REVIEW: SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS

 

I don't get the ill will towards this. Much like the bad rep that Ant-Man: Quantumania has been getting, it confuses me. Sure, neither film is perfect, neither is a work of art and neither is even the best of the kind of superhero film their studios offer. But so what? Not every film is going to be the greatest ever. Both these films are good, silly fun - brightly coloured entertainment. When did that stop being enough? When did we become so joyless about these films?

Shazam! was a surprise hit for DC, Warner Bros. and New Line, bringing the original Captain Marvel - sorry, he's Shazam nowadays - to the big screen for the first time since 1941. Doing the film as essentially a superhero version of BIG was an ingenious move, and most importantly, writer Henry Grayden and director David F. Sandberg remembered that this is basically a kids' movie. 

Fury of the Gods has the difficult job of following this success, and was hit hard by the Covid lockdowns, delaying production by almost four years. The main kid actors are already in danger of ageing out of their parts, something that's referenced in the story, but it's not as if we're not used to young actors playing even younger characters. Fear of growing up is a major theme of the film, albeit not one that's entirely resolved.

The film makes a few odd choices. Asher Angel is unfairly sidelined as the "proper" Billy Batson, with very little screentime in which to make an impression. When he does appear, he gives a more mature performance than Zachary Levi, who's clearly having an absolute blast but sometimes goes a little too broad. Fortunately, the creators realised that Jack Dylan Grazer's performance as Freddie Freeman was the best thing about the first film, and make him a major focus of the film (his alter ego, Adam Brody, is hardly in it, and while he's also entertaining in his role, he's not really missed).

Grace Caroline Currey gets some good material as Mary, but again, she really deserves some more of the screentime. In an interesting choice, she doesn't have to hand over to another actor for her Mary Marvel phase - reflecting that her character is now an adult. Jovan Armand is just a treasure as Pedro; D.J. Cotrono is fun as his alter ego, but doesn't really come across as a version of the same character (to be honest, also a problem with Billy sometimes). Ian Chen and Ross Butler are both somewhat overlooked as Eugene, but fortunately Faithe Herman and Meagan Good are absolutely perfect and adorable as the younger and older versions of Darla.

There's some lovely material with the kids going on adventures as chaotic, semi-competent superheroes, while trying to keep it from their foster parents. Not making this into a farcical TV series is a missed opportunity. (Although, vaguely finding the superheroes familiar doesn't really work for Mary, now she looks identical in both guises.) Djimon Hounsou is brought back as the suspiciously not dead wizard Shazam, getting some much better material this time round and showing some real charm and comedy instincts, especially when paired up with Freddie. 

While it's still focused on comedy, there's some pretty intense and occasionally gruesome material here too, although the tone isn't as balanced as in the first film. I thoroughly enjoyed the reliance on Greek mythology in this story - one of my first obsessions. Yes, it plays a little fast and loose with the mythical genealogy when it comes to the Daughters of Atlas, but then, it's not as if the Greeks kept their mythical canon consistent over the centuries. Helen Mirren makes a convincing action film villain in spite of being in her eighth decade, and as always brings a touch of class to the whole affair. Lucy Liu brings an icy cruelty to the role of Kalypso, the younger sister to Mirren's Hespera. As Anthea, the youngest of the three (but still six thousand odd), Rachel Zegler gives a mixed performance. As everyday Anne, seemingly human teen, she's excellent, tremendously likeable and sharing great chemistry with Grazer. She's not so good when openly playing the goddess; she lacks the presence required, and struggles with the cod-Shakespearean dialogue that Mirren and Liu can roll off effortlessly.

The over-the-top climactic act is tremendous, with, I was overjoyed to see, monsters a-plenty. I actually cheered when the manticore appeared, and then we got harpies, minotaurs and a very Harryhausen-inspired Cyclops. Already we had the dragon Ladon, an archaic bit of mythology reworked with a fabulous and unsettling design. The Shazam! series has the best monster designs in superhero cinema. There are real punch-the-air moments (that cameo was lovely, really) but there are, admittedly, shockingly poor moments as well (the Skittles product placement is painful). Overall, though, the good stuff wins out.

