Marvel Family

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The Marvel Family is a group of fictional characters, a team of superheroes in the Fawcett Comics and DC Comics universes. Created in 1942 by writer Otto Binder and Fawcett artists C.C. Beck, Mac Rayboy, Ed Herron and Marc Swayze, the team is an extension of Fawcett's Captain Marvel franchise, and includes Marvel's sister Mary Marvel, their friend Captain Marvel, Jr., and, at various times, a number of other characters as well.

Contents

1 History
2 Marvel Family members

2.1 Current members
2.2 Past members
2.3 Future members

3 Marvel Family allies
4 See also

History

The Marvel Family was established in 1942 after the introductions of Captain Marvel's partners the Lieutenant Marvels (Whiz Comics #21, September 1941), Captain Marvel, Jr. (Whiz Comics #25, December 1941) and Mary Marvel (Captain Marvel Adventures #18, December 1942). With Junior and Mary's additions to his adventures, Captain Marvel became the first superhero to have a team of sidekicks who share his powers, abilities, and appearance; a concept later adapted for heroes such as Superman and Aquaman, among others.

The members of the Marvel Family appeared both separately and together in many of Fawcett's comic book series, including Whiz Comics, Wow Comics, Master Comics, Captain Marvel Adventures, Captain Marvel, Jr, Mary Marvel, and The Marvel Family. By the late 1940s, Marvel Family comics were among the most popular in the industry, and the Marvel Family had expanded to include both non-superpowered characters (Uncle Marvel and Freckles Marvel) and even funny animals (Hoppy the Marvel Bunny). By 1953, all of these books had ceased publication, due to Superman publisher DC Comics' lawsuit against Fawcett.

In 1972, DC licensed the rights to the Marvel Family characters, and began publishing them in a comic series titled Shazam!. Fawcett sold DC the rights to the characters in 1980, by which time Shazam! had been cancelled, and the Marvels had been relegated the back-up feature of World's Finest Comics, and, later, Adventure Comics. DC retconned Captain Marvel in 1986 with their Legends miniseries, establishing him as a solo hero without a team. Writer/artist Jerry Ordway resurrected the Marvel Family in 1995 with his Power of Shazam! series, establishing the team as being made up solely of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel, Jr.

Marvel Family members

Current members

Captain Marvel. The World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel is the superpowered alter-ego of young Billy Batson, who speaks the name of the wizard Shazam to become a red-and-gold clad adult superhero. Marvel has the powers of Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength), Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage), and Mercury (speed); and serves as the wizard Shazam's champion and herald. Marvel shares his powers with the rest of the Marvel Family and is destined to become the Wizard's successor as the caretaker of the Rock of Eternity.

Mary Marvel. Billy's once-lost twin sister Mary Batson (adopted as Mary Bromfield), who found she could say the magic word "SHAZAM!" and become a female Marvel. The classic-era Mary Marvel remained a teenager after saying her magic word, with a yellow on red short sleeve and skirt costume, while the modern version is transformed into an adult like her brother, with a yellow on white costume. During the run of the series The Power of Shazam!, Mary shared the title of "Captain Marvel" with Billy. In the Formerly Known as the Justice League miniseries, Mary became part of the "Super Buddies," a group consisting largely of former Justice League members, after Captain Marvel turned down his invitation. The classic-era Mary Marvel had a different set of patrons from Captain Marvel, who contributed to her powers. They were: Selene (grace), Hippolyte (strength), Ariadne (skill), Zephyrus (swiftness), Aurora (beauty) and Minerva (wisdom).

Captain Marvel, Jr. Attacked and left for dead by Captain Nazi, Freddy Freeman was given the power to become a Marvel to save his life. Whenever he speaks Captain Marvel's name, Freddy becomes a teenage version of Captain Marvel with a sharply contrasting yellow on blue costume. This created the odd problem that he could not identify himself without changing back to his regular form. The modern-day Junior at one time went by the alias CM3 (short for "Captain Marvel Three", "CM1" being Billy and "CM2" being Mary) so that he could identify himself without transforming. He was a member of the Teen Titans during the late-1990s. Junior has recently joined the current incarnation of the Outsiders, after teaming up with them once on an early mission to stop Sabbac.

