Some Facts About Mary Marvel, Shazam's New Champion
It's been a long time, but your New Shazam Champion has come! Billy Batson's foster sister Mary Bromfield has her own comic book for the first time in 77 years as The New Champion of Shazam! Mary Marvel, the first teen heroine with her own comic book, debuted in 1935. Following Billy's noble sacrifice in Teen Titans Academy, it is now Mary's chance to utilize Shazam's power to preserve humanity from its deadly adversaries. With Josie Campbell from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power writing the script, and Convergence: Shazam! There couldn't be a better team to bring Mary back into the spotlight than's Evan "Doc" Shaner on art. The first issue of this four-issue miniseries is already out, but whether you've already read it or are debating whether to buy it, it's worth spending a few minutes getting to know our electrifying hero.
What is her relationship to Billy?
In modern Shazam Family stories, Mary is Billy Batson's older foster sister, living in the Vasquez family house with four other siblings. However, for the majority of their history, their connection was entirely different. Mary first appears in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, published in 1942, as Billy Batson's long-lost twin sister. With both of their parents murdered in a car accident while they were newborns, the Batsons' nursemaid Sarah Primm saves Mary from an orphanage life by exchanging her for the deceased infant of the Bromfield family under her care. When Billy discovers his sister's existence, Mary realizes that she, too, can summon the Power of Shazam due to their genetic resemblance. As Fawcett City's protector, she takes on the name “Mary Marvel.”
The origins of the Shazam Family were retold in Jerry Ordway's The Power of Shazam! in the 1990s. Mary is still Billy's twin sister, and the two were briefly reared together by their archaeological parents. The Batsons take Mary on an adventure to Egypt with their acquaintance Theo Adam, but leave Billy at home. When Theo Adam—soon to be known as the modern-day Black Adam—kills the Batson parents in order to retain the treasures they've discovered for himself, Theo's sister—once again, Sarah Primm—takes Mary into her care to be raised by her own childless employers, the Bromfields. When she transforms into her superpowered incarnation, Mary, like Billy at the time, goes by the name "Captain Marvel."
The New 52 rebooted most of our heroes' origin stories in 2011, and Mary was no exception. In this case, Mary was not biologically linked to Billy Batson and received the Gift of Shazam along with his other foster siblings when he chose to share his power. This modern Mary is known as "Lady Shazam," but you can call her by the moniker on the cover of her new solo series, The New Champion.
What are her abilities like?
Mary is frequently represented as having the same abilities as Billy. Mary channeled her talents from a different group of godly patrons in the Fawcett Comics Golden Age stories: the grace of Selena, the strength of Hippolyta, the skill of Ariadne, the swiftness of Zephyrus, the beauty of Aurora, and the knowledge of Minerva. In practice, however, her abilities were equivalent to those of any other Shazam Family member.
A new wrinkle was added to the power set in the 1990s. Because Billy, Mary, and Freddy Freeman all derive their talents from the same source, the intensity of their capabilities is halved or tripled depending on how many of them are using them at any given time.
Only in the graphic novel Shazam! have we seen a clear, discernible difference in Mary and Billy's talents. The Monster Society of Evil, as well as its sequel Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! Mary retains her juvenile form even when summoning her power, and while she lacks her brother's strength, she compensates for it with superior speed. The other time was in the post-apocalyptic out-of-continuity story DCeased: Unkillables, where Mary receives martial arts training from Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva, making her as powerful as Superman and as skilled in combat as Batman, and the only person alive who could compete with the Anti-Living Wonder Woman.
Who Are Her Foes?
Mary has encountered many of the same foes as Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman as a member of the Shazam Family over the years, including Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and Mister Mind. Mary's antagonists in her own unique solo series, on the other hand, included:
- "The Mad Poet" Egbert Alvin Pfoe
- The Color King, who could influence emotions with colored rays
- Doc Younger, anti-aging mad scientist
- Dicehead is an underground gambling crimelord.
- Nightowl is a criminal with large eyes that give him amazing night vision.
Georgia Sivana (below), the infamous Doctor Sivana's daughter and "the world's wickedest child," was created particularly as a foil for Mary in Mary Marvel #1, and if anyone has the strongest claim to being Mary's personal arch-enemy, it would be her.
Not that others haven't tried their hardest. After all, we learn in the 1990s that Black Adam played a crucial role in Mary's parents' deaths. And in recent years, Eclipso, Desaad, Darkseid, and Lady Blaze have all contributed to Mary's misery. As Mary begins her new role as a lone superhero, the villains she will face next are unknown.
Didn't she become evil quite a few times?
Yeah, it was a bit of a problem. After the end of the 1990s, Shazam! The Shazam Family didn't have much of a presence in the DC Universe until Geoff Johns' JSA series turned the spotlight to Black Adam. Billy and Mary maintain their gaze fixed on their once-mortal adversary, waiting for the veneer to fall. This centralization of Black Adam has an immediate impact on Mary, who, after losing her connection to Billy's strength in Day of Vengeance, is forced to rely on borrowing Adam's powers in Countdown. Mary is led down a terrible path by Black Adam's dark influence leading up to and through Final Crisis, passing through the hands of Eclipso and Darkseid before becoming a conduit for the Apokoliptian torture god Desaad. Freddy Freeman, the new Captain Marvel, returns to redeem Mary, but it will not be her last temptation. Later, Lady Blaze, a Shazam family foe, offers Mary the restoration of her powers provided she murders Freddy herself, and she appears to agree to these terms before turning on her. In the Young Justice animated series, a rejected Mary was last seen being enticed into darkness by Granny Goodness as one of Darkseid's newest Furies.
So, what distinguishes her in The New Champion of Shazam! then? How can we be certain that she will not be seduced by the darkness again? This is DC, after all, and you never know what the future holds. But we believe that, with this great power and duty, Mary will find the strength to live up to her role as Champion and safeguard mankind from the evils that have deviated her in the past.
After all, she doesn't have a lack of experience!
#Marvel #MaryMarvel #Shazam #BlackAdam #DC #DCComics
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