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Captain Marvel OR Shazam? (Comic Book Forums)

  • Captain Marvel OR Shazam?

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brucifer
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  • Posted: February 14, 2019 10:19:43 am
  • I was wondering if anyone noticed that DC's Shazam (or Captain Marvel as us oldies know him by) and Marvel's Captain Marvel are both putting out movies at almost the same time? Something tells me that the Shazam movie will not be using the words "Captain Marvel" whatsoever. I always thought that having two heroes with the exact same name in two different comic book companies was confusing and a bit weird.
Spector
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  • Posted: February 14, 2019 10:17:49 pm
  • Yep, I have always thought that to be really strange.
    I often wondered if that is why the original Marvel comics Captain Marvel, tossed in the "Mar-Vell" to keep out of any copyright infringement.
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MacheteF7
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  • Posted: February 15, 2019 7:25:25 am
  • Different creators copy each other??!! Huh. I don't see any similarities in characters like say, Deathstroke and Deadpool. Or Psylocke and Cyblade...

    You guys are crazy Anxious
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Rapha1978
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  • Posted: February 15, 2019 9:07:11 am
  • I did notice that too, about both "Captain Marvel" movies being released in the same year. Shazam's history with being the original Captain Marvel, predates the Marvel Comics version by 28 years, and will probably be unknown to most moviegoers.

    For those who don't know, DC did not create Captain Marvel/Shazam. He first appeared in Fawcett Comics in 1939 (Whiz Comics #2). He was at the time more popular than Superman and was also the first superhero/comic book to ever be made into a film. That's a neat fact if you did not know that! DC felt that Captain Marvel was a copy off their Superman. They ended up taking Fawcett Comics to court with a copyright infringement suit. Fawcett ceased publication and to make a long story short, DC eventually acquired the rights to character. They had to rebrand him into "Shazam" due to the trademark name "Captain Marvel" belonging to Marvel Comics.

    It's quite an interesting history in the timeline of comic books. What's also interesting is that in order for Marvel Comics to retain the trademark, they have to publish at least one Captain Marvel title every two years. It should also be noted, as Spector said in his comment above, that the original Marvel Comics version created by Stan Lee in 1967 was first known as "Captain Mar-vell".

    There are a few other characters in comics that have a similar clash in name.

    Black Cat was a character from both Marvel Comics and Harvey Comics. The Harvey Comics came first.



    Last edited February 15, 2019 9:07:36 am
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junobeach
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  • Posted: February 15, 2019 8:51:18 pm
  • The reason Marvel got the name is that after DC acquired the rights to the Fawcett character they didn't use him and enough time elapsed so Marvel swooped in and copyrighted it. I suppose it does make sense that Captain Marvel belongs to a company called Marvel Comics.
Tenzil
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  • Posted: February 16, 2019 2:48:04 am
  • I knew some of the two Captain Marvel's history, but not as much as the rest of you do, so thanks you for the great input. To answer Brucifer's original question, I did note it and found it amusing. Having the two characters with the same name is not nearly as weird, however, as our Canadian Football League used to have two teams called the Roughriders in a nine team league!
    And regarding the films I am betting DC's Shazam won't do one third of the box office of CM!
    Tenzil
logerine
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