If You Wrote Comics: The Marvel Family

[SilverWarriorWolf]

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.

[WonderScott]

I'm good/interested in what Johns did, so I'd start there, where the Shazam stories in Justice League left off. This Shazam seems to be symbolically all about family, so I'd play that up as an overarching theme in the series.

- Exploration of Billy's foster siblings in and out of Shazam-mode and their relationship and secrets with Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez.
- The eventual reveal that Mary and Billy are twin sister and brother, and the fate of the Batsons.
- Tawny and Hoppy play a role from time to time.

- Build up Dr. Sivanna and his family, Beautia, Magnificus, Thaddeus Jr., and Georgia. Include Sivana's wife, Portia, as a major character.

- Reintroduce the Black Marvel family; Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris. Perhaps add a new member or two.
- Reintroduce an non-Apokoliptan version of Sobek as a sometimes ally of the Black Marvel family.

- Explore the Wizard's past and the Circle of Eternity more. How and why did they come together? What made each one of them worthy to be in the Council.
- Tell the backstory of the Wizard and his romance/purpose of his relationship with Lord Satanus and Lady Blaze's mother. Introduce their mother as an ongoing character and adversary to the Wizard and the Shazamily.

- Treat the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man as a makeshift family of personified ideas and vices.

- Introduce the Fourth Reich and Captain Nazi as a threat to the Shazamily and the DCU.

Past that...

- I'd like to see Aunt Minerva as Lady M, a powerful, charismatic public personality with vast resources and Machiavellian tendencies in her private persona. The Shazamily is a new issue to deal with in "her" city and as a mortal human adversary she's having to look at new options to control her grip on the criminal empire she commands.

- Provide an explanation of the Shazam powers. Are they purely magic, like Billy's original empowerment, or are they the gifts of the gods, that happened later in Justice League? Do these gifts imply a tie to the deity that bestows them or are they just gifted abilities that are essentially a magic "copy" of that god's power?

- The return of Mister Atom, Mister Mind, and Mister Who

- Recreate Sabbac to not only thwart the Shazamily, but also have designs on usurping Lord Satanus and Lady Blaze.

- Reintroduce Nyola, Chained Lightning, and Darkling as stand-alone villainesses, each able to take on Shazam.

- The return of King Kull and his brigade of Jeepers

- Have the Shazamily visit Gem World and encounter Amethyst. Ongoing romance between Shazam and Amethyst blossoms and Billy and Amy discover one another's mortal guises while back on Prime Earth.

- Time's past story of the Wizard, Council of Eternity, Thanagarians, Nabu, Teth Adam, Hippolyta, and Hercules in the ancient DCU.

- A new version of the Crime Champions, including Mr. Banjo in their ranks.

- Introduce the Three Witches as opponents to Shazamily and the Black Marvel Family.

[KurtW95]

I would make the continuity into sort of a hybrid of the traditional Earth-S continuity and Thunderworld. Billy Batson lost his parents in a car crash when he was six months old and he was separated from his twin sister, Mary. Living with his greedy uncle, Ebenezer, he eventually gets kicked out of the house and his inheritance money is stolen by his uncle. Billy then becomes a newsboy who is approached by a shadowy figure who leads him to a magic subway that takes him to a cavern met with statues representing the Seven Deadly Enemies of Men and at the end, the wizard, Shazam sitting in his chair. Shazam explains that he has been waiting thousand years for the perfect person to be his champion and Billy has been chosen because after all of the horrible things that has happened to him, he has remained good. Billy becomes Captain Marvel and he must say the magic word, "Shazam" to transform back and forth. Billy later becomes a kid radio announcer for the WHIZ radio station. He also makes enemies such as the diminutive mad scientist, Dr. Sivana. There is also Black Adam, the first person Shazam had chosen to become his champion. Black Adam was a prince from the Kahndaq region of Egypt. After Black Adam goes mad with power, Shazam banishes him to the farthest star in the universe. Coincidentally, after he finally makes it back to Earth in the 21st century and faces Billy, who tricks him into saying Shazam, which ages him to dust. However, Black Adam returns and becomes a frequent villain due to Dr. Sivana's reincarnation machine. Another big villain, Mister Mind is an extremely intelligent worm from Venus that leads an inter dimensional group of monsters. And now to Billy's supporting characters; Freddy Freeman is a kid that was an acquaintance of Billy Batson, whose life changed forever when a super soldier, commissioned from Adolf Hitler himself, is unfrozen from suspended animation and fights Captain Marvel. The collateral damage in this battle hits Freddy, his brother (Kit), and his grandfather, who were fishing on the lake. This resulted in Kit's death as well as their grandfather, who dies after being put in a coma. However, unbeknownst to Freddy, Kit is resurrected with power to summon the deceased with the magic word "eternity." He becomes Kid Eternity. Freddy is severely injured and will have to use a crutch for the rest of his life. Billy, feeling responsible, takes Freddy to Shazam who informs him that he can't heal him, but Billy can give him some of his powers. Freddy becomes Captain Marvel Jr. with the ability to receive Captain Marvels powers upon saying "Captain Marvel," though he does become an adult. Freddy is a big fan of Elvis Presley and wears his dark hair in a similar way to young Elvis. Billy also finds out that he has a long lost sister named Mary, who had a life unlike his own. She was adopted by a loving family, the wealthy Bromfields. Billy wonders if she could have Shazam's powers as well and she becomes Mary Marvel, being able to transform by saying the same magic word, even though her power comes from different female entities. The three kids also have a surrogate father in Dudley H. Dudley, who dresses up in a self-fashioned Marvel costume and leads the Lieutenant Marvels made up of three fans of Captain Marvel, also named Billy Batson. Billy and Freddy also live in an abandoned building with other orphaned street kids such as Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña, and Darla Davis. Billy also befriends a humanoid tiger in a tweed suit, that was given the gift of human intelligence, speech, and partial physiology after taking a special serum.

