you know we've been doing a lot of crazy
videos lately I think we're just gonna
take it old-school today Shazam's origin
told all the way back in whiz comics
number two from 1940 is a peculiar story
one that transforms the young Billy
Batson into a magical superhero takes
him on an exciting crime-fighting
adventure and then ends with the
mysterious twist that leaves us
questioning if anything in this story
actually happened for real
maybe Shazam solely exists in the
imaginative mind of Billy Batson and
every story of the heroes deeds told
since his debut issue is just a
fabricated tale told by a child is
Shazam even real or just a superhero
myth how are you doing your wonderful
nerds Scott here and if you're curious
there will not be any spoilers for the
Shazam movie here but I will be
referring to the character as Shazam for
the whole video rather than his original
name of Captain Marvel just for the sake
of clarity yeah I know that's heretical
to some people but I'm used to paying a
disappointment so well let's get back
into Shazam's origins story it opens on
the young Billy Batson being guided by a
mysterious figure into a mystical cavern
where he meets an old wizard the wizard
instructs Billy to speak the magic word
Shazam so he may transform into a
magical superhero possessing powers and
abilities gifted to him by mythological
figures it's not long before Billy gets
to test out these new super powers as an
evil scientist named Savannah threatens
to take the nation's entire radio
broadcast system offline with his radio
silence erm if he doesn't get fifty
million dollars
Billy overhears some of Savannah's thugs
talking about the evil plan and follows
them to learn the whereabouts of the
radio silencer after gathering intel on
Savannah's nefarious scheme Billy
attempts to alert the president of a
radio broadcasting station named mr.
Morris but Morris disregards Billy's
warning as he's being ushered out of the
building Billy makes a deal with mr.
Morris
if Billy can track down and destroy
Savannah's radio silencer on his own mr.
Morris will give the kid a job as a
radio announcer on his station that
night Billy transforms into Shazam
breaks into the villainous hideout where
Savannah's thugs are operating the radio
silencer and smashes the diabolical
device to pieces Shazam transforms back
into billy batson once more and our kid
hero gives mr. morris a call to let him
know that the day is saved thanks to the
heroics of shoves except that's not what
happens
for some reason Billy never mentions
Shazam the story explains that in fact
Billy tells mr. Morris about everything
except Shazam making it seem like Billy
this child beat up a couple henchmen and
put an end to Savannah's evil plan all
by himself without superpowers of any
kind so the question then is Jimmy looks
like we have another mystery on our
hands gang just like the mystery of what
happened to Scooby's leg look a friend
got me this toy from the goodwill and I
don't know it's whole life story before
it got to me but the boy is mine now and
I love him unconditionally I've got it
sticks out it's a ton but barely but ok
alright clearly the logical answer is
that Billy didn't tell mr. Morris about
Shazam's existence because his potential
job as a radio announcer depended on him
stopping sivanna by himself and hey by
the end of the story
Billy is indeed established as a new
radio host at that station but following
issues of this series show that Billy
almost exclusively reports on stories
about the feats and adventures of Shazam
almost as if he's merely putting on an
exaggerated radio drama about a
fictional superhero where have we seen
those before if you think that this idea
seems a bit far-fetched to be an
accurate reading of this story it may be
the case that Billy Batson is first
outing as Shazam was meant to be left
ambiguous like this CC Beck one of
Shazam's co-creators and artist who drew
this story and many more after it wrote
an essay about the big red she's for the
magazine alter ego in it upend the real
secret behind the success of Shazam
which few people recognized was that
Billy Batson told about Shazam's
exploits over his radio and television
programs as far as anyone ever knew
Billy may have made up the stories he
told over the air in fact Cece Beck's
last time around drawing the character
that he helped bring him to life was in
Shazam number 10
1974 in a story called invasion of the
salad men it's just as silly as it
sounds some sentient vegetables try to
conquer earth and actually manage to
kill shazam and this unsettling image
but nope the whole thing was fake the
veggies just needed enough money to buy
parts to repair their spaceship that
crash-landed on earth and somehow they
figured that producing an entire feature
film where they'd fight and defeat
shazam was the quickest way to raise
capital
you know I majored in film in college I
don't remember it being a get-rich-quick
scheme oh god I have so much debt anyway
I bring up the story because Bek
specifically requested a change to the
script that never ended up going through
he thought it would be best to end this
tale by revealing that the entire thing
may have been made up by Billy Batson it
would conclude with Billy broadcasting
the end of the story to some young
listeners who would question its
validity and ultimately leave it up to
