In 1937, National Periodicals (now known as DC Comics) published Action Comics #1 featuring the debut of Superman, the first official comic book superhero, and he became a pop culture phenomenon, eventually flying his way into a radio drama series, animated theatrical shorts, a newspaper comic strip, and later live-action film serials and eventually television.
Other publishers, including National themselves, were quick to jump on the bandwagon. In the Golden Age of comics, there were hundreds of superhero comic books, each sold to varying degrees of success. In late 1939, Fawcett Comics published Whiz Comics #2 (there was no issue #1 released to the public). This comic showcased the debut of Captain Marvel, a teenage boy named Billy Batson who was gifted with the power to turn into an adult superhero with the abilities of the gods.
The character was created by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker.
Perhaps due to the more whimsical nature of the Captain Marvel stories, Fawcett’s champion eventually started outselling Superman! Captain Marvel also soared into his own movie serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel, which is considered by many to be the best superhero serial from that period. For one thing, Captain Marvel flew on wires, whereas in his serials, Superman was turned into a cartoon for flying sequences.
In 1953, DC sued Fawcett claiming copyright infringement, and Fawcett opted to simply stop selling Captain Marvel comic books, as sales on superhero comics had plummetted after World War II.
With Fawcett’s character out of print, different publishers created their own “Captain Marvels.” Among those was Marvel Comics, a publisher that originated in the 1930s as Timely Comics, before becoming Atlas Comics in the 1950s. It became Marvel Comics in 1961 with the publication of Fantastic Four #1. In 1967, they published their own Captain Marvel comic book and gained the rights to that name when it comes to publishing.
Then, in 1973, DC obtained the rights to the original Fawcett Captain Marvel, but due to Marvel holding the rights to the name “Marvel,” DC was forced to name his new comic book Shazam! Initially, they included the subtitle “The Original Captain Marvel,” but after Marvel threatened legal action, that was dropped.
Not only could DC not use the name “Captain Marvel” for publishing, but they also couldn’t use it AT ALL, so any licensing for this character bore the name “Shazam!” and that includes the live-action TV series that hit the air in 1974.
The Shazam! TV series was created by Filmation and aired on CBS. It became the most popular live-action Saturday morning show of that time. In fact, Filmation wound up canceling another successful live-action series, The Ghost-Busters, in order to funnel the cash that would have gone into a second season to produce more episodes of Shazam!.
The TV show was a departure from the comics in that almost the entire supporting cast and rogues gallery were omitted. Actually, there were no supervillains at all. In the series, Billy (played by Michael Gray) travelled the country in a motorhome with an older man named Mentor (Les Tremayne) and would use his powers to help teens in trouble. As was the case of most Filmation shows, there was a moral at the end of each episode. Billy and Mentor often sought wisdom from “The Elders,” a.k.a. the gods that gifted him with his powers. They were rendered in animation and voiced by Filmation heads Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott.
Jackson Bostwick portrayed the adult Captain Marvel during Season 1 and part of Season 2. Due to an injury, he was replaced by John Davey after that, however, according to Bostwick, that situation was handled very badly on the part of Filmation.
There were 15 episodes of Season 1, but only 7 for S2, and 6 for S3.
Shazam! was so popular that Filmation created a companion series, Isis (a.k.a. The Secrets of Isis) with which it aired back-to-back. That show introduced an original character, Andrea Thomas (Joanna Cameron), a school teacher with the elemental controlling powers of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Cameron guest-starred on three episodes of Shazam! and Davey appeared on three episodes of Isis. However, their respective supporting casts did not cross over.
In the ’70s, more regulations prevented a lot of licensing for cartoons and other kids’ shows. But because Captain Marvel/Shazam! was a comic book character, he did appear on loads of merchandising and both he and Isis were part of the legendary Mego World’s Greatest Super Heroes toy line.
While the show was on the air, DC altered the Shazam! comic book to reflect the adaptation, with Billy hitting the road, but in the comics, he was accompanied by existing older character Uncle Dudley instead of Mentor. (He did grow a mustache to look more like Tremayne.) DC also published an Isis comic book, but that was licensed and the publisher did not retain the rights to the character.
Filmation later created a more comic-accurate Shazam! cartoon, which aired on NBC in 1981 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour. The companion series Hero High also included a cameo by an animated version of Isis.
Captain Marvel/Shazam! continued to be published by DC but has experienced a huge spike in recognition and popularity thanks to the live-action film starring Zachary Levi and Asher Angel.
The original TV series is available on both DVD and Blu-ray via Warner Archive. It was on the DC Universe app to stream, but that no longer exists. It should surface on HBO Max at some point.
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