Shazam was originally called Captain Marvel when he debuted in 1940, but a decades-long trademark dispute with Marvel Comics—which registered its own, unrelated Captain Marvel in 1967—forced DC to market the character under his magic word instead, until DC made “Shazam” his official superhero name outright in 2011.
| Year | What Happened |
|---|---|
| 1940 | Billy Batson debuts as Captain Marvel in Fawcett Comics’ Whiz Comics #2 |
| 1953 | DC (National Comics) wins its copyright suit against Fawcett; Fawcett stops publishing the character |
| 1967 | Marvel Comics launches its own, unrelated hero named Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and trademarks the name |
| 1972 | DC licenses the dormant Fawcett characters, publishing the hero’s comics under the title Shazam! to avoid Marvel’s trademark |
| 1991 | DC acquires the Fawcett/Captain Marvel characters outright |
| 2011 | DC’s New 52 relaunch officially renames the hero Shazam, retiring the Captain Marvel name for good |
The Original Captain Marvel Was a DC Character — Not Marvel’s
Here’s the part that surprises most casual fans: DC’s Captain Marvel came first. Billy Batson debuted in Fawcett Comics’ Whiz Comics #2 in 1940, and by the mid-1940s Captain Marvel was outselling Superman, making him the best-selling superhero comic of the decade. DC (then National Comics) successfully sued Fawcett in 1953 for copyright infringement, arguing Captain Marvel was too similar to Superman — and Fawcett, facing a declining comics market anyway, simply stopped publishing him rather than fight on.
Marvel Registered the Name While DC’s Character Was Dormant
With Fawcett’s Captain Marvel off shelves for over a decade, Marvel Comics launched its own, entirely unrelated alien superhero named Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) in 1967 and registered the trademark. When DC licensed the Fawcett characters back in 1972 and eventually bought them outright in 1991, it ran into a wall: it owned the character, but Marvel owned the name he’d always gone by.
DC’s workaround was to publish the character’s comics under the title Shazam! — the word Billy shouts to transform, an acronym for the six mythological figures (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury) who grant his powers — while still referring to him as Captain Marvel inside the stories themselves. That split lasted nearly 40 years and is the entire reason the confusion exists: two different companies, two unrelated characters, sharing one name in the public’s memory for decades.
Why DC Finally Made It Official in 2011
By 2011, Marvel’s own Captain Marvel brand had grown too valuable and too visible — especially with Carol Danvers being groomed to take up the mantle — for DC to keep publishing a competing hero under a name it didn’t legally own. DC’s New 52 relaunch used the opportunity to formally rename the hero Shazam, retiring the Captain Marvel name for the character entirely. It wasn’t a creative reinvention; it was DC finishing a decision the trademark had already forced on it years earlier.
The Confusion Marvel’s Own Captain Marvel Adds
Marvel hasn’t made this simpler on its side, either. Marvel’s Captain Marvel identity has passed through several characters — Mar-Vell originally, then Monica Rambeau held the title through the 1980s and ’90s, before Carol Danvers formally became Captain Marvel in 2012, the same year Scarlet Witch was also undergoing one of her own major reinventions. So the honest answer to “why is Shazam called Captain Marvel” has two layers: DC’s hero was Captain Marvel first and lost the name to a trademark fight, and Marvel’s own Captain Marvel has changed hands enough times that even Marvel fans sometimes have to specify which one they mean.
Where Shazam Stands in the DCU Today
Zachary Levi’s two Shazam! films (2019 and 2023) are not canon to James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe — Gunn has confirmed this directly, even while a handful of supporting actors from those films (like Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt) carried over into new DCU projects under different circumstances. As of this writing there’s no announced Shazam project on Gunn’s current DCU slate, and any future version would likely recast the role rather than continue Levi’s. The character’s comic-book adventures, and the name itself, aren’t going anywhere — it’s specifically his live-action future that’s unresolved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shazam the same character as Captain Marvel?
Yes — DC’s Shazam is the exact same character who was called Captain Marvel from 1940 until DC officially renamed him Shazam in 2011. It’s one hero with two names used in different eras, not two different characters.
Why can’t DC call him Captain Marvel anymore?
Marvel Comics owns the trademark on the name “Captain Marvel,” registered in 1967 for its own unrelated superhero. DC’s hero could still appear in comics titled Shazam! for decades, but couldn’t be marketed as Captain Marvel without infringing Marvel’s trademark.
Is Billy Batson’s Captain Marvel related to Marvel’s Captain Marvel?
No. They are entirely separate characters from competing publishers who happened to share a name for historical reasons — DC’s Billy Batson has no connection to Mar-Vell, Monica Rambeau, or Carol Danvers.
Are the Shazam movies part of the current DCU?
No. James Gunn has confirmed that both Shazam! films starring Zachary Levi are not canon to the rebooted DC Universe that began with Creature Commandos and Superman (2025).
Sources: the trademark and renaming history is documented by GamesRadar+ and How to Love Comics, and Shazam’s DCU canon status was confirmed directly by James Gunn as reported by Heroic Hollywood.