[astro@work]

1. First thing I'd do is call them by Captain Thunder and the Thunder Family and get on with it already.
We all know due to legal issues they can't market Captain Marvel as a property, but DC has been dancing around not using that name for far too long.
I'd prefer Captain Thunder over NO NAME. (Ugh).

Are we stuck with Mary Shazam, Freddy Shazam, Eugene Shazam, Darla Shazam as supporting names? Not catchy. I'd much prefer Mary, Freddy et al as the Lieutenant Thunder Corps or some such.

2. I'd be sure to highlight Billy as the primary hero, and utilize the other Shazam kids as supporting players so that Captain Err-uhh-youknowwho comes across as the lead hero. But I'd still use the rest of the kids.

3. I'd get some of the classic villains back in continuity. Every good hero benefits from a strong rogues gallery. But I'd avoid Captain Nazi like the plague. World War II was a zillion years ago now, so a modern Nazi takes the story to a very dark place in a hurry. Ibac, Sivana, Mr Mind, Black Adam all work great.

4. I'd get Black Adam, Isis, and Osiris introduced after a while. The rivalry between the two families, and the Shazam history Black Adam represents gives the stories some gravitas.

5. I'd explore the "magic" angle of the Shazam mythos since that's mostly unexplored and could lead to some fresh stories.

[Incognito]

1. Treatment

I would treat Shazam, as the Superman of the magical community, He should be involved within the worlds of magic just like what JLD are doing with Wonder Woman (when she always stick to the Greek pantheon). I would have him go and explore magic realms, fight magical beings such as demons, gods, monsters, warlocks, etc which oppose to Superman fighting from evil scientists to alien conquerors to cosmic beings. Shazam should be a mix of superhero, adventure, fantasy, family-drama and a bit of drama.

2. Origins

Shazam would appear after a cataclysmic threat which was stopped by the Justice League, there would be a backstory where Superman saves a bunch of children from the disaster (which includes Freddy,), Billy was a local hero when he helps Superman rescuing younger children which he was inspired by Superman, he continues to do good deeds, like volunteering in a shelter or something. The same incident would be the reason why Freddy was crippled because a car fell on his legs. While working in a shelter, he meets and befriended an old man who appears to be in his 60s, and he has long hair and a beard he remembers what he did during the incident by saving people, and he stated to him that he could be 'the one' to save the world from all the sins happening in this world, Billy does not know what he meant but he smiles, and after he left from his job he took the train and it transports him into the Rock of Eternity and the homeless man appears to be the Wizard, and he grants him powers of the Gods.

3. The S.H.A.Z.A.M Acronym

Shazam gets his powers from the Greco-Roman Gods, the Greek and Roman Gods are one and the same (e.g. - Zeus/Jupiter/Heaven, Poseidon/Neptune/Sea). I would trade Solomon for another God of Wisdom, but I can't find any God with the first letter S on their names, I got 'Sophrosyne', a spirit of moderation and discretion which can be used as Billy's God/Goddess of Wisdom. Since Teth Adam is from Egypt he gets the Egyptian Gods, Billy is from America a mixture of different cultures and there's the fact he doesn't know his heritage he gets Greek gods and the pseudo-demigod Solomon, but to keep his word of power as a collection of gods, Billy could get his powers from gods of different pantheons.

