Why did Captain Marvel's name change to Shazam? Exploring the rights issue

Shazam! Fury of the Gods raced into theaters this weekend after a really long wait. Focusing on the Shazam family as they battled the Daughters of Atlas, the film is packed with a whole lot of action that basically honors a lot of Shazam's recent stories from the comics while also honoring a lot of the past history of the character as well, be it using Easter eggs or cameos from those who originally portrayed the character.

One of those big Easter eggs in Shazam! Fury of the Gods was Billy Batson being called Captain Marvel. While many might think that this is a reference to the Marvel character of the same name, there is quite a lot of history here that runs deep, as Billy Batson previously used to go by Captain Marvel in the comics as well, until his name was changed into what it is today.

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Captain Marvel's name was changed to Shazam in DC Comics due to trademark issues

Captain Marvel was originally established as a character back in 1940, when he had his own line published under Fawcett Publications' Whiz Comics. Created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck, Captain Marvel was extremely popular among fans, even outselling titles involving Superman at the time.

While the character flourished for a long time, DC Comics, which at the time was named National Comics Publications, sued Fawcett as Captain Marvel had many similar elements to Superman. At the time, National Comics Publications was notorious for suing creators who came out with characters who even had the tiniest resemblance to Superman, and Captain Marvel was one of them.

A long court case followed, which caused Fawcett to stop publishing comics related to Captain Marvel in 1953. Fawcett and National settled out of court, but the damage was already done. By then, Marvel came out with their own Captain Marvel in 1967 as they learned that the name wasn't in use by Fawcett anymore and the character was also completely different in execution.

In 1972, however, National Comics, which was renamed DC Comics, licensed Captain Marvel off of Fawcett and had plans on reintroducing the character in their own comics. But DC found themselves in trouble as the name rights for Captain Marvel were now owned by Marvel Comics, and after a cease-and-desist letter, the comic book publisher had to improvise.

They began publishing Captain Marvel stories under the name of Shazam!, the term used by Billy Batson to turn into his superhero persona, and everything worked out fine after that. DC then went on to purchase all of Fawcett's characters by the 1990s, and to avoid confusion, they renamed Captain Marvel to Shazam as well in 2011. The rest is history after that, as the character seems to be flourishing with two movies already out.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods, starring Zachary Levi, is playing in theaters worldwide.