Why black characters with lightning powers? I think it's the colour scheme. The brightness of electrical powers really works well with the darker skin tones, gives a sharp contrast when you give them bright coloured hair, and honestly really looks good with shading and the like.

I feel like DC should've just renamed Billy Batson's hero persona Captain Thunder when they acquired him. Gives him a legally distinct name to work with, and also avoids the issue of Billy both having the same name as the Wizard and also being actually able to tell people his hero name without turning into/out of said form.

I blame the electric powers thing on the Superfriends. They couldn't get the rights to Black Lightning, so they made Black Vulcan. Black Vulcan later inspired Static Shock, and recently Black Lightning got his own TV show.

The legal problems, confusion & weirdness of Shazam continues to this day, too! The MCU Captain Marvel movie and the Shazam! movie both debuted roughly a month away from each other in the same year! Shazam! is my favorite character, btw.

This is one story I now know by heart from years of coverage, now when I need to explain it to casual fans, I can put it in bullet points lol (Black characters with lighting powers seems to be a color theory. Contrast something dark, with light to stand out)

The second part is gonna be the Miracleman stuff? That gives me a headache every time I remember all the crazy angles of that story and how it ended up with Marvel after YEARS of 2 main names in the industry fighting for it.

What a legal rollercoaster. Dude, this might be my new favorite video of yours. The editing, script, research, and delivery were all perfect.

I’ve seen a lot of videos about the legal battle of Shazam/Captain Marvel, but you weren’t lying, you explain things that other haven’t done. But I still wonder why the call him The Big Red Cheese

The funny thing about all this is that Superman is weak to magic, which means that with enough training, Batson could totally beat him in a fight.

I was not aware of all the history Shazam had, thank you for this video!

Doesn't Billy taking the name Shazam also mean he's fully succeeded the wizard?

As someone who has been researching the history of all the Captain Marvels for over a decade, I must say that this is a very entertaining and informative video that covers a lot of historical ground and makes some good points. I am particularly glad that you brought up Marvelman/Miracleman, and I look forward to watching that video. However, you do have a few inaccuracies abut the whole Captain Marvel/DC thing here, and a few other things that I would like to inquire about or elaborate on. 1. Fawcett's "Master Man" was created after their Captain Marvel. CM was their first Superhero and Whiz #2 their first comic book. 2. The issue about "Captain Thunder" as the hero's name is debatable, but not about trademark. Some sources say that the name was thought "too clamorous." Ralph Daigh said in court that it was his idea to change the name because he didn't like it. But other sources suggest that the name was changed because a month before Whiz #2 came out, a character named "Captain Terry Thunder" appeared in Jungle Comics #1. 3. Legal technicality department: The judge stated that similarities and differences of characters are not the defining factor in determining copyright infringement, but copying stories and pictures are, and between testimony and exhibits, he found that there was copying.. 4. Not a correction, but an inquiry dept: What is your source on Carl Burgos' motivation for creating the MF Enterprises' Captain Marvel? I have been trying to find more info on that. I do know that Burgos worked for Myron Fass, who published that comic, and that the credit in the first issue was :based on a character created by Carl Burgos." The nebulousness of that credit really has md me wondering how much input Burgos actually had. Remember, also, that 1966 was the year Batman, Green Hornet, and the Marvel Superheroes came on TV and Superman had a Broadway musical, so there was a boom in superhero comics. Even former Fawcett writer Otto Binder and artist CC Beck put out "Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer" that year. Myron Fass was a publishing opportunist/schlockmeister, so there may have been more elements in play with the timing and naming of this character. 5. Elaboration Dept.: There are two competing histories of how and why DC decided to revive the original Captain Marvel. Carmine Infantino, publisher of DC at the time, said that he was a big fan of Captain Marvel and just decided to see if Fawcett would let them bring him back. So he called Fawcett and asked what it would take and they said "make us an offer." A good move on Fawcett's part, since they owned a property8 they otherwise could not make any money on. The other version is told by Mark Evanier who worked with Jack Kirby. When Kirby was with DC i in the early 1970's, he suggested that DC revive a number of old heroes, and he would edit their new stories. One of them was Captain Marvel (of which he and Joe Simon had done one issue back in 1940). it was that suggestion that led to the call which got the licensing contract. Since pretty much no one who was involved with DC during the time of the lawsuit with Fawcett was still involved with DC in 1972, the idea that DC audaciously "stole" Captain Marvel seems a little strong. That is great work on explaining the difference between copyright and trademark, though. A lot of people just don't get it.

Drake, there's no way Pikachu is African-American. He's Japanese. Still black, though.

As a Shazam fan yes, knew all this, but this is the most well-presented version that I can use to send my friends to this vid when they ask me about Shazam. Because I love my lightning/thunder characters XD But I saw I think it was Pandaredd's TikTok speaking of this and he dropped your name and I was like 'I have to find this persona and follow them.'

I know having a black character with lightning powers is kinda a cliché at this point and I personally don’t mind it at all. It’s probably one of my favorite super powers in general and if I had to choose what power to have that definitely would be one of them.

