Shazam!

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by dahj, Jul 21, 2018.

  1. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Exactly, at some point you just bow to the inevitable . . . even if it means us old-school comics fan cringe a little.
     
  2. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    In Joseph Heller’s very funny 1984 novel God Knows, purportedly narrated by King David, David reckons that Solomon was absolutely serious because contrary to his reputation, Solomon was actually an absolute moron!
     
  3. kirk55555

    kirk55555 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The talk of Soloman makes me think, what might Shazam stand for in this movie? Honestly I'm sure it doesn't have any meanings as an acronym since I doubt anyone involved has read a single thing involving the character that Geoff Johns didn't write (and I'm including Johns in that statement), but based off the character in the New 52 which this is taking from, I'd guess

    Set
    Hades
    Ares
    Zeus (he fits either way, because Zeus was an asshole, too)
    Apophis
    Mercury (he's also the god of thieves, so he still fits)

    Side note, its hard to find gods bad enough to fit in this but with the appropriate starting letter from Greek/Roman/egyptian pantheons. I also couldn't find a bad non God figure to replace Soloman, which is why its another God (Set is, according to what I could find, the egyptian god of Evil, Pain, suffering, and Thunder, so he's pretty much perfect).

    That is also why Zeus and Mercury are still there, but like I said Zeus is an asshole and part of Mercury's thing is as the god of Thieves, so it works.
     
  4. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    How long will your rage posting last? Will it occur every time there’s a trailer? It’s clear you don’t want to see it, you have so much contempt for it already, why are you wasting your time?
     
  5. Kor

    Kor Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    "Solomon."

    Kor
     
  6. The Realist

    The Realist Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Shhhhh.
    That's Soloman's secret identity.
     
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  7. DrCorby

    DrCorby Captain Captain

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    They could use the name that Guy Gardner calls him in the '80s Justice League series by Keith Giffen -- Captain Whitebread... :lol:
     
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  8. YLu

    YLu Captain Captain

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    I think they just felt at the time that the Captain Marvel name was too iconic and classic that they didn't want to change it. Why they don't change it *now* to Captain Thunder as opposed to Shazam, I dunno...
     
  9. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Probably because they've been using "Shazam" as a title for decades.
     
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  10. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I second that nomination. And I will squeal in delight out loud if I hear it in the movie.
     
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  11. theenglish

    theenglish Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I think I'm one of the few that actually enjoys the New 52 take on Billy Batson. His first arc was a character building story which sees him learn and grow throughout. It was his potential to be a hero that seems to interest Shazam the Wizard, and he does become a true hero in the course of that first story arc. The only thing I don't like about the character is that he never really shows appropriate "wisdom" in his judgments even five years into the new 52.
     
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  12. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    I kinda liked the title being "Shazam" while the character was named Captain Marvel. It felt like an added layer that the title wasn't the name of the superhero, but the word the kid has to say to become the superhero, like the doorway into the adventure.
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Have there been any other series like that? Where the title is the hero's transformation/power-up phrase or battle cry rather than their name? Looking over the relevant TV Tropes page, you could make a case for ReBoot, but that's about all I can find.
     
  14. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    Honestly it's about time DC ditched the 'Captain Marvel' name. There may have been some point in trying to hold onto it back when it was just Marvel playing silly buggers and the Mar-Vell character himself wasn't all that popular, but since Carol Danvers inherited the title and is now regarded as an A-lister in Marvel's line-up, it's become rather futile and unnecessarily confusing for any new audience unaware of the history.
     
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  15. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Because at this point, "Captain Thunder" is an obscure bit of trivia known only to hardcore comic-book historians, while SHAZAM! has been the name of the series for more than forty years. SHAZAM! was the title of the old live-action TV series. SHAZAM! was the title of the Saturday morning cartoon. SHAZAM! is the label on all the toys and merchandise and Slurpee cups.. You buy a Captain Marvel action figure , it says "SHAZAM!" on it in big yellow letters.

    SHAZAM! has been the brand for generations now. "Captain Thunder" hasn't been used since an single ashcan edition way back in 1939. At best, "Captain Thunder" would be a cool "Easter Egg" for dedicated Captain Marvel fans, but would mean absolutely nothing to the general public, who are way more familiar with Shazam.
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Yes, that's fine, but for most of those forty years, the character was still called Captain Marvel even though the series title was Shazam! So how would it be any different to call the character Captain Thunder while keeping the series title Shazam!?

    And what I'm saying is that it would've been simpler if DC had adopted the Captain Thunder title decades ago when they first got the rights to the character, instead of being saddled with the confusion of calling the character Captain Marvel but being unable to call his series that. If they'd done it back then, it would've simplified a lot. It certainly would've worked better for the rest of the Marvel Family. I still don't get how you deal with Mary and Captain Jr.'s names if the main hero is named Shazam.
     
  17. kirk55555

    kirk55555 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well, the real Captain Marvel is my favorite hero, so you'll be getting my opinion a lot. If you are that against people not worshoping the movie, well you're just going to deal with it, I'm afraid. I'm not going anywhere.

    Also, I'm not rage posting. I hit "acceptance" for this shit awhile ago. I'm making fun of this pile of shit, but I'm not real "angry". A bit irritaited at times, but its like Fant4stic. At some point you come to terms with it being irredeemably shit, and move on to making fun of how shit it is. I had fun finding what the try meaning of "Shazam" could be for this movie, more fun then anything else related to it.

    Pedantic
     
  18. YLu

    YLu Captain Captain

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    Interesting point. I mean, for pretty much every genre that’s not superheroes, it’s the least extraordinary thing in the world for a series to not share the same name as the lead.
     
  19. YLu

    YLu Captain Captain

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    Maybe they’ll just all be Shazam, in the same way DC doesn’t distinguish between the different Flashes and Green Lanterns. Or Marvel doesn’t with the two Spider-Men.
     
  20. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Yeah, that seems awkward to me, now that they're sharing a universe rather than one succeeding the other. I feel they should come up with a different code name for Miles. Like how the alternate Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman, aka "Spider-Gwen," is now officially called Ghost Spider (which is a really cool name).