How Would You Reconcile the WW and Shazam's Different Takes on Greek Gods?

[John Venus]

Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel/Shazam's respective mythos are rooted in Greek Myth but there is rarely any connection drawn between them. Both mythologies have different takes on Greek Gods with WW mythos often presenting the Zeus and Heracles as an antagonistic/borderline villainous persona while Shazam presents them as a aspiring figures. Mary Marvel also invokes power through Hippolyta's name, which shouldn't be possible if the Hippolyta is the same one from WW.



Here is one article to consolidate it all: https://www.themarysue.com/giving-sh...mortal-elders/

What do you think?

How would do you go about it?

How has the comics addressed this (if at all)?

[AmiMizuno]

It's a cop out but maybe these gods could be one of the multiverse. There is also maybe magician who gave them their powers in a sense. Stolen artifacts connected to the gods but the gods themselves aren't giving Shazam family the powers.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel/Shazam's respective mythos are rooted in Greek Myth but there is rarely any connection drawn between them. Both mythologies have different takes on Greek Gods with WW mythos often presenting the Zeus and Heracles as an antagonistic/borderline villainous persona while Shazam presents them as a aspiring figures. Mary Marvel also invokes power through Hippolyta's name, which shouldn't be possible if the Hippolyta is the same one from WW.



Here is one article to consolidate it all: https://www.themarysue.com/giving-sh...mortal-elders/

What do you think?

How would do you go about it?

How has the comics addressed this (if at all)?

Ww showcases their true persona. Shazam is a front they put on for the humans.

[Primal Slayer]

Surprisingly I think the only time they were all in the same room as the gods was Injustice when Zeus revokes his powers from Billy.

But I guess since they changed the Wizard to be Shazam and act as a conduit between the two that kind of solves the problem? The Wizard has less qualms where he gets the power and thus Billy and co. wouldnt really know for some time?

[Jabare]

I'd leave it alone unless someone has a good story idea for Wonder Woman and Shazam. If Billy drew his powers from Wonder Woman's incarnations of the Gods, it feels like he'd be nerfed (outside of Zeus and Hermes/Mercury). It'd be an interesting story if a writer decided to address Billy getting part of his powers from Wonder Woman's Hercules. I'm also not sure if DC would ever bring their incarnation of Hercules to live-action or animation. Hercules is usually a righteous figure in films and cartoons.

End of the day, Billy is that red-headed stepchild to DC. You'd think Shazam (Captain Marvel) would have more stories with Diana, but it doesn't seem like that will ever be the case.

Despite being a peer of Superman and inspiring He-Man and other transforming characters, Shazam is not what he used to be.

[John Venus]

Shazam is getting a second movie and will likely complete a trilogy before we get another live action Superman movie. He is now more popular than ever.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

As I recall, during that Perez event book with Circe trying to remake the universe, they actually took a moment to try and reconcile this.
In it, they established the wizard Shazam really had his heart set on using the Greek set of gods for when he created Captain Marvel, but they wouldn't give him the time of day and kicked him off Olympus.

So to make due he had gotten in touch with the identical Roman pantheon who were all for it. Because unlike in the golden age of Wonder Woman which had it so the Greek and Roman gods were exactly the same, Post Crisis established the Roman and Greek pantheons to be identical twins of eachother but with different names.

Thus he kept the incorrect anagram which spelled his name even though 'M for Mercury' was the only one of those that was accurate.

Though they never do explain how the heck Solomon somehow made the cut

[Sebastianne]

As I recall, during that Perez event book with Circe trying to remake the universe, they actually took a moment to try and reconcile this.
In it, they established the wizard Shazam really had his heart set on using the Greek set of gods for when he created Captain Marvel, but they wouldn't give him the time of day and kicked him off Olympus.

So to make due he had gotten in touch with the identical Roman pantheon who were all for it. Because unlike in the golden age of Wonder Woman which had it so the Greek and Roman gods were exactly the same, Post Crisis established the Roman and Greek pantheons to be identical twins of eachother but with different names.

Thus he kept the incorrect anagram which spelled his name even though 'M for Mercury' was the only one of those that was accurate.