Ultimately, while it doesn't balance heart, humour and horror as well as the first Shazam! the sequel is a brisk, entertaining and heartwarming action flick that makes for a cracking family film. The series deserves a third instalment, to allow Billy and Freddie the chance to truly grow up into their roles as heroes. And, just as importantly, I want the Monster Society of Evil team-up the post-credits scenes keep promising us (minus Black Adam, of course, as Dwayne Johnson will doubtless veto that).

REVIEW: SHAZAM!

So, I'm finally getting round to writing up my review of Shazam! which I saw pretty much as soon as it was released, but just haven't found the time to sit down and write about yet. Which is odd, since, while we're going through another comicbook movie busy patch, Shazam! is a very strong contender for my comicbook movie of the year.

I find it very amusing that there are two Captain Marvel movies out within a couple of weeks of each other, so that they were both showing alongside each other for a while. While I know that the lead character of Shazam! is officially known as Shazam, I still think of him as Captain Marvel, even while I think of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel as well. (There's a long and complicated history to the name, which I covered in an article a while back - I've put it as the featured post which you'll see to the right). Shazam! plays this quite well, never quite getting Billy Batson's superhero-persona to go by any name - the closest he gets is, in the climactic showdown, asking his new siblings to "say my name!" To which they all, naturally, shout, "Billy!" "No, say the word I say to change!" One of the better jokes of the film is the running gag where he and his new bestie Freddie come up with increasingly ridiculous names for him.

It's kind of surprising that it's taken this long for a Shazam!/Captain Marvel feature film to happen. The character was the subject of what was probably the first ever example of superhero cinema, certainly the first direct adaptation from a superhero comic, The Adventures of Captain Marvel, a Republic serial originally released way back in 1941. (Wonderfully, you can stream or download this, legally and for free. I'd recommend you do so, it's a lot of fun: it's available here.) Although this was eventually re-released in an omnibus format, this was over four hours long and poorly joined together, and not really a feature in the true sense.

DC/WB began working on a modern feature treatment about ten years ago, which would have starred Dwayne Johnson, initially down to play the lead, before opting to play the villainous Black Adam. Somewhere along the line this fell through, and Black Adam is not a part of the film (although DC apparently have plans for a standalone Black Adam movie starring Johnson, something I'm less than convinced will work). Now that it's finally arrived, it is officially part of DC's expanded cinematic universe, but the links to the other movies are minor. It's certainly no trouble imagining that this takes place in the same universe as Justice League or Wonder Woman, but if there's certainly no need to have seen anything else in DC's recent output. Indeed, the one cameo the studio clearly wanted to happen couldn't, seemingly due to scheduling conflicts, so a certain fan-pleasing moment is a little hamstringed.


It's was always a question how they were going to make this work for the big screen, but in hindsight, the answer is obvious. Of course you make it as the superhero version of BIG. While previous updates of the character have previously explored the divide between Billy and his superhero alter ego, but the movie goes in the opposite direction. It's not as if Billy disappears while Shazam takes his place; Asher Angel and Zachary Levi play the same character, just with a different appearance and abilities. There were a few moments where I struggled to buy this; Angel's troubled teen is a more cynical character than the joyful and excitable superhero played by Levi, but as Billy learns to accept his new family and his place in the world, the two versions of the character become more alike. I can accept Shazam as the boy that Billy would be without the guilt and crappy breaks weighing him down.

While Angel gives a good performance, this is Levi's movie. His kid-in-a-superman's body performance is an absolute joy, and the whole film hinges on how much fun it is to see him discovering his powers. Equally excellent is Jack Dylan Grazer, who plays the young Freddy Freeman, Billy's new adoptive brother and best friend. He gets to interact with both versions of Billy and manages to steal a few scenes from Levi, which is no mean feat. I'm glad the script doesn't shy away from Freddie's disability, and how much being able to magically transform into a superpowered body would mean to him. Of the rest of Billy's adoptive family, everyone performs well, but Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield (here his older sister, rather than the same age) stands out. Faithe Herman plays Darla Dudley, the youngest of the family, who might be the most adorable person I've ever seen on screen.

