Your DC-Only controversial opinions (part II)...

[byrd156]

This reminds me, I've always thought Shazam was a much better name than Captain Marvel

How is he supposed to say his name then?

[9th.]

How is he supposed to say his name then?

Not sure but I thought they fixed that by him saying it with "intent" or whatever?

[byrd156]

Not sure but I thought they fixed that by him saying it with "intent" or whatever?

That's dumb, why take that away? SHAZAM is supposed to be a powerful magic word that has to be used responsibly. If Billy can throw it around willy nilly without any consequences what's the point of saying the word anymore? Just have him change whenever he feels like it. Then at that point why even write Captain Marvel?

Being a good kid and saying the magic word is all you need for Captain Marvel. Take away one of those and the character loses half of what makes him special.

[9th.]

That's dumb, why take that away? SHAZAM is supposed to be a powerful magic word that has to be used responsibly. If Billy can throw it around willy nilly without any consequences what's the point of saying the word anymore? Just have him change whenever he feels like it. Then at that point why even write Captain Marvel?

Being a good kid and saying the magic word is all you need for Captain Marvel. Take away one of those and the character loses half of what makes him special.

I never questioned the logic of it all, it's comic books they tend to do what they want from time to time.

[Frontier]

I just think something like Batman: Hush would be so much better with Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly doing the voices. And without the Rebirth Super-suit. But now that every movie has to take place in the same universe, every one has to use the same voice actors to indicate they're all in the same universe. I didn't even realize the Batman/Robin movies were supposed to be in the same universe as the JL War and Dark at first. The problem with a shared continuity is what if one of the movies suck? Stand alone movies are no big deal. But a shared universe means you get a bad adaptation and you're stuck with it. I haven't seen Death/Return yet and not sure I care enough about it to do so. I liked Public Enemies and Apocalypse and they both appear to take place in the same universe though it's not directly stated. Things like Unchained and The Elite are "meh" and I don't think I want them necessarily sharing space with anything else.

And, yeah, the Shazam codename thing is completely ridiculous. The moment someone asks him what his name is, his secret ID is blown.

I like the Reborn supersuit. The costume lives on in the animated movies .

I dunno...if one movie sucks, you just move on to the next one? I don't think it's that different from a standalone unless you already don't enjoy the VA's, designs, or writing but that could always be possible with a standalone movie anyways.

Not sure but I thought they fixed that by him saying it with "intent" or whatever?

I don't think anyone actually uses it that way. The movie certainly didn't.

[9th.]

I like the Reborn supersuit. The costume lives on in the animated movies .

I dunno...if one movie sucks, you just move on to the next one? I don't think it's that different from a standalone unless you already don't enjoy the VA's, designs, or writing but that could always be possible with a standalone movie anyways.

I don't think anyone actually uses it that way. The movie certainly didn't.

I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet and I haven't read the new series past issue 1. I assumed they were going forward with it since they couldn't use Captain Marvel.

[Frontier]

I haven't had a chance to see the movie yet and I haven't read the new series past issue 1. I assumed they were going forward with it since they couldn't use Captain Marvel.

The codename - yes.

The issue with the codename being the same as the transformation phrase - no.

[Agent Z]

DC is still in the middle of the 90's and in his dark age rebirth is just another failed attempt. (and you just have to look at the cover of the #1, nobody is smiling ^^)

DC in the 90s was far more successful and optimistic than anything they've put out in the 2000s and 2010s.

[Robanker]

That's dumb, why take that away? SHAZAM is supposed to be a powerful magic word that has to be used responsibly. If Billy can throw it around willy nilly without any consequences what's the point of saying the word anymore? Just have him change whenever he feels like it. Then at that point why even write Captain Marvel?

Being a good kid and saying the magic word is all you need for Captain Marvel. Take away one of those and the character loses half of what makes him special.

But then how will he refer to that useful app who let's him identify that awesome song he hears in the background?

On topic, Ted Kord was awesome but him being alive stunts Booster's growth and doesn't really push anything forward for him or Jaime. He's just kind of there? If we got a Blue and Gold book, I get it, but now I just don't see a point. We got more out of Ted being dead than we will alive and that's coming from someone who loved reading about him up until he ate a bullet.

He and Barry were among the few deaths to actually create a ton of story potential that actually got capitalized on and I've yet to see a good reason that either had to return. Don't get me wrong, I still like the guy, but DC hasn't really shown me why he needed to be back.

Then again, I almost wish they brought Wally back and did nothing with him too at this point.

[Agent Z]

That's dumb, why take that away? SHAZAM is supposed to be a powerful magic word that has to be used responsibly. If Billy can throw it around willy nilly without any consequences what's the point of saying the word anymore? Just have him change whenever he feels like it. Then at that point why even write Captain Marvel?

Being a good kid and saying the magic word is all you need for Captain Marvel. Take away one of those and the character loses half of what makes him special.

