DEATH BATTLE

Adaptation. Doesn't count. The same way Zatara isn't Dr. Fate in the comics. The Canon version does not change back unless he wants to. He used to but it's not been the case for decades now.

Young Justice Shazam is also way more childish than actual Shazam acts when transformed so he's sort of a shitty measuring stick all around.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 25th 2019 at 8:14:53 AM

Wait.

You mean he can actually say his name without automatically changing?

Boy. Pre Crisis Captain Marvel Jr. could have used some of that shit.

Speaking of Captain Marvel Jr, I wonder if theyre going to bring up the Elvis thing.

...please explain this "Elvis" thing.

Evidently, Elvis Presley was a big fan of Captain Marvel Jr., and based a lot of his aesthetic (hair, outfits, logos, etc) off of the character.

Ah.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Seriously though, huh. Never would have guessed. Never looked at his outfits that closely really. I can... kind of see it.

Edited by Soble on Mar 26th 2019 at 3:16:20 AM

In fact, there's been modern incarnations of the character who flip the script and have Captain Marvel Jr. be inspired by Elvis.

That's pretty wild.

Coincidentally, Billy Batson's first appearance was in Whiz Comics #2

I've never really gotten her or Shazam's appeal to be honest.

Their appeal is that they are characters that people like.

but why>

Because they do and don't need to justify themselves?

Shazam, at least, has the whole "kid in a grown-up's body" thing to differentiate him.

I suppose Captain Marvel's (Carol Danvers) thing is that she's primarily associated with Marvel's space stuff, like the Kree? Though frankly I know next to nothing about the Kree or the Skrull, and I've never really felt the need to educate myself on them.

The thing about the whole kid in adults body thing is that it was a huge power wish fulfillment fantasy for kids and probably why Shazam outsold Superman in his heyday

That's weird. See when I was a kid I knew I wasn't going to be hit by a lightning bolt and transform into that character - so I was never big into characters like that.

Now, my man Goku on the other hand, that was all martial arts stuff I could learn at the local Y, and Batman too, that stuff was real and doable.

Edited by Soble on Mar 27th 2019 at 11:03:16 AM

I mean, why does anyone like any superhero? Both Captain Marvel of Marvel and Captain Marvel of DC fall into the category of "basically Superman" type characters. It really just depends on what you read and which character clicked. Though the Marvel line was fairly niche until they started grooming the character for the movies some odd years ago. DC Marvel was popular until DC pretty much buried the title in favor of Superman.

you thought you were gonna wake up and discover you were secretly a Saiyan? Cause those are the only people who do anything in Dragonball Z.

Billy and Carol were just ordinary people who weren't born special and earned their powers, instead of being born part of a species that just randomly pulls new forms out of their asses.

Billy was contacted by an old man in a cave, and Carol was the subject of alien experimentation.

Being decent people and having power thrust upon you isn't what I'd call "earned."

Goku wasn't born special either - if anything he was born in a state that his own people considered deficient. He just proved them wrong by "earning" his eventual god-like power.

Well, yeah, in Dragonball Z, not Dragon Ball itself. Plenty of people were doing stuff before the Saiyans were even a concept.

Besides, Goku is actually Japanese. So to be more accurate, I thought I was going to wake up one day and be Japanese. And Batman. Japanese Batman.

Like with the mask and the cape, everything.

Edited by Soble on Mar 27th 2019 at 3:36:19 AM

Batman does have a manga.

That's only true retroactively. Goku was always written as a special boy who is a genius at fighting and nigh invincible. In original DB, even then Goku trains, it's always "wow Goku you're so good and you're mastering this so much more easily/faster than anyone else who's tried that." It's only retroactively that Toriyama went "No, see, Goku's actually a chump compared to his people and he's had to earn his power!" While the narrative was actually "Nah, Goku gets it easy and is naturally blessed with this"

Even in dragon ball people tend to have to wait for Goku to do stuff

Everyone who tries to do anything in the piccolo arc gets dead or beaten up with Goku coming in the nick of time to save Tien from his own idiocy

The other ‘main characters’ show up too late to do anything in the Red Ribbon arc but at least get to be made to look like fools in the fourtuneteller tournament afterward

First arc had a good mix of people doing things though

Edited by Bocaj on Mar 27th 2019 at 6:50:25 AM

> Batman does have a manga.

he watches anime too probably

Edited by Ultimatum on Mar 27th 2019 at 10:39:08 AM

Explicitly. He's a fan of Sailor Moon. He once caught the Martian Manhunter pretending to be a Japanese woman cause he chose the name Hino Rei.

Also, Billy wasn't contacted by an old man on a cave, it was a wizard in a subway station who saw Billy was a good, optimistic kid in spite of all the crappy things in his life.

He also beat the crap out of some bullies to defend a disabled child.

(4)

(6)

Well, I guess you got me there.

Edited by Soble on Mar 27th 2019 at 5:06:27 AM