The script understandably follows the updated version of what we once called the Marvel Family, but doesn't lose any of the uncomplicated fun of the central concept. The appeal of Shazam/Captain Marvel is simple: what kid wouldn't want to be able to become a superhero? It works on more levels, though, and the use of the modern version of Dr. Sivana, rather than the straightforward mad scientist original ties in nicely to that. Mark Strong is basically perfect in the role – he's pretty much a shoe-in for comicbook villain roles, to be fair, but he really excels here. An effective story choice is to have the young Sivana almost chosen by the wizard Shazam, only to be spend his life bitterly trying to get his chance to claim that power.

Billy, himself, is only chosen because he's the last possible candidate and time is running out, and he's really no better than the young Sivana was. There's a nice symmetry between the characters, since both are the product of broken families and retaliate against their backgrounds. Sivana's father is a bully who openly treats his brother as the favourite, while Billy's mother wins the award for worst cinematic parent of the year and simply walks away from her son. While Billy turns from his delinquency due to finally finding a loving family and learning responsibility from his power, Sivana grows up with his uncaring father and brother and obsesses over the power he missed out on. Strong's Sivana is monstrous and terrifying, but still sympathetic. The real villain here is bad parenting.

Not everything works quite so well. The Seven Deadly Sins, being the opposite source of power to Billy's, work double time as monsters and Sivana's magical battery, and in themselves are very generic demon-beasts which mostly don't seem to reflect the sins they're supposed to represent. (I'm very tempted to have a crack designing my own, which would at least get me drawing again.) I'm not convinced by Djimon Hounsou as the wizard Shazam (the naming really does become confusing in the comics), but the sheer straightness of his performance works well with the comedy that revolves around him.

The balance of comedy and action-drama works is pretty perfectly balanced. The funniest moment of the film comes in the middle of the climactic one-on-one showdown between Billy and Sivana, and there's a gentle mockery of superhero tropes throughout, but in a refreshingly non-cynical way. There are some elements that just play weirdly to a British audience, though. Billy's first day at school, complete with bullies who like to pick on disabled kids, continue the impression I've always gotten from American films that arsehole kids can basically get away with what they want there. More worrying, though, is the weary “you get used to it” vibe of a bunch of children handing over their backpacks to be scanned for weapons, which admittedly has started to happen in some of the worst areas of Britain but is still rare and controversial enough to be noteworthy. Here it's just part of adjusting to a normal schoolboy life, which makes us all glad we live in a culture that isn't quite that messed up.

Fortunately, the overall feel of the film is overwhelmingly positive, and it never forgets that at its heart it's a story about family, something which carries forward right to the bombastic action climax. And while Black Adam might be missing from the Shazam story for now, at least it looks like we've got Mister Mind for the sequel, which is something I never thought we'd get to see on the big screen.

Trailer rundown

It's Comic con time in San Diego, which means there's trailers galore. So, what's coming up?

Doctor Who season eleven



After the rather pointless teaser aired during the FIFA World Cup final, we finally get a proper trailer for the thirteenth Doctor's debut series. Jodie Whittaker looks like she's going to be absolutely perfect, but the trailer really doesn't tell us much about the series. Would it kill them to show us a monster, or a historical figure, or play us some dialogue with the companions? It still feels like we know nothing new about the series. One thing we do know is that the Daleks are taking a breather, which is probably for the best.

Star Trek: Discovery season two

This looks pretty grand. There's even more of a hint of Abrams Trek to this than the first season, but it also looks like Discovery is getting back to the sense of exploration than Trek is known best for, albeit with some mysteries and threats to face. Anson Mount looks like he should make a great Captain Pike - Bruce Greenwood is still my favourite though - and it's also been reported that Rebecca Romijn is set to play his executive officer, Number One. Spock's absence is clearly a major plot point, while we know he does make an appearance in the season at some point this might just refer to the reported flashback scenes to his and Burnham's youth.