As usual, brilliant work Drake. Keep it up Also I didn't think that I needed to hear that Captain Marvel was also known as the Big Red Cheese but I am thankful that I heard it

I love the nickname "Big Red Cheese", since you can tell that's what his villains nicknamed hin, like Sonic as "the Blue Blur", even an evil scientist with laser guns mounted by aiming-to-kill A.I. can't hit someone so fast, it'd be a trait that scientist might swear under their breathe later in retrospect.

Good video. As for the black hero with lightning powers cliche, part of it may be that for the longest time DC didn't know if the license for Black Lightning belonged to them or his original creator. So they made ripoffs of him, the most blatant being Black Vulcan from Super friends. It wasn't until the 80s,I think, that DC found that they did have the rights to Black Lightning. However, I did read this on TVTropes, so you may want to check these facts.

The fact that even Elvis Presley was a huge fan of Captain Marvel Jr alone tell how massive the impact of Captain Marvel comics were

Captain marvel was such a genius concept. Like of course the kids reading it would love to become a superman-like hero by saying shazam. It’s next level escapism. Very unfortunate about the name change. I understand why they picked shazam but how is billy gunna get his name out there if everytime he says it, he turns back to billy batson?

Marvel Comics getting the Fawcett rights is a really fascinating "What if?" scenario. One of the problems that DC has always had with Shazam and his supporting cast is that the character missed out on decades of character development to bridge the Golden and Silver Ages. He never got to evolve the way that other characters had when the industry evolved, so writers struggled to make him fit. But now imagine a world where that doesn't happen--a world where Marvel Comics snatches up the rights before DC. How would the House of Ideas handle the character, and what kind of directions could the writers of the time take him?

DC and Marvel both have lot of really good lawyers.

That African American Captain Thunder would've been a great idea. But I think DC kinda payed that off by having a Black Captain Marvel in the Elseworlds reality where Supergirl and Batwoman were Earth's main heroes. Fantastic video by the way

Loved this vid! Great introduction to your channel. I really hope you do chase down that whole "black heroes with electricity powers" because I'm super curious about that.

Captain Thunder is also the Flashpoint version of Shazam.

12:38 I just looked this up and discovered Flashpoint had another version of Captain Thunder that incorporated the team idea where they all merge into Captain Thunder. I've seen the merge thing in animation somewhere before too, I can't remember where.

My biggest issue with calling him Shazam, besides the fact that it's the magic word, is that it's also the name of the wizard who gave him his powers. (So already overuse much) Also, Captain Marvel (or even Captain Thunder) sounds like something a kid would come up with as a superhero name. (Also, I actually got used to the name from his various appearances pre-flashpoint in the JSA and his own 'Trials of Shazam' series) I really didn't mind that both Marvel and DC had a character with the same name since they didn't really have too much in common besides the name.

16:21 “Cole McGrath remains as the only white guy with lightning powers.” -GodzillaMendoza

16:30 Ah yes Pikachu, my favorite Black Superhero 😂

ur vids are always so informative and awesomely made!! im not a comic reader (unfortunatelly), but i love watching your vids to get an insight on this quirky yet interesting and beautiful world

Am I the only one who appreciates the background logos, they're a cool background and I really like the additions of the anime ones (Bleach, Yu Gi Oh and FMAB are the ones I could find) and Radiant Black

Drake, this was a great episode! 😃 I'm looking forward to seeing your take on Marvel Man in the future, its a fascinating/ frustrating part of comicbook history! The post-crisis Captain Thunder sounds like it was a real missed opportunity. More diversity of characters and stories within the DC universe, and solved the whole Captain Marvel/ SHAZAM naming issue decades ago! An episode about black characters with electric powers also sounds like it could be really interesting as well!

Looking forward to the next part. I knew some of this but not all. It's crazy that it took so long for it to all smooth out.

Love the extra editing you are doing these days! Great video as always!

Great history lesson. I love the legal background of Superman and Shazam. I'd be interested in seeing where that Captain Thunder book could have gone. I don't mind the black person electricity trope. A character is only as good as its creative team. Great story and art can make or break a title.

I wonder if there’s any correlation the Captain Marvel film and Shazam came out relatively close to eachoter. Or if that was just coincidence.

Awesome video! Can’t wait for the next one! What’s funny about the Shazam name change is you can definitely see Geoff Johns backpedaling a bit in his most recent Shazam comic. Be interesting to see if the characters name remains the same or if they go back to Captain Marvel at some point.

When the Captain Marvel name thing comes up I often see people say how Marvel should give the name back to DC. Never makes sense to me given how DC acquired it the company doesn't have any sort of moral right to it and they lost the legal one.

This case has always fascinated me. Can't wait to see you tackle more of it!

The original Dr. Sivana was far superior to Luthor in both humanity and intellect. Unlike Luthor, he actually understands magic's connection to science and he has a pretty happy family. New Sivana is an interesting foil to Billy, but I miss his Walk Through Walls level nonsense

Great video. I’ve been waiting for you to give your take on this content. I can’t for part 2!

I love how Pikachu is shown next to all the black characters with electric powers

16:26 Electro and Shocker are both turned black too HAHHAHA

4:02 World's Mightiest Mortal is also his nickname.

