The change DC should make to Shazam immediately

[Kirk Brent]

For those who don't know, Captain Marvel wasn't the original name of Billy Batson's alter ego. It was Captain Thunder and remained so until Fawcett learned that a character with the same name was already copyrighted. They went to Captain Marvel as it was available and the rest is history.

For decades now, DC's solution to Marvel's copyright of the name is to call Captain Marvel "Shazam" both on cover and in the comics themselves. While Geoff Johns wrote his way around that in the New 52 era, it's still a clumsy solution that ultimately makes little sense. It's akin to Johnny Storm calling himself "Flame On!" instead of The Human Torch.

Johns used the Captain Thunder name in Flashpoint and Morrison referred to Captain Marvel's Earth-Five as "Thunderworld" in Multiversity.

So, I think DC should just rename the character Captain Thunder. That also gives us Captain Thunder Jr., Mary Thunder, and the Thunders.

Shazam returns to being only the transformative word.

[witchboy]

If the choice is between Captain Thunder and Shazam, I'd much prefer Captain Thunder. Shazam is an awful name for the character.
Now, I'd prefer if they just kept to calling him Captain Marvel even if they can't use the name as a comic title. Calling the title Shazam and the character Captain Marvel works fine imo.

[MajorHoy]

I believe that name has previously been claimed . . .

Don't know if DC can jump in and claim it at present.

And there might be a lot of ill-will if they tried to take it away from Roy Thomas . . .

[captchuck]

I think the name used should still be "Captain Marvel" within the comic. The front cover title could include "Shazam," "Whiz" or "Marvel Family" featuring the Original Capt. Marvel."

[Robotman]

I would absolutely change his name to Captain Thunder. It’s a much better name than just “Shazam”.

It seems like Johns tried to make it happen with Flashpoint but DC didn’t make the change. Could’ve had to do with marketing.

Shazam as a name is recognizable and now that there’s a film franchise the chances of it changing are slim to none.

Though “Captain Thunder and the power of Shazam” has a nice ring to it.

[Lonewolf36]

Captain Thunder is trademarked and can't be used. DC has used the name Captain Thunder before but i think since it can't be used. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/William_Fawcett_(Earth-276)

[Holt]

They’re not gonna use the name Captain Marvel when their direct competitor now has an extremely high profile character by that name. The situation was awkward enough even before CM became a big mainstream deal.

[Stanlos]

Captain Superior!

[James Cameron]

Growing up I was never confused about which Captain Marvel was which. It would be one thing if Marvel's CM was a direct rip off of DC's, but they are entirely different characters from different publishers. People aren't stupid, realistically there is no problem with having two different Captain Marvels (especially if one of their titles is called Shazam) from both Marvel and DC, but I think people like to imagine hypothetical scenarios where a clueless audience member is sitting through Shazam and going "wait, isn't Captain Marvel that Brie Larson girl? Now I'm confused." If the brand name is Shazam, there should be no issue calling him Captain Marvel. But he'll be Shazam forever.

[Holt]

Less confusion, more branding. If this were just the age of comic books, then that might be one thing, but we’re long past that. Everything now is about leveraging IP into other, more profitable mediums. And when you can’t even call your character by his real name on merchandise and said name is instead all over a bunch of other merchandise for your competitor, that’s a level of awkwardness that becomes a bit ridiculous.




Your average suit doesn’t read comic books and thus doesn’t care about who was the first Captain Marvel. He wants to know why the hero doesn’t have the name printed on all the goddamn dolls and snack tie-ins.

“Oh cool, mommy, it’s Spider-Man!” “Actually, little Timmy, that’s just the name of the book. The hero’s name is Sergeant Arachnid.” “...What?”

[Riv86672]

Should Captain Marvel be renamed Captain Thunder?

^^^Nooooooooooo.

There’s nothing wrong w. the Captain Thunder name. For someone else…:

Like Robotman said though…:

Shazam as a name is recognizable and now that there’s a film franchise the chances of it changing are slim to none.

[John Venus]

No.

I would rather Captain Shazam.

[Vakanai]

Shazam is fine enough. Maybe Captain Shazam if you need a Captain. Captain Marvel is a ship that has sailed, and no fan argument can change that.

[Stanlos]

Growing up I was never confused about which Captain Marvel was which. It would be one thing if Marvel's CM was a direct rip off of DC's, but they are entirely different characters from different publishers. People aren't stupid, realistically there is no problem with having two different Captain Marvels (especially if one of their titles is called Shazam) from both Marvel and DC, but I think people like to imagine hypothetical scenarios where a clueless audience member is sitting through Shazam and going "wait, isn't Captain Marvel that Brie Larson girl? Now I'm confused." If the brand name is Shazam, there should be no issue calling him Captain Marvel. But he'll be Shazam forever.

I used to think that. With what's going on in the States with misinformation, and unethical actions have caused me to rethink that.

[married guy]

Captain Marvel.
If it ain't broke....
(I know, I know Marvel swooped in, but c'mon!)