As well as this exciting and visually remarkable trailer - love the Saurian crewman - it's also reported that, among other initiatives, the gap between now and next year's season will be filled by mini-episodes called Short Treks. Lots to look forward to here.

The Orville season two



This looks really promising. As well as the feel being almost identical to Discovery's trailer, this makes it appear that the series will be more like Star Trek itself than the parody that the first season played as. As that first season went on, the scripts relied less on humour, and the jokes that were included were better balanced with the drama. Season two looks like it will continue in this direction.

Shazam!




Cap'n Marvel! Cap'n Marvel! The first Shazam! cinematic release in almost eighty years, this looks like it'll be a lot more fun than most of DC's recent film output. It's not how I'd have done a Shazam! movie, more like a new version of Big than anything, but it looks like it's going to be tremendous fun. Captain Marvel is the silliest of the properties DC is comfortable bringing to the big screen, only a step away from its own parody, Bananaman. Looking forward to this one.

Titans




Hmmm... not feeling this. Previous TV takes on the Teen Titans have been aimed at younger viewers and embraced the inherent silliness of characters like Beast Boy. Alternatively, a middle ground, a show for older kids like Young Justice would have worked well. This is just... blah. I guess it's pretty accurately predicting what teenagers would be like as superheroes: convinced that they're terribly mature, going on about how dark everything is, swearing whenever possible. Doesn't mean that this is any good though. Teen Titans Go to the Movies looks better.


Marvel Rising: Initiation




This is the beginning of a series of Marvel Rising cartoons which bring together a bunch of modern, young characters from Marvel comics - either new in the last few years, like Ms. Marvel, or revamped, like Squirrel Girl. Largely female, which sets this apart from most superteams on screen. Spider-Gwen, the breakout star character of the last few years, is clearly the big draw here (named Ghost Spider in this version), but it's Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl that make me want to watch more than anything. Love that Squirrel Girl hasn't been madeover into the usual skinny type. Also, America Chavez is going to be in this, so expect multiversity.

Those Marvellous Captains

Two of the upcoming comic-inspired movies I'm most looking forward to are Captain Marvel from Disney/Marvel, and Shazam from WB/DC. Both star a superpowered character who goes by the name Captain Marvel, although the hero of Shazam might end up being called Shazam. Understandably, there's a little confusion regarding the name "Captain Marvel" and how it relates to various characters. Not only have there been various characters in both the DC and Marvel universes named Captain Marvel, they have generally also gone by various other names. There are also various Marvelmen, Marvel Boys, Marvel Girls and Ms. Marvels, not all of which are related to the Marvel comic publishers. How to make sense of all this? Well, here goes:

Fawcett, National and DC

The original Captain Marvel was the star of a strip published by Fawcett Comics, his initial apperance being in issue two of Whiz Comics in 1940. At first glance, Captain Marvel was a Superman rip-off, and it was certainly the success of National Comics' Batman and Superman comics that led to the creation of Whiz Comics and its characters. The origin of Captain Marvel was entirely different, however. He was teenager Billy Batson, who encountered the wizard Shazam, who granted him the power to transform into Captain Marvel by uttering the word "shazam!". The magical incantation granted Billy the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury. He had very Superman-like powers and appearance, and yes, this did eventually get Fawcett comics into trouble. However, during the 1940s Captain Marvel's adventures were the best-selling American superhero comics of all, outselling his inspiration. During that golden era, a whole Marvel Family was created, including Captain Marvel Jr (really the young boy Freddy Freeman) and Mary Marvel (Billy's twin sister Mary). While Mary got her powers from saying "Shazam!" like her brother, Freddy had to say "Captain Marvel," so was always a second-tier sidekick to the true Captain Marvel. There was also a short-lived spin-off title called The Marvel Family, which featured other, non-powered members of the Marvel family, plus Marvel Lieutenants and even a Marvel Bunny. 