us the readers it kinda seems like CC
Beck really loved this idea of implying
that Billy Batson is nothing more than a
dirty liar who just invents these
stories about Shazam a superhero who
might not even exist now if you followed
this channel for a while you know that I
don't tend to put that much weight into
authorial intent but I do enjoy this
interpretation of Shazam even his whole
mystical origin story when you revisit
it could be explained away rationally
think about it you're a kid selling
papers on the street it's dark and late
and you're tired so you might
accidentally drift off to sleep on the
job your mind in Cox this dream be
filled with magical trains and
supernatural subterranean caverns and a
wizard who gives you powers you only
dreamed of suddenly you're not a
powerless child but an ultra powerful
superhero in a blinding flash of
lightning because you know it is
storming outside after all you wake up
right where you left off in the real
world remarking that everything you
experienced feels like nothing more than
a dream maybe it was maybe the
adventures of Shazam told from this
point forward are nothing more than
stories from the colorful mind
young billy batson yeah at least in his
original Fawcett comics until three was
purchased by DC and started crossing
over with their heroes in their universe
makes it kind of hard to imply that Sam
doesn't exist when he's in a big
expanded canon that includes Superman
and salad aliens yeah hey how important
our salad aliens to the DC Canon but
this idea makes sense in a way right
like a superhero having the power of
Zeus should be more than enough to stop
some 1940s gangsters or an evil
scientist but that is just one thread of
the floral patterned cape of Shazam each
letter of the character's name stands
for a different being from whom Shazam
gets his powers the wisdom of Solomon
the strength of Hercules the stamina of
Atlas the power of Zeus the courage of
Achilles and the speed of mercury and
like that collection of characters seems
odd doesn't it these beings that make up
the powers of Shazam don't all come from
one mythos it's a mishmash of
influential figures from across three
different cultures Zeus Hercules Atlas
and Achilles they're all Greek myths
that's fine that checks out but mercury
is very much Roman and Solomon isn't
even a God but was known as a wise king
of Israel you probably know the story of
him wanting to cut a baby in half and if
you don't know that story I don't want
to explain it any further because I
think it's funnier that way the reason
why Shazam has all of these powers
channeled through one being is that
writer and co-creator Bill Parker
initially wanted to create a team of
godlike heroes but that idea was said to
be a bit too unwieldy so instead the
powers were combined into one super hero
Parker also cited elements of Arthurian
legends that inspire the creation of
Shazam a young boy hero and old wizard
magic spells etc and honestly this
process of creating Shazam by
essentially throwing all kinds of myths
and legends into a blender sounds like
what would happen if you asked a small
childlike and Billy Batson to create the
most powerful being they can think of
yeah
like Goku plus Superman and they have
two Infinity Gauntlet it's just in case
they leave one that their friend Greg's
house but here's the thing when I
propose the idea that Shazam is nothing
more than a myth I don't just mean that
maybe he only exists in the mind of
Billy Batson that is a fun theory don't
get me wrong but I think we can go
deeper laurence Maslin author of
superheroes capes cowls and the creation
of comic book culture referred to
superheroes as our Greek myths and he's
not the first comparisons of superheroes
and myths have been made for decades by
scholars and literary critics one of the
first seminal essays being Umberto eCos
the myth of Superman all the way back in
1972
now the word myth is typically used in a
modern context as a story or idea that's
untrue a commonly held but false belief
a common misconception or comic
misconception if you like
I don't think of Mythbusters or Jonathan
Frakes telling you everything you
believe is a lie that's false
no way not this time but in an academic
sense myth it's not a term that aims to
assess the trueness of a story I believe
that's up to Veritas the Roman goddess
of truth rather the term a myth for our
purposes just means a significant story
that has stood the test of time for
hundreds or thousands of years
now obviously modern comic book
superheroes have only been around for
less than a century but the rise and
endurance of superhero movies says to me
that these stories and characters
definitely have staying power but if
superheroes do disappear entirely within
the next century or so then well I mean
I'll be dead I can't hear anyone tell me
I'm wrong you're wrong arguably the
best-known mythologist of the last
century is Joseph Campbell you might
recognize his name from the power of
myth or the hero with a thousand faces
which detailed the structure of the
hero's journey that you've probably
heard and referenced to almost any pop
culture story from Star Wars to The Lion
King because Disney are a bunch of hack
in the hero with a thousand faces
Campbell wrote that the prime function
of mythology is to supply these symbols