I love how Drake changed his outfit for the different segments of the video xD

I love it when you do comics history!

I would really like to know why most black characters have lightning powers

3:57 Alternate universe where Billy Batson leads a team of multi-coloured Space Pirates

I love the little details you do like swapping from coffee to tea and the new symbols in the background

Why are this videos so informative a AND entertaining?!!!!! Great job drake!

I’m so glad you’re making a video on marvel man/miracle man because I’ve always been a little confused on that

19:15 in the background he used a picture of pikachu i'm dead

He will always be captain marvel to me

This was a great video! I’ve been confused about the captain marvel debate for years and this simplified it into something I could easily consume. Props!

Shit I want to see the universe where Marvel gets Captain Marvel/Shazam. Like, first, it would solve the 'who is the main superman analogue in Marvel' question right away. Second, Billy's nature as a kid that has to be a hero would be gold for Marvel's more character focused writing. An anti Spiderman, if you will. With a beloved by the media hero face, and a 'do no good' face as a civilian. Also I have the mental image of Shazam calling down his lightning into Thor's hammer for a combo attack and now I want someone skilled to draw it.

*⚡SHAZAM!⚡* I can't wait to see your Marvelman/Miracleman video. P.S. why is Pikachu in that photoset of black people with lightning powers? 😅

Oh my god, I paused at 16:29 to look over the characters and noticed one standing out that doesn't seem to belong, causing me to laugh for like 15 seconds straight

Always looking forward to hearing your videos.

PLEASE make a video on Black people with lightning powers. I’m so curious about why and how such a (seemingly) random thing became such a well known trope

10:40 Oh yea, I heard of DC's The Ray from Arrowverse's Crisis on Earth-X crossover event.

love your channel man!

Oh i am HYPED for a video on why so many black characters have lightning powers, its something ive been wondering about for years

As a big fan of the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel, and a current law school student, I was pretty familiar with the legal saga, but I did learn a couple of new things. Well done!

The panel at 12:48 also contains references to Rick Jones and Mar-Vel’s shared existence (which was itself a call-back to the original “Captain Marvel”) and the Monica Rimbeau Captain!

Awesomeness! Cheers to this cool and amazingly clear video!!

I love captain marvel billy baston and the marvel family especially Mary marvel and captain marvel jr they were really awesome and tons of fun.

you should do a vid on Otto Binder the creator of captain Marvel whe went on to be one of the most influencial Superman writers . He added Siupergirl. the Legion of superheroes krypto, briainiac etc.

Love the video keep up the amazing work. Also I can’t wait for that video about the black characters with lightning powers.

Great video! I had to comment on all those outfit changes, they really made the video pop in my opinion!

Oh wow, Hoppy the bunny made a return in The New Champion of Shazam recently!

We need that follow up video, sounds mad interesting

16:28 I'm pleasantly surprised that Drake knows Darui and Yoruichi.

16:30 Pikachu is BLAAACKKK!!!!!

16:11 probably because the lightning has a nice contrast too the skin colour, which let's it look more powerful

Love your work sir, this and your Miricleman video are grade A quality stuff

Always nice seeing you posted

Stoked for part 2. Hi Drake! I hope you're doing well. :)

I am very much looking forward to that black characters and lightning trope!

16:28 wtf is pikachu doing there?

I'm so hyped for this, always found this an interesting topic

Keep it up on your work and this video and channel

Captain Marvel was so popular that he made his way to here in Finland already in the 40s. 'Captain Steel', they called him. Superman was named and is still called the 'Steelman' here, so maybe they really liked the concept of 'man of steel' back then, or they too saw the obvious connection.

Really looking forward to part 2

I always forget that Shazam was the first super hero movie

Oh, now I wish that Marvel Comics did grab the Fawcett properties. Especially if Jack Kirby put his spin on the Big Red Cheese, probably being re-introduced in the Fantastic Four before getting his own series.

16:35 don't forget all the latinos with fire powers

I personally cannot wait for the "lightning" video 😉

This one of the best behind the scenes stories ever!

Cool video can't wait for part 2

Thanks you for your video and channel

I kinda knew but I didn't know about all the details like the captain thunder or the time-line of it all so thanks comic drake

in the group of electric powered charcter... who's the girl on the right? she looks awesome and i wanna read it

Drake, look up the "Magical Negro" trope, and that'll basically explain why there's so many black characters with electric powers.

16:27 Wait, does Jakeem Thunder count? I mean Yz _does_ have electric blast powers and you included Raoul, ThunderMan's operator. Unlike Count Zap with his electric rods, Raoul has no electric powers of his own (he doesn't even cross fuse in the anime).

Ngl the first thing that came to my mind when you said superhero was the start of Batman's beatbox from the Black Panther vs Batman beatbox video.....

Thank you for this interesting video!!

Hope this video does well love to see more stuff like this

MY GOD,second part is gonna be......an event,thanks for the wonderfull video.

Knew this, and loved your review of the history. Please do the lightning theme with Black characters. I wish DC had gone with the Thunder concept. I can see the outcry and the potential of stories with the multiverse twists!

Thanks I got too learn more about Shazam keep it up