Though they never do explain how the heck Solomon somehow made the cut

Salomon was the first, the magician worked for him who is the one from whom he learned wisdom, someone he admired a lot or something like that.
Once Salomon died he went to seek the power of the other pantheons, and in the end without Solomon knowing it or something like that the magician takes the wisdom from him.
I remember that it explains how it reaches each of them and the generosity of some. It is what my vague memory remembers of I do not remember which comics specifically :P

[RobinGA]

I've always been uncomfortable with the idea that Amazons power came from the Greek gods.
It seems a negation of the power that Amazons exercised (yes, I know the mythological/real Amazons aren't the same)
in the real world. I suppose we could say that there is a difference between the powers an ordinary Amazon has with
Wonder Woman.

Solomon has always struck me as an odd fit with the powers of all of these characters from Greek myth. What exactly is the
former king of Israel doing there? I suppose someone was sitting around back then trying to come up with names from the alphabet
but got stumped with S.

The marvels universe was always a more playful one, than the serious one of the Amazons. The new Black Adam film may resolve some of these
issues, although it will be different being based in Egypt and its environs.

[Gaius]

I suppose you could just go with their copies of the God's (and Solomon) powers rather than being directly tied to the individuals themselves.

Mary could probably just find another set of female deities with the appropriate names to get the acronym, even though nowadays her and Billy share the same source of powers. Though I kind of preferred her having her own set of figures to pull from.

Probably just easier to have Billy and co. in other universe though.

[Jim Kelly]

There are some comic books that would have us believe these are different gods and heroes. For example, the Roman god Mercury and the Greek god Hermes are two different gods and not the same god with different names.

I don't care for that approach. To invest in it, I have to ignore too much real world knowledge. We know that the same god or hero can have different names, depending on the language and the region. And even when a mythic figure has the same name, the legends about them can vary widely.

Are we really supposed to think that therefore there must be many different individuals that all happen to have the same name?

The reality is the better explanation. One god, many names. But then how do we explain the often contradictory stories about them? I look at it as if the gods are a troupe of actors. They all want their moment on stage, but they need a role to play. They can only act, if they have a story and a persona to perform.

The bargain is that human beings determine the masks, the names and the personas for the gods. And that's how they make contact with us. Like with actors who need work, they can't be choosey about the parts written for them. Sometimes they have to play villains, sometimes heroes. Sometimes they have a leading part, sometimes only a supporting role. Sometimes tragic, sometimes comedic. But whatever the part, they must throw themselves totally into the role and create a believable character on stage.

Gods being gods, this is all easy to imagine, since they are not bound by ordinary rules. They can exist simultaneously in several different versions that often contradict each other. It's a bit harder to apply this to mortals like Hercules and Achilles. It's not possible that the same guy could have contradictory adventures all at the same time in one reality. I would explain this as a trick of the gods. There are gods of confusion and there are gods of memory. The real Herakles had only one life, but that true life is lost to time. So all these different legends of Hercules become equally valid. It's a blessing and it's a curse.

[Primal Slayer]

I think The Wizard having ties to the Gods and knowing how to draw upon their power and attempting to use it for the greater good but Billie and co. don't fully know the true backstory to them makes it a bit of a dark secret. You could say that this kind of empowers Zeus and co. when they are called upon because its a sense of worship so both sides win.

Despite Hercules crimes against the Amazons, Zeus still favors him and allowed him to ascend unknowingly to most.

[SiegePerilous02]

Probably just easier to have Billy and co. in other universe though.

I think this is just the best overall solution. Trying to reconcile them just seems like more of a headache than its worth.

Diana needs to be stronger than Hercules. Billy needs to get his strength from Hercules. Arguably, someone's getting short changed if they clearly make one stronger than the other. Just put Diana on Earth-1/2 and Billy on Earth-5/S and call it a day

[marhawkman]

Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel/Shazam's respective mythos are rooted in Greek Myth but there is rarely any connection drawn between them. Both mythologies have different takes on Greek Gods with WW mythos often presenting the Zeus and Heracles as an antagonistic/borderline villainous persona while Shazam presents them as a aspiring figures. Mary Marvel also invokes power through Hippolyta's name, which shouldn't be possible if the Hippolyta is the same one from WW.

honestly? the lists of beings who donate power to Captain Marvel NEVER actually made sense. Only 2 are actually gods. Hercules and Achilles are demi-gods. Atlas is a Titan, Worst is Solomon, since he's not even Greek.

So yeah... if we go with the idea Hippolyta is a demi-goddess daughter of Ares? well.... she's the equal of Achilles at least.

[charliehustle415]

They can be treated like Hindu gods, where they have a different "face" depending on who is viewing them.

Hindu gods have millions of versions of themselves why not the Helenistic Gods too