- [Voiceover] Welcome to Super Suits,
a show that breaks down all the famous lawsuits
in the history of super heroes and comic books.
And on today's show, we're taking a look at
this guy right here.
To some of you, he's known as Shazam,
others Captain Marvel.
Now, why that is would take
a whole 'nother video to explain,
and oh, hey look, Scott just so happened to do a video
on this very subject.
If you're still hazy, go watch that one and come back,
because what I do plan to talk about right now
is the strange and exciting tale
of how he joined the DC Universe.
So, hop into your DeLoreans everyone,
and hang on tight, because we're going way back
for this one.
You see, Shazam--
Okay, I'm going to call him Shazam for the rest
of the video, FYI, just for simplicity's sake.
It is what he's called currently in the comics,
so just go with me on this one.
Even if it does seem like a giant betrayal, I apologize.
Was created in 1939 by artist C.C. Beck
and writer Bill Parker.
He first appeared in Whiz Comics Number 2, February 1940,
published by Fawcett Comics, in what is now called
the golden age of comics and super heroes.
Shazam, again, then known as Captain Marvel,
was one of the most popular heroes of the 40s.
He had a whole family of Marvel characters,
including Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr.
and even chubby uncle Dudley Marvel.
Yeah, well I guess there is one in every family,
isn't there, am I right?
He even had the rare distinction of being
the first super hero ever to be put to film,
with his very own "Adventures of Captain Marvel"
movie serial in 1941.
Why, for a very brief moment in history,
as crazy as it might sound to all of you today,
Shazam was more popular than Superman.
Now, at this point in history, National Comics Publications,
one of the precursors to current DC Comics
as we know them today, had already been embroiled
in a number of copyright lawsuits
with other comic companies,
even Fawcett themselves,
over characters they felt were carbon copies of Superman.
Heroes with names that have long since
been wiped away from the public consciousness.
I'm talking Wonder Man, no, not the one
you're thinking of from Marvel,
or Master Man, again not the one you're probably
thinking of from Marvel Comics.
Most of the time, these cases were pretty open and shut.
Ending with the people National sued
ceasing with the publication of the characters in question.
But with Shazam, things changed drastically
when National came knocking with a cease and desist order
in June 1941.
Fawcett decided to fight.
After all, Shazam was their flagship hero.
They had everything tied up in him.
National's entire copyright case was built
around the argument that Shazam's main powers
and characteristics, super strength, super speed,
invulnerability, a skin-tight costume with a cape,
a news reporter alter ego,
and an arch nemesis who was a bald mad scientist,
were all derived directly from those of Superman.
Fawcett's counter argument was that although
those two characters were indeed similar,
the similarities were not infringing.
National also provided a series of Superman covers
juxtaposed to Shazam covers, wherein the two characters
seemed to be doing very similar heroic deeds.
Fawcett would contend that those things happen all the time.
If Popeye does something in his comic strip,
and then Tarzan does something similar in his,
is it plagiarism?
Fawcett certainly didn't think so.
The judge at the time certainly seemed to agree
with the people at Fawcett, and it totally helped
that the trial had also just so happened
to uncover information about Superman's
own copyright status, mainly that they had
let him fall into the public domain without even knowing it,
which means that National is forced to deal with that
before moving on with their own trial.
Now, by all rights, this is where the story
should have ended, but it was not,
for you see, in 1951, National appealed the decision
to the United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.
There, the new judge, Learned Hand,
a fellow who sounds like he could
very well be a comic book character,
and who was already getting pretty famous
in his own right for his political progressiveness,
as well as being an advocate of judicial restraint,
ended up being far more sympathetic to National,
reversing the previous ruling.
Of course, by this point, the super hero comic bubble
had pretty much burst, the golden age was over,
and National agreed to settle
with Fawcett Comics out of court.
Fawcett would be forced to pay National $400,000,
again, I'm not good at inflation,
but you can do the math for yourself,
that was a heck of a lot in the 50s.
They would also agree to cease publication
of all Shazam-related comics.
It was a death blow from which they would never recover.
And because real life is often much stranger
than comic book fiction,
this story took yet another very unexpected turn.
You see, Shazam remained out of print
for the rest of the 1950s and the entirety of the 1960s.
A period during which super hero comics
regained their popularity.
When DC licensed the rights to all of Fawcett's super heroes
in 1972 and revived Shazam, in a periodical entitled,
well, go figure, "Shazam!"
They also obtained the reprint rights to the original
Fawcett comic books, and begun running older stories
in the various reprint titles.
By 1980, DC bought the rights
to the Fawcett characters outright,
and in 1987, relaunched the character
in a mini-series entitled, "Shazam! The New Beginning"
and from then on, the rest, as they say, is history.
Shazam is now a regular fixture of the main DC Universe,
featured in comics, cartoons, and even video games.
And to think, all of this was due in no small part
to a Super Suit.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Super Suits
and if you want more information
on Captain Marvel/Shazam, well guess what,
Scott and NerdSync got you covered.
You can check out that video right here
and educate yourself a little further
on a very interesting comic book topic.
And if you want to see what I'm all about,
I'm always doing great reviews
over on my own channel, Caped-Joel.
If you go there now, you can check out my review
of one of the newest episodes of The Flash.
Also, don't forget to hit that big, red,
shiny subscribe button for more episodes
of Super Suits and more great videos from Scott.
Do it, I swear you'll feel like
Earth's mightiest mortal once you do.