Alright, let’s get this started.
The series starts with Billy on the street. He’s a runaway in this as opposed to Ebenezer kicking him out, and there’s a pretty severe reason for this, but we’ll get into that later. No foster homes, as Ebenezer (a respected if miserly businessman here) has erased all evidence of his existence. He wants Billy for some unknown reason, later to be revealed that he wants to sell Billy to a strange man who later turns out to be a puppet of Mr. Mind.
I’d follow the movie by having him enter the train station while escaping pursuers. He had been begging for money when he noticed an old woman getting attacked by some muggers. Despite being twelve, he rushed in to help her, which resulted in the muggers turning on him instead. They chased him down into the subway, where he ended up taking a stairway that hadn’t been there earlier.
He meets the Wizard Shazam at the Rock of Eternity as usually, but unlike other times, he is hesitant to trust him. He’s been tricked and manipulated too many times to believe someone would give him something without a catch. The wizard assures Billy that it’s real, stating that Billy is pure of heart. Billy is hesitant to believe that since he’s already pretty damaged, and Shazam states that searching for a pure heart does not exclude a damaged heart. He then challenges Billy to say the magic word and the rest of the meeting plays out as typical.
It takes Billy a while to adjust to being Captain Marvel, though he does like it quite a bit, more than being Billy Batson, anyway. He’s noticeably friendlier as Captain Marvel (as it’s harder to manipulate the Wisdom of Solomon and there’s really no intimidating the Power of Zeus and Strength of Hercules) than as Billy, and he spends most of his time as Billy in hiding.
Then he meets fellow street urchin Pedro. Pedro takes a shine to Billy after the two of them are able to trick a bunch of gangsters into leaving them alone, though Billy is still hesitant to trust. He has more reason not to trust Pedro, as Pedro excitedly reveals he’s trying out for a position at the Whiz.com news site as a kid reporter. Things all come to a head when Pedro accidentally finds out Billy is Captain Marvel. Billy is certain that Pedro’s going to reveal his secret identity, but to his surprise, that’s not what happened. Instead, he asks if it’s alright to submit a video of the fight and then him and Billy going over evidence after a fight between Captain Marvel and several of Dr. Sivana’s goons (he had been trying to tear down the internet) with no mention of Billy’s identity at all. Billy is surprised by the fact that he’d ask, and that there was no mention of the secret, and agrees so long as his surname isn’t mentioned. This ends up getting them both gigs as Whiz.com junior reporters.
They eventually end up meeting with a handyman named Dudley, as well as his daughter Francesca “Freckles” and niece Darla, who live with them. Dudley agrees to let the boys rent out a room after a call from Billy’s “father” (read: Captain Marvel) assures they have permission. Dudley is smarter than he looks and knows it’s a ruse, but also being aware they are street urchins with nowhere else to go choses not to question it. This is also how he finds out about Captain Marvel, and the fact that Billy was almost sold to some creep. This will lead to a confrontation between Dudley and Ebenezer (has that ever been done? I doubt it, but I’d like to see something like that.)
Meanwhile, we meet Freddy, who at the time is not crippled. I like the idea of making him part Native American (a reference to Elvis), so rest assured, he has black hair. He’s initially an older boy and the start athlete of the school. This changes when he and his grandfather end up attacked by Arian (Rename of Captain Nazi) that ends with his grandfather being murdered and Freddy severely injured. Because of the injury, Billy ends up sharing his power, and Freddy becomes Lieutenant Marvel (I’m not fond of the Captain Marvel Jr name.)
In a twist, in this universe it’s Mary who’s seeking out Billy. She was adopted by the Bromfields, and out of curiosity had taken a DNA test that marked her as the daughter of CC and Marylin Batson. When she overhears that there is a Billy Batson at school, she takes it upon herself to figure out if they have relation. Of course, they are long separated twins (because Ebenezer only wanted one of the Batson twins, and Billy was quieter as an infant). I also like the idea that Mary had also been considered to be a holder of the powers, as she was also pure, but Billy had already proven that he could handle suffering, so he was chosen instead. As a result, he could share his power with her, causing her to become Mary Marvel.
That’s all I have for the time being. Maybe I’ll write more later.