S.H.A.Z.A.M (Diverse Pantheon of Gods)

The Speed of Stribog (Slavic God)
The Courage of Hanuman (Hindu God)
The Strength of Andraste (Celtic Goddess)
The Power of Zeus (Greek God)
The Fires (Stamina) of Amaterasu (Japanese Goddess)
The Wisdom of Mimir (Norse God)

4. Allies

Freddie Freeman would be the same character wise but his injury happened during an apocalyptic incident, he was sad that he will not be able to walk for a long but at all but Billy gave him enough Hope to assure that everything will be alright. Freddy is part native american as a tribute to Elvis. He becomes the third to be shared the power of SHAZAM.

Mary Bromfield/Batson is pretty much the same and both Billy and Mary are twins, she treats him like he is his Younger Brother which is true but only 4 minutes apart. Mary is not a foster kid but adopted. She becomes the first to be shared the power of SHAZAM by Billy.

Pedro, Darla and Eugene are pretty much the same character wise. They get their powers at the same time but much later. Eugene's colour would be orange and not black, because it look like he is part of Black Adam's Family.

Beautia and Uncle Dudley are pretty much the same.

Tawky Tawny is The Wizard's familar, Tawky also has magical powers, he can transfrom into any cat species, talk physically or telpathically and can use sorcery.


5. Villians

What I liked about Dr Sivana is that unlike Lex Luthor, he would use magic for his nefarious plan. Dr Sivana could be like Dr Doom, where he blends science and magic to fight not just Shazam but other superheroes as well, it could make him an incredible threat. Mister Mind could be a parasitic demon or a mass of cellular parasites who inhabits a human host. Georgia and Thaddeus Jr, battles each other for their Father's love, they love each other as sibilings but they are rivals when it comes to their father because they wanted to impress him, Georgina uses science while Thaddeus uses magic.

For Ibac, Stanley Printwisle could be a slightly shy and timid small bookshop owner who lost his shops due to an incident which involves Shazam and Sivanna, and Printwise wanted revenge so he grabs a book which deals with dark magic so he could hurt Shazam or he is a descendant of Ibac the First, an enemy of Black Adam, and his descendant wants revenge on Black Adam and Stanley wants revenge on Shazam so Ibac bestow his powers to his descendant and when he says the magic word he gains a strong superpowered body, (I rather have Sabaac to be Billy's demonic opposite).

Sabaac could be a very wealthy boy who is the same age as him or maybe he could be a few years older, and his parents did not give him any attention or love for him because the parents are too busy with work and other things, he got interested into the occult and anything demon-related which gainst the attention of Neron, he bestows him the powers of six Hell Lords, and he has become SABBAC.

Black Adam remains the same as well as Osiris, Lord Satannus and Lady Blaze remain the same, maybe The Wizard's kids want the power of SHAZAM but their Father sense great evil within them.

I think with the popularity of Legends of Tomorrow, Isis should be the one member that the Shazam Family might get along, she could be overall neutral as a whole but still with her love Black Adam and her brother Osiris, she could play as Black Adam's conscious or advisor. Isis will be from Khandaq.
The Fourth Reich could be resurrected zombies who were brought back to life by the Necronomicon. Captain Nazi could be a super zombie with the power to control zombies at will.

The Dummy could be a voodoo practitioner.

For Mister Atom, he was created by a scientist to be used as a WMD for the government but he dabbles with magi-tech and it gave the robot life, Mister Atom wants to eradicate humanity and create a planet of androids.

King Kull could be from Skartaris, since he is from a world where they are technologically advanced, and Starkartis is a realm which uses a blend of both magic and science. Skartaris could be the place where Mister Atom's technological systems came from.

[Incognito]

1. Treatment

I would treat Shazam, as the Superman of the magical community, He should be involved within the worlds of magic just like what JLD are doing with Wonder Woman (when she always stick to the Greek pantheon). I would have him go and explore magic realms, fight magical beings such as demons, gods, monsters, warlocks, etc which oppose to Superman fighting from evil scientists to alien conquerors to cosmic beings. Shazam should be a mix of superhero, adventure, fantasy, family-drama and a bit of drama.

2. Origins

Shazam would appear after a cataclysmic threat which was stopped by the Justice League, there would be a backstory where Superman saves a bunch of children from the disaster (which includes Freddy,), Billy was a local hero when he helps Superman rescuing younger children which he was inspired by Superman, he continues to do good deeds, like volunteering in a shelter or something. The same incident would be the reason why Freddy was crippled because a car fell on his legs. While working in a shelter, he meets and befriended an old man who appears to be in his 60s, and he has long hair and a beard he remembers what he did during the incident by saving people, and he stated to him that he could be 'the one' to save the world from all the sins happening in this world, Billy does not know what he meant but he smiles, and after he left from his job he took the train and it transports him into the Rock of Eternity and the homeless man appears to be the Wizard, and he grants him powers of the Gods.

