What if the original "Captain Marvel" aka SHAZAM! was the counter to Superman?

[dswynne]

Here me out, first.

We all know that Captain Marvel was created as Fawcett Comics' answer to DC's Superman, which is why DC would later sue Fawcett for copy right infringement. Now, my idea, within the context of the comics, is that when Superman made his superhero debut, nature (or TPTB) found a way to "balance" the equation, so that, in case Superman went rogue, certain heroes/villains would be "born" to counter the alien threat. One of those counter-measures is Captain Marvel, aka Shazam!, the champion of magic who would be Superman's equal in every way possible.

The flaw of this is that the vessel to be the champion of magic is an untrained kid with very little real-world experience, thus giving an edge to Superman, thus warranting other "counter-measures" to be made.

Thoughts?

[Flash Gordon]

Shazam! is wonderful as is. He's his own character, in his own world.

[Dog of War]

Soo nature screwed up when it made that counter lol?

[Lightning Rider]

Well, broadly speaking I'm not against the idea that he can serve as a friendly emergency check to Superman. But to tie that into his origin and purpose explicitly would be a little bit complicated. I'm not sure I would feel right for the Wizard Shazam to pop up and instruct Billy to keep an eye on Superman. And if we've making further revisions to his origin to satisfy the concept, then I'd be uncomfortable with that.

[Robanker]

Shazam! is wonderful as is. He's his own character, in his own world.

Co-signed in full.

[Stanlos]

Here me out, first.

We all know that Captain Marvel was created as Fawcett Comics' answer to DC's Superman, which is why DC would later sue Fawcett for copy right infringement. Now, my idea, within the context of the comics, is that when Superman made his superhero debut, nature (or TPTB) found a way to "balance" the equation, so that, in case Superman went rogue, certain heroes/villains would be "born" to counter the alien threat. One of those counter-measures is Captain Marvel, aka Shazam!, the champion of magic who would be Superman's equal in every way possible.

The flaw of this is that the vessel to be the champion of magic is an untrained kid with very little real-world experience, thus giving an edge to Superman, thus warranting other "counter-measures" to be made.

Thoughts?

As he is Captain Marvel and wields the power of SHAZAM he can already be called upon to help versus nearly any threat imaginable. I think it lessens his character thing him to Superman in much the same way I thought the early DCEU rumour that Amazon's descended from Kryptonians lessens Windy and Arthur.

[manwhohaseverything]

Captain marvel was superman before superman was a flying paragon. So, if anything superman stole cap's gig.