Captain Marvel / Shazam Appreciaton

[Güicho]

Even if they did have them be related, it seems as though she's older than him.

Does she read that much older then Billy?
Maybe just more mature, they could be twins.
Hopefully they can still be revealed as long ago separated twins.

As to the movie, Grace Fulton(Mary) is definitely older, but might be playing Mary as younger than the actress is.
Maybe they were anticipating a growth spurt from (Asher Angel)Billy , and that in sequels they would look closer to the same age.
And they both age up to about the same when powered.
Actors Zachary Levi(adult Billy) & Michelle Borth(adult Mary) are abt. 2 years apart.

Although right now they are definitely not reading much as twins. Which is a shame.
Of all the changes to the mythology, this change (and blond Freddy) are what irk me the most.

And she's in a foster home going by the name Bromwell, kind of defeating the contrast of her growing up with rich and loving foster/adoptive parents to contrast Billy's tough time.

Yeah hate losing that too, although she may have been bumped from one family (the Bromwell's) to a home. So by contrast knows and appreciates what it means to lose a stable home.
While Billy never even experienced even that.

[KurtW95]

Of all the changes to the mythology, this is the change (and blond Freddy) that irks me the most.

It's weird that they're sticking with that, considering the movie and Post-Flashpoint Paradox animated adaptions have dark hair.

[Güicho]

It's weird that they're sticking with that, considering the movie and Post-Flashpoint Paradox animated adaptions have dark hair.

It's strange, it adds nothing to the character, and if anything it visually robs him of the famous connection to Elvis, who somewhat molded his image off Freddy.
Also the lightning emblem color (on all of them) seems to be switched to blue? Those two simple color corrections, would go a long way for me.

[andersonh1]

I don't know either. They might not give him a name. The trailer implied that the magic word is what transforms him, so that kind of makes it hard to call him Shazam without stupid fine print about meaning it like the New 52 version. Also, they made it clear that it's the wizard's name. Zachary Levi seems to be a fan of calling the character Captain Marvel, and in an interview he said they have fun with the name change, whatever that means. I absolutely hate it when they call him Shazam, so I'm hoping for the unlikelihood that they go with Captain Marvel, though something that might be more likely could be not giving him a superhero name at all, like I said before. That wouldn't be as good as calling him Captain Marvel, but far better than calling him Shazam.

I'm hoping for Captain Marvel. And to be honest, that sounds more like the type of name a couple of kids might come up with if they were trying to create a "superhero" name for Billy's new alter ego. But I guess we'll see what they decide. All the references to wanting a Golden Age feel for the character have me cautiously optimistic.

[JimmySpectre]

Director says film will avoid 'Captain Marvel' & fully embracing 'Shazam' because of the confusion.

http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/23/shaz...aptain-marvel/

[The Darknight Detective]

Director says film will avoid 'Captain Marvel' & fully embracing 'Shazam' because of the confusion.

http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/23/shaz...aptain-marvel/

Not surprised to hear this at all.

[KurtW95]

Director says film will avoid 'Captain Marvel' & fully embracing 'Shazam' because of the confusion.

http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/23/shaz...aptain-marvel/

That's not really what the article says. It says "Let’s just say we’re going to have a bit of fun with that in the movie,” director David Sandberg (Lights Out) teases on the name change. “But he’s basically known as Shazam, which makes sense because of the confusion.” That's very different from embracing and avoiding. But aside from that, I don't think they should be the ones to avoid confusion. Billy was Captain Marvel before Marvel Comics was a thing and had the name 73 years before Marvel coopted it for a character that was already successful under her original name. And DC didn't cower and change Billy's name when Mar-Vell was a thing. Why start now? It's idiotic to call the character the name of the magic word and the wizard purely to appease a sorry rebranding that has consistently low sales and can largely be judged as a spectacular failure. Billy Batson will always be Captain Marvel.

[andersonh1]

Not surprised to hear this at all.

Neither am I, though I was hoping otherwise. I strongly disliked the renaming of the character for the New 52 and made the decision then I was done with any version of the character other than the classic. I don't see any reason to change that decision for this movie now. It already looked very "New 52" (especially Sivana), but with the fun tone of the trailer I wanted to be wrong.... but no, he's Shazam instead of Captain Marvel, and I'm out.

It doesn't get any clearer than this, sadly:

“Let’s just say we’re going to have a bit of fun with that in the movie,” director David Sandberg (Lights Out) teases on the name change. “But he’s basically known as Shazam, which makes sense because of the confusion.”

[Stanlos]

Director says film will avoid 'Captain Marvel' & fully embracing 'Shazam' because of the confusion.

http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/23/shaz...aptain-marvel/

Sigh

Well that is disappointing. But I will at least go out to see it since it is the first Captain Marvel movie in the modern era and if ever we want a new iteration that might resemble the more classoc take the movie will have to be at least moderately successful. So I will do my part.

[KurtW95]

No need for ridiculing. Everybody knows the legal issues with branding. But he was still called Captain Marvel. There is nothing preventing from calling him Captain Marvel today. And with regard to the MCU movie, don't assume it's going to be a hit. They're already struggling to get people interested, resorting to bringing back character from movies people like. And it's release date is a month before Shazam!, yet we haven't seen a trailer or any official photos for it.