Past members

Uncle Dudley/Uncle Marvel. During the classic era, an old man named Dudley claimed that he was not only a relative of the Marvels but also a Marvel himself (although neither was true). The Marvels took a liking to him and decided to humor him, and "Uncle" Dudley became Uncle Marvel, the Marvel Family's manager. His niece Freckles Marvel was an irregular companion of Mary Marvel's in her classic-era solo adventures. In modern continuity, Dudley is simply a janitor at Billy's school who finds himself involved in Marvel Family adventures.
The Lieutenant Marvels. Three other boys named "Billy Batson" (nicknamed "Tall Billy", "Fat Billy", and "Hill Billy"—the latter because he was from Appalachia-to differentiate themselves from "Real Billy", Captain Marvel) who learned that, because they also were named Billy Batson, they could draw on the power of Shazam. They vowed only to use their power if asked by Captain Marvel, and only if all three were to say the magic word, "SHAZAM!", in unison. They have not appeared in Marvel Family stories since the early 1980s, having been retconned out of existence during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. A spin-off character generally confined to his own series, the pink funny animal rabbit version of Captain Marvel periodically assisted the human Marvels in their adventures.

Future members

These Marvels appear in DC Comics stories set in the far future.

Thunder. The star of the The Power of Shazam! 1996 Annual, Thunder is the superpowered alter-ego of a young girl from the 857 century named Cecebeck. An aged Captain Marvel serves as a mentor to the girl the same way Shazam served as his mentor. Whenever Cecebeck speaks the magic word "Captain Marvel", she is transformed into Thunder, an adult superheroine. After being lost in the timestream, Thunder briefly teamed up with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th Century.

Tanist. A teenaged male Marvel who appeared in The Power of Shazam! #1,000,000 (November 1998). After losing his mother, the crippled Tanist stumbles upon the Rock of Eternity and meets the aged Captain Marvel, who grants the boy superpowers to save his life as he had done for Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel, Jr.

The cover of Whiz Comics #59, featuring most of the cast of the classic-era Marvel Family adventures.

Marvel Family allies

The Wizard Shazam. Although he is killed, as prophesied, after giving Billy the power to become Captain Marvel, Shazam's spirit remains as the vigilant caretaker of the Rock of Eternity. In current continuity, Shazam does not die after granting Billy his powers, and was a much more active character than he was during the classic Marvel Family adventures. He attained godhood after the 1998 Genesis crossover, and was ultimately defeated and murdered by the Spectre in the 2005 Day of Vengeance miniseries.

Beautia and Magnificus Sivana. Dr. Sivana's beautiful adult daughter Beautia shared her father's passion for world domination until meeting, and falling for, Captain Marvel. She has an unrequited crush on the shy Captain, not realizing that he is actually only a young boy. Her brother Magnificus is also generally depicted as a Marvel Family ally, although in his only Golden Age appearance, Magnificus had super powers and fought Captain Marvel hand-to-hand.

Mister Tawky Tawny. A humanoid sapient tiger who, in classic-era continuity, wishes to live among the humans in civilization instead of in the wild or the zoo. As such, he is typically dressed in a tweed business suit and usually carries himself in a formal dignified manner. The modern-day Tawky Tawny was a stuffed tiger doll who was animated by Lord Satanus to assist the Marvel Family in their battle against Satanus's sister Blaze. He only appeared as an animate being to Billy, Mary, and later Dudley at first (a la Hobbes in Calvin and Hobbes), but later was made permanently real by the power of Ibis the Invincible.

Mr. Sterling Morris. The president of WHIZ radio and Billy's employer.

Miss Wormwood. In modern-era comics, Billy's schoolteacher (and later principal), presented as the typical "mean teacher" stereotype. Her name is another reference to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, where Calvin's schoolteacher was also named Miss Wormwood.

Cissie Sommerly. Billy's girlfriend in classic-era continuity.

Nick and Nora Bromfield. In modern continuity, Mary Batson's adoptive parents, who adopted her through illegal means after their maid, Sarah Primm, brought the child to them (Primm saved Mary from her kidnapper, Primm's brother Theo Adam). Nora Bromfield was a cousin of Billy and Mary's mother, but chose not to tell Mary about her real family. The Bromfields would eventually gain the rights to legally adopt both Mary and Billy, giving the children a traditional family structure again. The couple was named after Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man film series.