The change DC should make to Shazam immediately

[Digifiend]

Probably not. The issue with Captain Marvel was never just that it's also the name of a Marvel character. It's that said character Billy shared the name with is now extremely high profile and ubiquitous in a way that makes for confusing branding (especially since DC can't even use it for merchandising while Marvel absolutely does). Marvel hasn't actively marketed Steve Rogers as the Captain in decades.

They've reused the name for another character though, in Nextwave. That was 18 years ago though.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Capta...e)_(Earth-616)

[Holt]

They've reused the name for another character though, in Nextwave. That was 18 years ago though.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Capta...e)_(Earth-616)

See: “actively marketed”

The character not only rarely appears in comics (his last appearance was six years ago during Civil War II), but he’s had virtually no presence outside of comics either, save for a convention exclusive action figure. It’s not remotely the same situation as Captain Marvel.

[The Darknight Detective]

I would just name him Colonel (Commander? Admiral? Commodore? Major? Whatever) Thunder and end all of this silliness.

[astro@work]

Mary does - she's the New Champion of Shazam, or just Shazam for short. She calls herself Shazam in the last issue of the New Champion mini, and then in Lazarus Planet when Billy comes back she's addressed as New Champion. A reporter (who doesn't know her real name) does nearly call her Miss M- but is interrupted by Darla who repeats what Mary had said earlier in the issue and says her name is Shazam.

In Teen Titans Academy Donna Troy actually referred to Billy as "Captain freaking Shazam" at one point, so they've been setting up Billy calling himself Captain. The other four are depowered anyway.

Would be weird if all 6 of them went by Shazam though. I do like The Champion of Shazam as a moniker. Maybe we could have The Captain of, The Lieutenants of, and the Champion of?

To me that's preferable to 6 Shazams running around, or again complete avoidance of any name for the rest of them. I'm also assuming the other 4 will get powered back up at some point, particularly with a new ongoing coming up in (I think) May.

[TheRay]

I mean calling him Captain Marvel in everything except the title works fine by me. Call the title whatever you want and call him Captain Marvel in the story, sounds like the best of both worlds. Besides, I like Captain Thunder, etc. being an Elseworlds name.

[All Star Superman]

Intriguing thread. I wonder if the legal situation would allow for "Major Marvel" in the comics and in marketing? Not that it's going to change anytime soon, but it's possible a decade or so after the next "Shazam" movie is released. I like the alliteration and, at least in the Marines, a major outranks a captain.

[TheRay]

My problem with switching his name to "Shazam" in continuity, aside from it being his word for changing, is that it is already the name of the ancient wizard who bestows the power upon him.

[Alan2099]

I kinda liked when the comic was called Billy Batson and the Power of Shazam.

I also remember seeing Superman comics where they had cover blurbs saying things like "Superman vs Shazam" or "The Man of Steel vs Earths Mightiest Mortal!"

GI Joe and Transformers have also ran into similar problems where they lost the rights to some of their characters names. So instead of selling an action figure called Jazz or General Hawk thjey sold "AutoBot Jazz" and "General Clayton "Hawk" Albernathy."

I don't see why DC can't use these options. He's Captain Marvel. You can find him in the "Power of Shazam" series. If you want a toy of the guy you buy a Shazam figure of a "Billy 'Captain Marvel' Batson" figure.

[MajorHoy]

I mean calling him Captain Marvel in everything except the title works fine by me. Call the title whatever you want and call him Captain Marvel in the story, sounds like the best of both worlds.

That was how DC originally dealt with it . . . until they stopped and called the character "Shazam!" as well.

[dswynne]

My problem with switching his name to "Shazam" in continuity, aside from it being his word for changing, is that it is already the name of the ancient wizard who bestows the power upon him.

The fix was that the Wizard, whose real name was Mamaragan (an aboriginal god of thunder), died, and passed the mantle of being "Shazam" over to Billy.

[TheRay]

I hate that even more.

I mean if he’s already an ancient wizard, then how could he be getting too old to fight crime himself?

[Riv86672]

We’re forgetting the best option…:

[astro@work]

That was how DC originally dealt with it . . . until they stopped and called the character "Shazam!" as well.

I was never clear on why they dropped this strategy. Seemed like it worked for years.
But ever since nu52 he's only either been "Shazam" or "The hero with literally no name whatsoever" (not really catchy in any way).
How does the Daily Planet report on him or the Shazamily?
"The Heroes With Literally No Codename Saved the Day"?
or
"The 6 Shazams Saved The Day"?

These are all the reasons DC needs to settle on a name that addresses the issue, for the whole family, AND GET ON WITH IT.
The coy approach works for a few appearances, but not long term.

[Holt]

I was never clear on why they dropped this strategy. Seemed like it worked for years.

The one two punch of sharing the name with their biggest competitor and not being able to market the character by his name was probably less of a concern in quainter times, but as things became more corporate and the comics themselves became more or less an R&D department for other, more profitable ventures, that became less acceptable.

Marvel’s Captain Marvel becoming a household name (which was not the case for decades) in the years since probably further solidified it.

[The Darknight Detective]

I was never clear on why they dropped this strategy. Seemed like it worked for years.

It worked fine for the comics and television when the Marvel version wasn't anywhere near as recognizable as the original, but that was a long time ago.