[andersonh1]

No need for ridiculing.

Yeah, that's what I don't get here. Why the ridicule, the "you're delusional", "grandstanding", etc.? I hope those of you who want to go see the movie enjoy it. Good for you. But for some of us, there are things that make certain characters what they are and which make them appealing to us personally, and there's no reason the name can't be one of those things.

If they changed Batman's name, would people be "delusional" to complain about it?

[ironman2978]

They wanted to take him to the big screen, Marvel wanted to take their Captain Marvel to the big screen as well. Makes zero sense to confuse audiences and promote your competitor's hero at the same time. Captain Marvel already has a certified brand behind it and has been good as marketing. Going back to previous interviews and articles, it seems the Geoff Johns rebrand/new origin was always planned for the movie version and the long term, more than short term success.

Either way most non avid readers thought he was Shazam anyways (I honestly used to call him Shazam as a kid myself and to describe him to other friends). It's different type of argument renaming Shazam and Batman since Shazam is a common name for the big red cheese and was used as the title of the book anyway since he was purchased in the seventies, as opposed to Batman. I understand the comparison, but the situation is honestly two different beasts. It doesn't need to resort to name calling or making fun of on either side to be honest.

[Ascended]

I understand the comparison, but the situation is honestly two different beasts. It doesn't need to resort to name calling or making fun of on either side to be honest.

Agreed.

I don't understand why people get so hung up on this. I mean, I do, but I don't. It's not a creative thing; no one is snubbing Billy. It's just business. Sure, they can call Billy whatever they want inside the movie or a comic.....but it doesn't make a lot of sense to call him one thing on screen but market the film as something completely different. You can do it. But why would you want to? It's weird. Especially when your main competition has the rights to the name and using it is basically just free advertising for them.

It's unfortunate, and I don't really care for Shazam as a name at all. Captain Marvel is infinitely better. But the ugly, simple reality is that DC's better off changing Billy's name and moving on. They should have done it when they bought the IP back in the day (after Marvel had already gotten the name). If they had, we all would have made our peace with this decades ago.

I get the fans who don't like it. I don't either. Wish it was different. But I understand why DC finally gave up on the Captain Marvel mantle and have decided to just make the most of the branding they *do* have.

[J. D. Guy]

It's strange, it adds nothing to the character, and if anything it visually robs him of the famous connection to Elvis, who somewhat molded his image off Freddy.
Also the lightning emblem color (on all of them) seems to be switched to blue? Those two simple color corrections, would go a long way for me.

For me, I am completely disconnected with the disdain for blond-haired Freddy. Like, photoshoping the hair black actually ends up taking away from Freddy's appearance and overall feel, especially in that image.

I felt and still feel that making Freddy's hair blond was a sound choice. It looks good on him, in my opinion, and likely more relevantly, it helps him to appear more visually distinct. Before, all 3 of them had black hair. Now, though, there are 6 of them, and making them all have black/dark-colored hair, while not an impossible reality by any stretch, makes them all come off as too same-y because of it from a visual aesthetic perspective. With that in mind, Freddy gained blond hair to allow him to be more visually unique, which is important both as a foil to Billy and as the one among the kids who grows closest to Billy on the outset. And once again, I really do feel the brightness of it looks good on him, both in kid-mode and in its longer variation in Shazam-powered-mode.

On a side note, I also don't necessarily think they have "dropped" Billy and Mary being biologically related just because they've never brought it up New 52 book. They could still be revealed to be twins and it would still work, since they would be fraternal twins, who are functionally two separate children born back-to-back of each other, meaning they wouldn't look anymore explicitly similar than most siblings do. It's also been noted in-story that Billy looks young for his age of 15; Mary could just look more her shared age of 15 than Billy. And the thing of it is, since the point was to make the most of the family you have and not the family you wish you had, dropping a reveal of biological relations between Billy and Mary at any point during the story would have been totally contradictory to the major theme of the story being told, not to mention reductive and superfluous to it.

[Güicho]

Does she read that much older then Billy?
Maybe just more mature, they could be twins.
Hopefully they can still be revealed as long ago separated twins.

On a side note, I also don't necessarily think they have "dropped" Billy and Mary being biologically related just because they've never brought it up New 52 book. They could still be revealed to be twins and it would still work, since they would be fraternal twins, who are functionally two separate children born back-to-back of each other, meaning they wouldn't look anymore explicitly similar than most siblings do. It's also been noted in-story that Billy looks young for his age of 15; Mary could just look more her shared age of 15 than Billy.

I agree I haven't written it off yet, there is still room to reveal they were separated twins. Mary reads more mature, but could be the same age.
Hopefully this reveal is yet to come.

And the thing of it is, since the point was to make the most of the family you have and not the family you wish you had, dropping a reveal of biological relations between Billy and Mary at any point during the story would have been totally contradictory to the major theme of the story being told, not to mention reductive and superfluous to it

Also agree, the re-launch didn't need that reveal right away. As you indicate, it was about Billy making a family out of what he had.
Discovering the biological connection to Mary could still come later.