The mightiest MARY MARVEL 2022 appreciation thread

[Frontier]

I mean, everyone still thinks/calls her Mary Marvel at this point.

[Digifiend]

And anyway, it's not like Marvel's using that specific name. DC can't use Captain Marvel or just Marvel on a cover, but they can probably still use Mary Marvel. Technically CM3 (Freddy's old name after he stopped being called Junior) too, but that name is meaningless if Billy isn't CM.

They just need to recontextualise it - hence my suggestion that maybe it's coined by the press, meaning she doesn't actually choose that name. The name she'd probably choose is the same as Billy's - Shazam. Mary wouldn't want to be seen as just a girl version of a male hero, she'd want to be seen as his equal, right?

[MajorHoy]

And anyway, it's not like Marvel's using that specific name. DC can't use Captain Marvel or just Marvel on a cover, but they can probably still use Mary Marvel. Technically CM3 (Freddy's old name after he stopped being called Junior) too, but that name is meaningless if Billy isn't CM.

I never understood the "CM3" bit, but then again, I wasn't regularly following DC comics (or any other company) back then.

Why "3"? Who was "CM2"?

[Digifiend]

2 would be Mary. Freddy was the third member of the Captain Marvel family - at least in post-Crisis continuity (Freddy debuted before Mary in the golden age).

[K7P5V]

^^^OMG! I miss both CM3 & the Ordway run!! The majority won't agree, but I'll always love Ordway's direction...

[Frontier]

^^^OMG! I miss both CM3 & the Ordway run!! The majority won't agree, but I'll always love Ordway's direction...

They look cute together .

[MajorHoy]

2 would be Mary. Freddy was the third member of the Captain Marvel family - at least in post-Crisis continuity (Freddy debuted before Mary in the golden age).

That's my problem . . . I gave up on DC in general (for a while) in 1995, so I only read the first two-or-three issues of Ordway's Power of Shazam!
So I always think of Freddy becoming a Marvel before Mary did.
Did Ordway ever have Mary go by "Captain Marvel"?

[Phoenixx9]

^^^OMG! I miss both CM3 & the Ordway run!! The majority won't agree, but I'll always love Ordway's direction...

I know, right??

Both he and Shazamam!

[K7P5V]

That's my problem . . . I gave up on DC in general (for a while) in 1995, so I only read the first two-or-three issues of Ordway's Power of Shazam!
So I always think of Freddy becoming a Marvel before Mary did.
Did Ordway ever have Mary go by "Captain Marvel"?

IIRC, several times. In fact, here's an early example from...

The Power of SHAZAM! #5

[SanityOrMadness]

And anyway, it's not like Marvel's using that specific name. DC can't use Captain Marvel or just Marvel on a cover, but they can probably still use Mary Marvel.

Doesn't work like that - Marvel Comics have the "Marvel" trademark for comics. Any name that includes "Marvel" is pretty much a no-no. (Imagine Marvel published a comic called "DC Billy"...)

Plus it extends beyond comics. Hence the name of her JLU figure, for instance:

[MajorHoy]

. . . Plus it extends beyond comics. Hence the name of her JLU figure, for instance:

I still think of "The Wizard" being named "Shazam", but that's because I'm older . . .

[Digifiend]

But note the quotation marks there. That merch technically doesn't give Billy a name at all, and instead uses something he says.

As for Mary, I see JLU adapted out her being adopted by the Bromsfelds. Considering she has her brother's last name there.

[SanityOrMadness]

Did Ordway ever have Mary go by "Captain Marvel"?

I'm not actually sure he ever called her "Mary Marvel"! There were definitely "Captains Marvel" and "the lady Captain Marvel" references, and they shared empowering Freddy (so he was technically calling on *both* of them - Ordway had the power actually split, so they were most powerful when only one was powered up, and much less so when all three were)

She also aged up like Billy when powered up - indeed, Ordway made explicit that they turned into their parents in an altered-universe arc where they survived and got the power. (Mary's white costume effectively came from that arc - while there was no in-continuity link to the change, her mum had a white costume, and Mary changed the very next issue. Clearly, he liked the effect of them all in different colours)

As for Mary, I see JLU adapted out her being adopted by the Bromsfelds. Considering she has her brother's last name there.

Did she even appear in the cartoon-proper? (I'm actually not sure). I only brought it up because it was an easy-to-get example of merch avoiding the "Marvel" name even with her.

[Digifiend]

Apparently not (so why does that action figure even exist?). The Young Justice Wiki lists previous animated appearances for the characters, and Mary has three. The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Since Young Justice is newer than JLU, that means she wasn't in JLU.

https://youngjustice.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Mary

[Frontier]

Apparently not (so why does that action figure even exist?). The Young Justice Wiki lists previous animated appearances for the characters, and Mary has three. The Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Since Young Justice is newer than JLU, that means she wasn't in JLU.

https://youngjustice.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Mary

She was also in the last Lego DC DTV.