By 1953, however, the tide was turning. National Comics was now Detective Comics Publishing (later DC Comics), and a lawsuit between DC and Fawcett over Captain Marvel's similarities to Superman resulted in the cancellation of the line. DC eventually required the rights and finally complete ownership of Fawcett's stable of characters, and made plans to bring back Captain Marvel as one of their own heroes - one of the few who could go toe-to-toe with Superman. Various attempts to revive the character in the 70s and 80s, including an alternative version named Captain Thunder, had not been very successful, but in 1991 the graphic novel The Power of Shazam! reintroduced the character for good. Captain Marvel has survived the many reboots of the DC line, and still exists, with a revamped backstory, in the New 52. 

The problem, of course, is that during Billy Batson's period off the stands, Timely Comics, publishers of such characters as Captain America and the Human Torch, has changed their name to Marvel. To protect their copyright, Marvel created their own superhero named Captain Marvel, who premiered in Marvel Superheroes in 1967. After this, all the new DC Captain Marvel products were sold under the name Shazam! By 2011, the character had stopped being referred to as Captain Marvel even within the comics' story material, and was now known as Shazam (formerly the name of the wizard). While many fans still refer to him as Captain Marvel, this does fit with a proposed future mythology for the character, in which he will one day become the new wizard Shazam and choose a new Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel Jr, for his part, split from the Marvel family for a time and changed his name to CM3, while the New 52 version wishes to be known as King Shazam. There are other Captains Marvel in the DC multiverse, as well. One of Batson's most nefarious enemies is Black Adam, an evildoer who also wields the power of Shazam (and who will be played by Dwayne Johnson in the upcoming movie). There's also a version of the character on the parallel Earth-3, only in this version of events, it is Lex Luthor who is granted the power, whenever he says "Mazahs!" Really.

M. F. Enterprises

Between the Fawcett and Marvel iterations of Captain Marvel, a minor publisher named M. F. Enterprises created their own short-lived character by the same name. He appeared in four issues of his own self-titled comic in 1966-7, and two issues of the even briefer Captain Marvel Presents The Terrible Five. This character was a "Human Robot" (read android) whose background was otherwise pretty identical to Superman's, while his powers were odd to say the least: he could detach his body parts by shouting "Split!" He also had more regular abilities like laser eyes and a hyper-intelligent computerised brain. This Captain Marvel took on the secret identity of Roger Winkle, a mild-mannered reporter, no less, while his sidekick was the young Billy Baxton.

Given that his name clashed with both Marvel and DC properties and that his background, alter ego and villains were direct rip-offs of DC characters, it wasn't long before this Captain Marvel was put out of business. He did, however, make a brief cameo in a 1997 issue of The Power of Shazam!

Marvel Comics

When Marvel pinched the rights to the character name, they began a series of characters called Captain Marvel, a legacy title that has been handed down and that, unlike Captain America, say, has no one character who dominates its history. The first Captain Marvel is actually called Marr-Vell, and is a member of the alien race the Kree, sent to Earth to monitor them only to eventually break away and ally with the human race. In a grim turn of events, Marr-Vell died of cancer in the graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel. The second Captain Marvel was Monica Rambeau, a character created in 1982 and, unusually, a black female superhero. Rambeau was bombarded by cosmic energies, granting her the ability to convert to electromagnetic energy, and allowing her extreme speed, intangibility, energy blasts and so on. As Captain Marvel, she led the Avengers for some time.

Marr-Vell's son, Genis-Vell, became the third Captain Marvel, and after some initial friction, Rambeau conceded the name. She has since been known as Pulsar and Photon (neither of which is a name unique to her, because that would be too simple) but now goes by the name of Spectrum, and is part of the Mighty Avengers team, acting as their field commander. For some, Rambeau is the definitive Captain Marvel, and while she is both a major female member of the Avengers and a real heavy hitter, she is not the Captain Marvel who will be headlining her own Marvel movie.

Now, Genis-Vell, Marr-Vell's genetically engineered son, had a hard time as the Captain, going mad and destroying the universe (he did fix it up again though). Genis took the name Photon (requiring Rambeau to change her name again, and yes, this is confusing) leaving the captaincy open. It was taken next by his sister, Phyla-Vell, who came to exist as part of the strange effects of Genis's recreation of the universe. Phyla's name is a terrible pun of the part of writer Peter David. She has since become known as Quasar and then Martyr, became one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and died in battle. The fifth Captain Marvel was a Skrull sleeper agent known as Khn'nr, a shape-shfiting alien who took on the identity of Marr-Vell. The Marr-Vell identity became dominant, so for a short time it was as if the original Captain Marvel was back. He died too.

