Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)

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Captain Marvel is the name of several superheroes invented by Marvel Comics since 1967 and portraying main characters in the comic series of the same name, Captain Marvel, as well as other Marvel publications. The similarity to the DC Comics superhero of the same name has been the focus of several legal disputes.

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Cosplayer in the costumes of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel (r.) Or her enemy Karla Sofen (l.)

In 1967, the first Captain Marvel, a heroic alien named Mar-Vell , made his debut in the comic book Marvel Super-Heroes # 12 by writer Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan . Mar-Vell could fly and, as a representative of the Kree race, had strong solar powers, psychic presence of mind and super strength. He had an earthly cover identity as Dr. Walter Lawson and was best friend of his colleague Rick Jones . In 1977, his female counterpart Ms. Marvel was invented, in which a US pilot named Carol Danvers was given similar superpowers. Both Mar-Vell and Carol had close ties with the Avengers . The Mar Vell version of Captain Marvel existed until 1982 when his series was discontinued due to low sales and the writers let him die of cancer in The Death of Captain Marvel . The new Captain Marvel became Monica Rambeau , an African American with electromagnetic powers who debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 16 (1982). In the following years it was established that Mar-Vell's lover Elysius had genetically engineered two children, son Genis-Vell and daughter Phyla-Vell , who took over the Captain Marvel identity from Rambeau in the 1990s and 2000s. After the double agent Khn'nr and the Kree Noh-Varr briefly assumed this role in the new millennium , Mar-Vell's old colleague Carol Danvers was proclaimed the new Captain Marvel in 2012 . Kelly Sue DeConnick has been writing the new Captain Marvel stories about Carol Danvers since 2013 .

In 2019, the film version Captain Marvel was released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe .

Legal conflicts

In 1941, DC Comics , which owned Superman , broke out into a lawsuit and Fawcett Comics , which owned a comic that featured a teenage reporter named Billy Batson using the code word "Shazam!" To become a super-powerful flying superhero named Captain Marvel could transform. DC accused Fawcett of plagiarizing Superman because Superman was building on a similar premise that a reporter named Clark Kent was actually a super-powerful, flying superhero. It wasn't until 1952 that a US court ruled DC. As Fawcett soon went bankrupt, interest in the trademark of the controversial series died, so the new publisher Marvel Comics took the opportunity to invent its own Captain Marvel (i.e. Mar-Vell) and act in a comic of the same name. When DC bought up Fawcett and wanted to continue her Captain Marvel comic from 1972 (i.e. with Billy Batson as the main character), the publisher held the copyright to the character, but no longer the trademark on the name of the comic series. So the strange situation arose that Marvel published its own "Captain Marvel" comic and DC was forced to not be allowed to call the comic in which their own Captain Marvel appeared "Captain Marvel", but the alternative name Shazam! to use. Since the trademark would only expire when Marvel discontinued its Captain Marvel series, Marvel continued it, even if it was not very profitable for decades. In 2012, DC decided to finally rename Billy Batson's superidentity Shazam : for the first time in half a century it was clear that "Captain Marvel" was a Marvel character in a Marvel comic of the same name and "Shazam" was a DC character in a DC comic of the same name.

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  1. ↑ DC's Captain Marvel Officially Changing His Name to the Non-Trademark Infringing 'Shazam' , Comics Alliance
  2. ↑ The Messed-Up History Of Marvel's 'Captain Marvel' And Why It Doesn't Matter , Comics Alliance
  3. ↑ The Rich History of Captain Mar ... er, Shazam! , Comic Book Resources

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