that carry the human spirit forward
encounter action to those that tend to
tie it back similarly in their essay on
the subject of comic book heroes as
modern American Gods writer Carl Pettit
describes the function of superheroes as
role models for society punishing those
who would
evil among us while inspiring others to
do better in an unfair world you can see
how these two ideas overlap quite a bit
with a focus on inspiring us to push
forward in a world that can hold us down
we're not perfect beings but we can
aspire to be better and do better take
another look at mr. super myth himself
Shazam
while a traditional reading of his
origin implies or outright proclaims
that Billy Batson is a perfect pure
wholesome child protector no protector
you say and yet despite enduring
countless tragedies and hardships you've
somehow managed to protect your perfect
heart
most modern tellings reinterpret Billy
as a brat who doesn't care about anyone
but himself so it's strange that when
the old wizard casts a spell to seek out
a being of pure good to take up the
mantle of Shazam this selfish child is
the one brought to him she's answered
the old wizard expresses his
disappointment that Billy is imperfect
just like everyone else who was summoned
before him but Billy explains how long
have you been looking for a pure good
person a very long time so let me give
you a clue because it doesn't look like
you get out much people are horrible
they disappoint you they let you down
I've spent my life learning that there
are pure good people that must be good
people get swallowed up they get taken
advantage of they disappeared trust me
it doesn't matter how good you try to be
everyone else is gonna drag you down
with them you're searching for something
that doesn't really exist that's why you
never found it but you said you tried to
be good do you have the embers of God
inside you then yes you you do have
potential I suppose this version of
Shazam emphasizes that waiting for
perfect beings to come and fix the world
for us is kind of an antiquated idea
that ultimately doesn't promote much
change but within each of us even the
snotty Billy Batson is the potential to
make a positive difference I know
there's a bit of a split on fans who
love this modern interpretation of the
character and those who prefer the
original back when he was still called
Captain Marvel but personally I love
them both Shazam is a fun corny
endlessly strange and inspiring a
superhero litter
mythic proportions besides if we really
do need a pure soul to take up the
mantle of Shazam I think we all know
there's really only one clear contender
now they can't do the ritual without a
pure human soul we're in the water
they're gonna get one of those it's a
human
[Music]
so help you
but there's one more thing that we
haven't addressed yet to go along with
Campbell's explanation of mythology if
superheroes are symbols that carry the
human spirit forward then what are the
forces that they are counteracting well
Umberto Eco in his essay that we briefly
touched on earlier may have answered
this question the hero equipped with
powers superior to those of the common
man has been a constant of the popular
imagination often the hero's virtue is
humanized and his powers rather than
being supernatural or the extreme
realization of natural endowments such
as a studious swiftness fighting ability
or even logical fallacies and the pure
spirit of observation found in Sherlock
Holmes in an industrial society however
where man becomes a number in the realm
of an organization which has usurped his
decision-making role he has no means of
production and is thus deprived of his
power to decide individual strength is
left about 20 with the strength of
machines which determine man's very
movements in such a society the positive
hero must embody to an unthinkable
degree power demands that the average
citizen nurtures but could not satisfy
oh yeah that's right I'm teasing the
sequel hook you nerds I've always lived
up to those we've only briefly discussed
superheroes as modern mythology in this
video but tune in next time where I
dramatically reveal that these myths
were created to fight against the fears
of callous American industrialism and
technological innovation dang it I just
gave the whole thing away it didn't that
quick Jonathan Frakes gasps like people
not a chance not the fun it never
happened hey thanks so much for watching
sorry the audio is a bit echoey we're
still getting set up in the new space
hope you understand if you like this and
want more deep dives into comics and
culture I'd love it if you subscribed it
would be super wonderful of you to
consider supporting me monthly on
patreon or you can make a one-time
donation through PayPal I want to give a
huge thanks to Christopher lang Laurie
Tim's Billy Baum's Everett parrot have
Alex miggles Jonathan and Megan Pearson
Jonathan Lewandowski sonali monka and
the rest of the wonderful nerds who
support me over at patreon.com slash
nerd sync you wonderful clicker tab
right here to watch my previous video
about why the scrolls in captain Marv
had to change and what that means it's a
lot of fun stuff once again my name is
Scott reminding you to read between the
panels and grow smarter through comics
Xia this isn't really light from that
Lantern back there it's movie magic I'm
lying to you