Marvel Boys and Marvel Girls

While Captain Marvel didn't come to Marvel until relatively late on, Marvel-monikered heroes graced its pages even before it was called Marvel Comics, back when it was called Timely Comics, and then Atlas Comics. The first such character was Marvel Boy, aka Martin Burns, a young man who wielded the power of Hercules in the Forties. In fact, there were two Martin Burnses, according to the official Marvel history, an attempt to make sense of two wildly contradictory origin stories. Supposedly they were both active under the name Marvel Boy at the same time, because this isn't confusing enough. In the 50s, Robert Grayson received cosmic bracelets from the Eternals to become Marvel Boy in his own title from Atlas Comics. And he grew up on Uranus. This Marvel Boy was revived in the 70s and revamped as the Crusader, and become part of the superhero team the Agents of Atlas in 2001. His bracelets were later donned by Wendell Vaughn, who became the next Marvel Boy, later Marvel Man, and finally Quasar. Yes, this is also the name later taken by fourth Captain Marvel, Phyla-Vell, after she acquired the cosmic armbands.

The fifth Marvel Boy was Vance Astrovik, a mutant who later took on the hero name Justice. To be extra confusing, another version of Vance Astrovik better known as Vance Astro became a member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy in an alternative timeline in the 31st century. The two Vances have even met up and worked together. The original Vance was followed by another mutant, the even more powerful David Bank. The best known Marvel Boy, however, was Noh-Varr, another member of the Kree race. He sided with the Earth during the Skrull invasion and took on Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn's offer of joining his "Dark Avengers," becoming the sixth carrier of the title of Captain Marvel.

There have been four Marvel Girls. The first was the mutant girl Jean Grey, founding member of the X-Men and also known by the name Phoenix, although generally referred to, unusually, by her given name in most things these days (particularly on TV and film). She was, of course, played by Famke Jansen in the Fox X-Men movies although will presumably be recast for X-Men Apocalypse. Jean Grey has died numerous times, and it never sticks. She and her husband, Scott Summers aka Cyclops, share some of the most convoluted storylines and family tree in the Marvel universe, covering multiple alternative timelines and potential futures. Their daughter Rachel, from one such future, is the third Marvel Girl. The second was Valeria Richards, the daughter of Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) and Sue Storm (Invisible Girl/Woman) in yet another alternative timeline. There was also a fourth Marvel Girl in yet another alternative future, Dream Richards, the daughter of Rachel Grey and Franklin Richards, Valeria's brother. A proper Marvel family.

Ms. Marvel

Carol Danvers, a USAF officer, debuted in the 60s in Marvel Super Heroes, where she was caught in an explosion alongside Marr-Vell. Although injured, she absorbed some of his Kree DNA, since this is what happens in explosions in comics. Now equipped with flight, super strength and other abilities, she took on the name Ms. Marvel, and received her own title. Danvers has gone through some pretty horrendous stuff in her long comics career, including an ill-judged rape storyline and a twisted encounter with the X-Man Rogue, which ended up granting Rogue enhanced powers but also carrying round a copy of Danvers in her head. Danvers later received enhanced powers at the hands of another alien species, and took on the name Binary. She's also been known as Warbird, but eventually settled back into being Ms. Marvel. Danvers first got the title of Captain Marvel in another alternative reality, in the House of M event, before finally taking on the position in the mainstream comics run in 2012. Since then, the Danvers-headed run of Captain Marvel  has become enormously popular. As well as being a member of both SHIELD and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Danvers has been the subject of continual fan requests for the cinematic treatment. And so it is this Captain Marvel who will be getting her own major movie release in 2018, as part of the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This has of course left a vacancy for the position of Ms. Marvel. Although there have been two other shortlived Ms. Marvel's in the past - Sharon Ventura, who later mutated into the She-Thing, and Karla Sofen, better known as Moonstone, who became the evil Ms. Marvel as part of the Dark Avengers. The current Ms. Marvel is Kamala Khan, a young Pakistani American girl who sees Danvers as her idol, and takes on the name after her Inhuman powers are triggered. Given that both Captain Marvel and the Inhumans have movies coming up (and the Inhumans are also involved in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD on the TV), it's not impossible that we'll see Kamala on screen sometime.

