam.” Now, as Carol Danvers hits theaters in her own solo movie, you might think it’d be strange for two heroes to share the same name at the same time, but it actually isn’t.