3. The S.H.A.Z.A.M Acronym

Shazam gets his powers from the Greco-Roman Gods, the Greek and Roman Gods are one and the same (e.g. - Zeus/Jupiter/Heaven, Poseidon/Neptune/Sea). I would trade Solomon for another God of Wisdom, but I can't find any God with the first letter S on their names, I got 'Sophrosyne', a spirit of moderation and discretion which can be used as Billy's God/Goddess of Wisdom. Since Teth Adam is from Egypt he gets the Egyptian Gods, Billy is from America a mixture of different cultures and there's the fact he doesn't know his heritage he gets Greek gods and the pseudo-demigod Solomon, but to keep his word of power as a collection of gods, Billy could get his powers from gods of different pantheons.

S.H.A.Z.A.M (Diverse Pantheon of Gods)

The Speed of Stribog (Slavic God)
The Courage of Hanuman (Hindu God)
The Strength of Andraste (Celtic Goddess)
The Power of Zeus (Greek God)
The Fires (Stamina) of Amaterasu (Japanese Goddess)
The Wisdom of Mimir (Norse God)

4. Allies

Freddie Freeman would be the same character wise but his injury happened during an apocalyptic incident, he was sad that he will not be able to walk for a long but at all but Billy gave him enough Hope to assure that everything will be alright. Freddy is part native american as a tribute to Elvis. He becomes the third to be shared the power of SHAZAM.

Mary Bromfield/Batson is pretty much the same and both Billy and Mary are twins, she treats him like he is his Younger Brother which is true but only 4 minutes apart. Mary is not a foster kid but adopted. She becomes the first to be shared the power of SHAZAM by Billy.

Pedro, Darla and Eugene are pretty much the same character wise. They get their powers at the same time but much later. Eugene's colour would be orange and not black, because it look like he is part of Black Adam's Family.

Beautia and Uncle Dudley are pretty much the same.

Tawky Tawny is The Wizard's familar, Tawky also has magical powers, he can transfrom into any cat species, talk physically or telpathically and can use sorcery.


5. Villians

What I liked about Dr Sivana is that unlike Lex Luthor, he would use magic for his nefarious plan. Dr Sivana could be like Dr Doom, where he blends science and magic to fight not just Shazam but other superheroes as well, it could make him an incredible threat. Mister Mind could be a parasitic demon or a mass of cellular parasites who inhabits a human host. Georgia and Thaddeus Jr, battles each other for their Father's love, they love each other as sibilings but they are rivals when it comes to their father because they wanted to impress him, Georgina uses science while Thaddeus uses magic.

For Ibac, Stanley Printwisle could be a slightly shy and timid small bookshop owner who lost his shops due to an incident which involves Shazam and Sivanna, and Printwise wanted revenge so he grabs a book which deals with dark magic so he could hurt Shazam or he is a descendant of Ibac the First, an enemy of Black Adam, and his descendant wants revenge on Black Adam and Stanley wants revenge on Shazam so Ibac bestow his powers to his descendant and when he says the magic word he gains a strong superpowered body, (I rather have Sabaac to be Billy's demonic opposite).

Sabaac could be a very wealthy boy who is the same age as him or maybe he could be a few years older, and his parents did not give him any attention or love for him because the parents are too busy with work and other things, he got interested into the occult and anything demon-related which gainst the attention of Neron, he bestows him the powers of six Hell Lords, and he has become SABBAC.

Black Adam remains the same as well as Osiris, Lord Satannus and Lady Blaze remain the same, maybe The Wizard's kids want the power of SHAZAM but their Father sense great evil within them.

I think with the popularity of Legends of Tomorrow, Isis should be the one member that the Shazam Family might get along, she could be overall neutral as a whole but still with her love Black Adam and her brother Osiris, she could play as Black Adam's conscious or advisor. Isis will be from Khandaq.
The Fourth Reich could be resurrected zombies who were brought back to life by the Necronomicon. Captain Nazi could be a super zombie with the power to control zombies at will.

The Dummy could be a voodoo practitioner.

For Mister Atom, he was created by a scientist to be used as a WMD for the government but he dabbles with magi-tech and it gave the robot life, Mister Atom wants to eradicate humanity and create a planet of androids.

King Kull could be from Skartaris, since he is from a world where they are technologically advanced, and Starkartis is a realm which uses a blend of both magic and science. Skartaris could be the place where Mister Atom's technological systems came from.

[Mutant God]

A couple of ideas

An issue dedicated to Billy deciding on what his name should be, going by different names and deciding whats fits.

Billy and Mary are trapped inside a fable by Queen of Fables.

Someone framed Uncle Dudley and its up to the kids to help Dudley clear his name,

Billy battles a bunch of pigs, mutated by Sivana, with some angry birds.

Billy decides to team up with Black Lightning and calls himself White Thunder as they help the homeless.

A group of cheerleaders and their coach fused together and become a fast and quick witted jewel thief.