He can still say the magic word and is still a good kid.

And you do know they can't call him Captain Marvel without Marvel suing them right?

[superduperman]

He can still say the magic word and is still a good kid.

And you do know they can't call him Captain Marvel without Marvel suing them right?

When did that start? Because they were still using it up until a few years ago.

[DrNewGod]

That's dumb, why take that away? SHAZAM is supposed to be a powerful magic word that has to be used responsibly. If Billy can throw it around willy nilly without any consequences what's the point of saying the word anymore? Just have him change whenever he feels like it. Then at that point why even write Captain Marvel?

Being a good kid and saying the magic word is all you need for Captain Marvel. Take away one of those and the character loses half of what makes him special.

He can still say the magic word and is still a good kid.

And you do know they can't call him Captain Marvel without Marvel suing them right?

When did that start? Because they were still using it up until a few years ago.

DC can use the name in-story, but can't use "Captain Marvel" as the title of a publication, or a feature title within a publication. That's been the case since DC started reprinting Fawcett's books back in the 1970s. Marvel had created their Kree warrior CM in the late 1960s specifically to lock up the trademark (Martin Goodman was a bit obsessed about the name Marvel by all accounts). Preserving that trademark is also why Marvel would trot out a new title for Mar-Vell or his successors every so often, regardless of how many times the character failed to sell. Marvel didn't have anything on which to legally act if DC was using the name in the story in the same way that DC has no legal recourse as long as Marvel doesn't try launching a feature titled "Sandman," or "The Guardian."

DC got around the trademark issues by titling publications or features starring (The Real) Captain Marvel as SHAZAM. As I understand it, TPTB eventually concluded that calling the character by a different name than the title was confusing the brand. There was some toying with the idea of calling him Captain Thunder from time to time, but that never took for reasons that I don't know.

[Jim Kelly]

Before Marvel had the brilliant idea of creating their own Captain Marvel, M.F. Enterprises already had published their CAPTAIN MARVEL comics in 1966.




I don't know why Marvel Comics was able to get the trademark on the name, if M.F. Enterprises was already using it. No doubt there's a story behind that.

As for Captain Thunder, there's been a few--including one created by Roy Thomas. So if DC had wanted to use the name then they would have had to pay Roy or someone else for the chance to do so. I imagine if Warner Bros. backed up a truck full of money and dumped it at Disney's door, they could try to get the Captain Marvel name--but now that that's worth billions of dollars to Disney, it's not likely to happen. If if was the other way around, Disney would do whatever they could to leverage the trademark from someone else--as we've been seeing them do with other properties.

I like how it is in the SHAZAM! movie, where whenever they say SHAZAM! the change happens. This allows for some of the sweet humour that should always be a part of the Bill Parker/C.C. Beck Captain Marvel. I know that this makes it difficult for Billy to say his super-hero name (if his name is Shazam), but that was an element of the old Capt. Marvel, Jr., stories--and it's a twist that creates more fun comics. The main character himself doesn't have to broadcast his name for other people to call him that. This happens fairly often--the Doctor only rarely has called himself Doctor Who--Morpheus was hardly ever called the Sandman in the comic of that name.

[Frontier]

On topic, Ted Kord was awesome but him being alive stunts Booster's growth and doesn't really push anything forward for him or Jaime. He's just kind of there? If we got a Blue and Gold book, I get it, but now I just don't see a point. We got more out of Ted being dead than we will alive and that's coming from someone who loved reading about him up until he ate a bullet.

He and Barry were among the few deaths to actually create a ton of story potential that actually got capitalized on and I've yet to see a good reason that either had to return. Don't get me wrong, I still like the guy, but DC hasn't really shown me why he needed to be back.

I think it's writers like King who stunt Booster's growth when they write him the way they did. Although I guess it doesn't help that they kind of write him and Ted together like two dudebros.

I also think part of it is that Ted's death was kind of brutal and mean-spirited toward the JLI era as to why people might be more receptive to him being back.

[Ascended]

DC got around the trademark issues by titling publications or features starring (The Real) Captain Marvel as SHAZAM. As I understand it, TPTB eventually concluded that calling the character by a different name than the title was confusing the brand. There was some toying with the idea of calling him Captain Thunder from time to time, but that never took for reasons that I don't know.

Someone has/had ownership of "Captain Thunder." I....think.....it belongs to Ronin Publishing, which makes (made? They might be out of business now?) table-top RPG games. I think their Captain Thunder was actually a Shazam knockoff, which if true is just kinda funny.

Ah the weird and twisted tale of the Captain Marvel name!

Personally I'm glad DC changed Billy's name. They can't use Captain Marvel, and Marvel Comics isn't about to let go of the title. They should've just bit the bullet and changed Billy's name as soon as they brought him into the DCU, instead of trying to split the difference. Shazam isn't a great name or anything, but at least DC can actually market it!