I just realized something DC could have done to save the original Captain name all those years ago. Call him Captain Miracle. Hey it worked for Marvelman when Marvel wanted his publisher to stop calling him Marvelman. Just changed his name to Miracleman for trademark reasons in his American reprints(Science based British version of Captain Marvel)

It even WORKS better for Billy and the Marvel Family since originally they're powers came from gods(plus Solomon).

Captain Marvel= Captain Miracle

Captain Marvel Jr= Captain Miracle Jr

Mary Marvel= Mary Miracle

Marvel Family= Miracle Family

Just works so well IMO.

I still don't MIND the Shazam renaming but really this would have worked SO much better.

Or naming him after what his books are often titled... ya know... Shazam!

@teerack: I'm talking WAY back when they first got the rights to him, but couldn't title his books Captain Marvel due to Marvel's trademarking of the name. Call him Captain Miracle, just slightly alter the name, and title it that. It's a SMALL cosmetic change that I HIGHLY doubt many people would have had a problem with. The ONLY reason a lot of people think his name is Shazam is because DC was too lazy to even SLIGHTLY change the name.

If they were going for recognition, I think fans of the older Captain Marvel stuff would have remembered what he looked like and that Captain was in his name.

I prefer Shazam. Captain Marvel sounds cheesy.

yea I like Shazam. I don't like the Marvel family.

I too like Shazam, it's quaint, unique and catchy.

@saint_wildcard: You DO realize that Shazam sounds just as cheesey, if not MORESO, as a superhero name right?

dropped the ball?

actually they weren't ... DC didn't create Captain Marvel, Fawcett comics did ... DC sued them over his being a rip-off of Superman which played into Fawcett folding the title ... it was like 20 years later that DC purchased Fawcett including the shelved CM line of characters. Shazam was originally the name of the wizard who empowered Billy so it's not all that shocking that people were confused ... Billy yelled the name Shazam in order to transform and during the years between DC and Fawcett Marvel picked up the rights to the name Captain Marvel and that led to a whole host of other issues forcing DC to market the line under the Shazam name ... which is ultimately why they just renamed CM to Shazam with the N52 relaunch.

I'm good with Shazam.

I am a HUGE CM fan, always have, always will. I get that legal issues caused DC to call him Shazam going forward BUT how does CM introduce himself now? "Hi, I am SHAZAM.... err, Billy Batson?I" Its the same issue that CM JR faced previously. I hope DC plans to include the Shazam family any movies/CW shows...

Shazam works

I actually dig Captain Miracle.

Now how is he supposed to introduce himself without switching back to a kid?

@csg_cl: I know that. I'm saying once they got the rights to the character and since they KNEW Marvel had their own Captain Marvel trademarked they should have thought about changing the name.

He has to WANT to change and say the name to transform. I know, it's awkward. I mean it's like..... Okay you know how Hulk changed in The Avengers? That "I'm always angry" line? That works. It doesn't take AWAY the anger aspect of the transformations, but makes them more readily available.

NOW Billy Batson WANTING to change and saying the word...... That's just complicated. It's complicated in the sense that even people who just know a few basic things about him know that he says the word and he turns into a superhero. Nothing more and nothing less. Now you create CONFUSION on that end since he'll be calling himself Shazam, and it ends up confusing people.

Also the problem I have with naming him Shazam? I mean it works OKAY as a placeholder name, but the main problem I have is that it means that Shazam, the actual wizard, no longer has a name and is just "The Wizard" which doesn't sit well with me.

@smart_dork_dude: well there was a 20 year publishing gap and they bought the rights so they could try and revive him as Captain Marvel ... Mostly to attack Marvel's success with the character of the same name. In those days DC and Marvel were constantly suing one another and ripping each other off trying to slow the successes of the other company down.

@saint_wildcard said:

Yeah, a made-up word sounds much more dramatic.

I actually like the name Shazam... A lot

Not really, especially if you know the origin. His name is a mixture of the heroes/gods of Greece. It's also the name of the Wizard who gave him his powers, he could say he named himself that to honor the Wizard ( I know you probably already know this but just to anyone who doesn't reading this comment). What's the relevance of the name Captain Marvel? What's he a captain of? It sounds like a name given to him just to sound cool.

I know righ.... oh, you're being sarcastic.

@saint_wildcard said:

Fret not, citizens! You're safe now thanks to the mighty Kazoom!

Yeah, captain marvel sounds as cheesy as cap's trademark expression "holey moley".

If there was one character who needed a makeover to make him relevant to modern readers it was Captain Marvel and the name Shazam fits the bill, along with the Geoff Johns stories and Gary Frank drawn costume and blazing eyes. Shazam is now one of my favourites.

@feartheliving: No no no no you can't make me remember that nope no hell no.......

I like the name Shazam.

@cosmicoldguy: in the N52 it depends on what infliction he means, as in to shoot bolts of magic lightning he can yell out shazam and he has introduced himself as shazam . while im glad the character is around im not a fan of his new origin or mythos . but hey only 22 years till the need for a new reboot!

@ms__omega: Remember it.....Remember It....REMEMBER IT!

I always liked Cpt Marvel.

@feartheliving: NEVER!!!

DC does drop the ball quite a lot, but this isn't a case of that, lol.