(Spoiler) is going to restore Captain Marvel's true name, calling it now.

[Robotman]

Well the fact that a big comedic plot point of the movie was that he couldn’t come up with a name could mean that WB is still open to calling him something other than just Shazam.

[Scott Taylor]

How about Captain Marbles? Just make him really good at playing marbles and maybe have him collect them.

[phantom1592]

Well the fact that a big comedic plot point of the movie was that he couldn’t come up with a name could mean that WB is still open to calling him something other than just Shazam.

I really loved the movie but I really feel it was rushed. I'm convinced that they found out Marvel wanted a Captain marvel movie, so they really wanted to beat them to the punch and get this out the same year just to draw attention to the character and refresh everyone's memory about the controversy and what not...

It was just TOO SOON to do a SHAZAM movie... especially based on nu52 version. The characters didn't have names... which is a SERIOUS red flag. Nobody knew what their powers were. There was very little exposition... because even the comics haven't dealt much with any of it yet. One of the bluray features shows that each of the extended family only had 'one' of the powers. Darla had speed, Freddy Flight, Pedro strength.... but the fight scene was so chaotic, that never came across. Especially since the pre/post crisis versions always had ALL the powers, if somewhat reduced...

If you're going to base a movie on a comic... you should at LEAST wait till what? Issue 4? The new 'Shazam family' only had their powers in the back up stories for about 6-7 pages before they were pushed to the big screen...

[SanityOrMadness]

Shazam ran for about five years (starting in 1973 and ending in 1978) and then continued in the Dollar Comics run of World Finest through 1982. During that period, there was a television show called Shazam, but featuring Captain Marvel. DC didn't seem to have any problem with marketing the character because of the name of the book. This argument seems to be of much more recent vintage.

Toys, in particular, weren't so trademark-happy at that point. Hasbro didn't start trademarking the various Transformers characters in earnest until well into the 1990s (which led to them losing the rights to call a toy "Bumblebee" for over a decade, for one example).

It's been a problem for some time now though. Here's the JLU figures for the not-Marvel family:



As it stands, they've carpet-bombed the trademark categories for "Shazam" (barring one careless exception that got nabbed before they noticed). They can't trademark "Captain Marvel", because Marvel/Disney have got there first. They could call him Captain Thunder, or Captain Shazam or any number of other names, but they cannot use "Captain Marvel" in/on the title, cover or packaging of anything (there was a "Superman vs Shazam" trade a few years back. The back cover featured a panel which had been altered to have Mary call the big red cheese "Shazam", although the equivalent interior panel still says "Captain Marvel").

They're not going to poke the Disney bear, it's not worth it to them. And as long as they can't use it in the title, anything mentioning "Captain Marvel" is strictly going to be in-joke, nostalgia or flashback; not The Name going forward. Because they don't want to promote anything they can't sell.