Strength
Health
Aptitude
Zeal
Ox, power of
Ox, power of another
Money!

Captain Marbles fought Superduperman in a parody of the court battle between DC Comics and Fawcett Publications over the similarity between Superman and Captain Marvel.

Fawcett Publications had licensed the use Captain Marvel and the members of his family to the L. Miller and Son company of Great Britain. L. Miller repackaged and reprinted the American Captain Marvel and Marvel Family stories. When Fawcett suddenly ceased its comic book line in 1954, L. Miller decided to redraw the Marvel Family stories they had in stock by transforming Captain Marvel into a new character called Marvelman. The architect behind Marvelman was Mick Anglo and his stable of artists.

Other Marvel Family members were also transformed into Marvelman Family members. Captain Marvel, Jr. became Young Marvelman. And in the strangest twist Mary Marvel become the male Kid Marvelman. Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana became the evil Dr. Emil Gargunza.

Marvelman's adventures lasted until 1964. In 1982, Marvelman was revived by Quality Publications in their flagship title Warriors. The redesign was crafted by Alan Moore and Garry Leach. Eclipse Comics licensed the use of the character for publication in the United States where Marvelman was renamed Miracleman.

In my opinion, Mick Anglo's Marvelman came the closest to matching Fawcett's Captain Marvel in charm, wit, and humor.

Additional Source: Miracleman #1 and Miracleman #2

During a vacation in Norway, Donald Blake hides in a cave while fleeing aliens from outer space. Wow, what a vacation. While in the cave Donald discovers a wooden cane. When the cane fails to help him dislodge a boulder in his path he strikes it on the ground in frustration. He is immediately transformed into the Norse god of Thunder -- The Mighty Thor!

Thor's adventures were chronicled by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Thor became one of Marvel's flagship character's.

However, if you think about it, The Mighty Thor is a thinly veiled copy of Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. Donald Blake is lame like Freddy Freeman. When Don strikes the cane against the ground light or lightning transforms him into Thor. Thor is the god of Thunder and Lightning. Yet, it was the rich, but cobbled addition of Norse mythology that distinguished Thor from Cap.

™ and © Marvel Comics

Roger is sent to Earth to promote and preserve peace. When Roger becomes Captain Marvel by saying "Split", his various body parts dis-joint yet are under his mental control. When Captain Marvel says "Xam" the various body parts re-link. As Captain Marvel, Roger wears a uniform that includes jet boots and an amulet which energizes him. If his amulet is removed, he becomes immoblie after a short while. His other weakness is that he cannot control his other body parts if glass comes between them and his head.

Roger takes young Billy Baxton as his ward and confidant. Notice the similarity between the names Billy Baxton and Billy Batson. Roger's platonic girlfriend is Linda Knowles, daughter of the president of the college.

It's interesting how Carl Burgos blended the origins of the original Human Torch and Captain Marvel to come up with this new and unique vision.

© M.F. Publications

An ad ran in the second and third issues of Fatman promoting a new comic book hero coming from Milson featuring a hero named -- Captain Shazam! Sadly, Milson ceased publishing before Captain Shazam was released.

™ and © Milson Publications

Later, Captain Marvel became trapped in the Negative Zone, an other-worldly dimension. A teen-ager, Rick Jones, friend of the Incredible Hulk, finds a pair of bracelets, called Nega-bands, and discovers he has but to strike them together and he switches places with Captain Mar-Vell in the Negative Zone. The switch has a three-hour time limit at which time they swap places again.

It was this latter change that brought Marvel's Captain Marvel much closer to the Fawcett Captain Marvel in origin and power. And no wonder, since this change in Captain Marvel's origin was constructed by Roy Thomas, a Fawcett Captain Marvel fan.

Captain Marvel "died" of cancer in 9999 as detailed in the graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel. Since then Marvel Comics has created other Captain Marvels -- the most current of which is the son of this one.

Stan Lee created Captain Mar-Vell simply so he could trademark the name. Once he discovered that it was available through M.F. Publication's ill-fated Captain Marvel book, Stan started work on his version. This is why you'll rarely see the name Captain Marvel in print on the cover of a DC Comic or DC toy and why most Americans confuse Captain Marvel and Shazam!

™ and © Marvel Comics

Additional Source: Marvel: The First Fifty Years

Captain Thunder was given his belt of power from Merokee, last of the great medicine men of the Mohegan tribe. The belt bestows upon Willie these seven great spiritual powers:

Tornado - Power
Hare - Speed
Uncus - Bravery
Nature - Wisdom
Diamond - Toughness
Eagle - Flight
Ram - Tenacity

The Captain Thunder story that appeared in issue 276 of Superman was to originally feature the first team-up between Superman and Captain Marvel. DC pulled the story and replaced it with this pastiche because they weren't ready to run the story. Presumably, they were geering up for the All-New Collector's Edition of Superman Vs. Shazam! that ran a couple of years later.

Roy Thomas later used the name Captain Thunder for his own creator-owned series Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt published by Hero Comics in 1987 through 1988.

The Superman/Captain Thunder story was reprinted in The Best of DC #16, September 1981.

© DC Comics

™ and © Marvel Comics

Note: Jerry Ordway, who currently writes and paints the covers for The Power of Shazam!, inked this promotional piece of artwork.

© DC Comics

™ and © Eclipse Comics

When Bobby Berman died he mistakenly passed on his Mighty Man powers to nurse Ann Stevens instead of his grandson Billy.

Note: not to be confused with the Mighty Man who appeared as part of The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show produced by ABC-TV.

Tip: The "Golden Age" Bobby Berman version of Mighty Man has recently appeared in Big Bang Comics.

™ and © Erik Larsen

™ and © Malibu Comics

™ and © Marvel Comics

™ and © DC Comics and Marvel Comics