It's also worth briefly mentioning that Danvers appears in other Marvel lines, set in yet more alternative timelines. The Ultimates line features a non-superpowered Captain Danvers who is at one time involved with Mahr-Vehl, the Captain Marvel of that reality. She also features prominently in the Marvel Mangaverse, in which she actually becomes Captain America. As Captain Marvel, though, Danvers is probably the premier female superhero of the mainstream Marvel line. I mean, she represents the Earth to the universe at large, that's pretty impressive.

The Marvelman Debacle

Although most committed comics fans get their comics from specialist shops that import them from the States, there's a tradition of British publishers selling reprinted American comics in newsagents on the high street. Fawcett's Captain Marvel and its spin-offs were published here by L. Miller and Sons. Ltd, who found themselves in a pickle when Fawcett cancelled their entire line following the dispute with DC. So Miller's simply produced their own knock-off version of the good Captain, under the name Marvelman. This was young Mickey Moran, who received his powers from an interstellar wizard-scientist and became Marvelman when he uttered the word "Kimota!" (atomic backwards, sort of). He got his own version of the Marvel family, with Dicky Dauntless as Young Marvelman and Johnny Bates as Kid Marvelman, each swapping their child bodies with superpowered adult forms when they exclaimed "Marvelman!"

The original Marvelman run carried on till 1963, when it was canned. It was revived in 1982 by Dez Skinn and Alan Moore for the first issue of Warrior, an anthology comic in the vein of 2000 AD. Having already revamped the poorly conceived Marvel character Captain Britain (which included another version of the Marvelman character, briefly glimpsed as Miracleman in another timeline), Moore began his career defining deconstruction of the superhero genre by crashing wholesome hero Marvelman into the real world. The adult Mike Moran, plagued by nightmares from his forgotten time as Marvelman, rediscovers his powers. His journey of discovery leads him to Johnny Bates, who has remained in his Kid Marvelman guise through the years and matured to become supremely powerful. Forced back to be thirteen-year-old Johnny, he suffered horrific bullying and sexual abuse in the children's home he as dumped in, leading to another devastating resurgance of Kid Marvelman's powers. 

The new Marvelman strips were sold to American publishers Eclipse, whereupon they gained the attention of Marvel Comics, who, as with DC, took exception at their use of the Marvel name. Eclipse changed Marvelman to Miracleman, with the rest of the new Marvel family changing in kind. There was also a version of Mary Marvel, named Miraclewoman, created when young girl Avril Lear was experimented upon to create a superpowered being in the nature of Marvelman/Miracleman. Moore left the comic and it was continued for some time by Neil Gaiman. After an unpleasant dispute over creators rights between various parties including Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, the collapse of Eclipse comics and his purchasing of their properties, and legal ramifications regarding the purchase of the original Marvelman material, Miracleman was scrapped. Just recently, however, Marvel have purchased the Marvelman back catalogue, although the reprinted Miracleman retains the Marvel-less name. A weird upshot of this is that Gaiman is now writing for Marvel and has sold them the rights to his Spawn character Angela, who is now part of the Guardians of the Galaxy and set to join the Avengers. Gaiman will be continuing the Miracleman story in new issues. 

Confused?

So, there are, currently, two characters called Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers is the Captain Marvel who belongs to Marvel Comics, used to be Ms. Marvel, and will star in the movie Captain Marvel. Billy Batson is the Captain Marvel who belongs to DC Comics, whose comic and upcoming movie are called Shazam! and who is officially called Shazam himself. Marvel comics still have a Ms. Marvel and sometimes a Marvel Girl, and while they now own and publish Marvelman, they're still marketing him as Miracleman. It's quite straightforward really.