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Shazam reveals Zachary Levi’s costume in first official photo
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
1996 me squees.I'm still waiting for DC to attempt Kingdom Come in some form. Most likely a bland looking animated straight to Netflix film. Who knows though, a well made accurate to the comic version would be awesome especially for Captain Marvel's part.
2018 me thinks this needs a Kink.com logo.
In a way, it could code the fact that the transformation is meant to reflect what Billy thinks a superhero looks like.
in this shot it's coke, in the movie it's root beer. That way the joke makese sense (them spitting it out).
You know you are too into comics when you are asking "why isn't it Soder Cola?"
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This has the potential to be very successful at box office but it's the Warner Bros we're taking about. They have the worst marketing team possible, literally destroying every franchise they have.
It seems like people are milling about in the background with ID badges, and Levi isn't wearing half of his Shazam (boots, gauntlets, etc.) costume, so it's probably just goofing around between takes.
Maybe it's rehearing something for the film, but maybe not. It could just be something in the toy store they rented out.
Honestly I feel like if there's any success for this film it's going to be on good word of mouth. Shazam/Captain Marvel may be decently known in comic book and/or DC fan circles, but outside that it's hit and miss. It has to perform like the first Ant-Man movie, except well, that had the benefit of the generally strong track record of the MCU as an assurance - the Marvel branding alone would carry it. That is not the case for Shazam.
What?
Didn't Ready Player One and It just do well. And both had fairly solid marketing campaign
Oceans 8 and Tag did better than expected.
I disagree. Their marketing team is what's holding the company up. It's the executive producers who aren't worth shit.
Their marketing team turned IT into a viral sensation. 300 million domestic for a horror movie.
Suicide Squad was a B Movie that deserved Solo numbers, but it also hit 300 million domestic because it went viral.
Batman v Superman had a 170 million weekend due to marketing and not much else.
I wasn't talking about their movies alone. Franchise movies like DC, Harry Potter needs merch and publicity to be super successful. They fail at that point. They don't have the power of Disney of being literally everywhere but they need that power. What they have almost as powerful (if not more) as Disney but they don't know how to use it. I mean people knowing more about Marvel's Captain Marvel much better than Shazam is a problem and is caused by a weak marketing team.
Maybe they need push franchises down people's throats like Disney do. I'm genuinely surprised at the amount of people who know nothing about Shazam.
Who are the "people" in this scenario.
I mean there's been no trailers for either so the general public doesn't know about either movie really. And even then most won't care until early next year.
As for the brand, I mean DC is everywhere. Harry Potter is everywhere. Or do we miss the stage show, the multiple theme park attractions, the new movies, the mobile games, the gaming division they just created for that brand.
Hell, that's the whole reason DC decided to sue Fawcett specifically and not the whole swathe of seeming Superman knockoffs - those weren't doing even better than the OG. Freaking Elvis was an open Captain Marvel (Jr.) fan.
The concept can sell - they just have to do it right.
You know I think I would be ok if it was in the final cut if we had a Tom Hanks cameo
Sure if your memory only goes back like 5 years and ignores the movies of theirs that do well.
Edit: Saw your response.
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Looking really good on the cover. And definitely seems like they're going for a 'playful' tone in marketing.
The more I see, the more I like. Hope they have a winner on their hands. Levi deserves his big break.
And first look at Billy
Looks like this is happening after Man of Steel/BvS/Justice League after all.
That's the world engine on Time.
Also, 'Superman is Back'. Says it all really.
And to be fair? I feel like that makes sense. Shazam/Captain Marvel works well in a DC context if treated as this 'second generation' of superhero, as such, with Billy inspired by Superman. Because well, he kinda was out of universe, so why not have it be the case in universe?
Captain Marvel was a fucking phenomenon. The fact he's fallen so hard is completely on DC's hands, and the fact Marvel making bank off the name sickens me.
I just feel like history is giving the man no respect when he deserves so much more, y'know? Kids have no respect coming from their lips when they be saying SHAZAM.
Since someone brought up Elvis
If you think you know all about Captain Marvel Jr's influence on Elvis Presley ... think again! Because the World's Mightiest Boy didn't just influence the King of Rock and Roll's hairstyle ....
And things were about to change for Elvis, too. Lauderdale Courts was not meant to be a permanent residence. Tenants could be forced to move if they were earning too much money, and this is exactly what happened to the Presley's in 1953.
They moved to 698 Saffarans in the Uptown neighborhood in January 1953, just one day before Elvis turned 18. He had already begun to model his look after Captain Marvel Jr., as a comparison of the Mac Raboy drawing of Cap Jr. and the early publicity photo of Elvis pictured right shows.
'He already had the greased hair, color and black satin pants -- with his friends standing next to him in jeans and shirts. He already looked different than every other boy. Everyone in the Courts knew who he was', according to Elvis researcher Alex Mobley.
Six months later after moving, on June 3, 1953, Elvis Presley graduated from Hume High School in Memphis. What would he do now?
'You know', Elvis confided to his cousin Earl', I believe there's a superboy inside me, just waiting to bust out'.
Elvis was right. He had the talent, the looks, the charm and the style. There WAS a superboy inside him just waiting to bust out. The only thing missing was the magic words. Freddy Freeman transformed by saying the name of his hero, Captain Marvel. Now, Elvis was ready to transform too -- by saying a name that belonged not to a Captain... but to a Colonel.
The Lightning Strikes!
The debut of Captain Marvel and his protégé -- Elvis' hero, Captain Marvel Jr. -- had struck the comic book world like a thunderbolt -- and now it was Elvis' turn to do the same for the music business, and the world.
Leonard Bernstein called Elvis Presley 'the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. Elvis introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes. It's a whole new social revolution -- the 60's comes from it'.
Disc jockey John Peel describes the sense of shock Elvis brought: 'It might sound pretty safe
now, but in the context of what was happening in the 1950s, hearing Heartbreak Hotel was as shocking as if someone was dancing naked in your living room'. Even Presley himself agreed. Years later, Elvis would comment', Man, I was tame compared to what they do now. Are you kidding? I didn't do anything but just jiggle'.
Rolling Stone magazine thought Elvis did a bit more than just jiggle: 'At Sun Studio in Memphis (1954, label pictured left), Elvis Presley called to life what would soon be known as rock and roll with a
voice that bore strains of the Grand Ole Opry and Beale Street, of country and the blues. At that moment, he ensured -- instinctively, unknowingly -- that pop music would never again be as simple as black and white'.
John Lennon: 'Before Elvis, there was nothing'.
Bob Dylan: 'When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail. I thank God for Elvis Presley'.
Elton John: 'If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off'.
Mick Jagger: 'Elvis was a unique artist -- an original in an area of imitators'.
Keith Richards: 'Before Elvis, everything was in black and white. Then came Elvis. Zoom, glorious Technicolor'.
Bruce Springsteen: 'There have been a lot of tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king. That Elvis, man, he is all there is. There ain't no more. Everything starts and ends with him. He wrote the book'.
Elvis' Manager: Colonel Tom Parker
It was 1955. Elvis had been booked as a warm-up act for another singer, Hank Snow. Snow's manager was a colorful West Virginian who had run away from home at an early age to join the circus. He became a music
promoter in the late 1940s, managing musicians Minnie Pearl and Eddy Arnold, and western film star Tom Mix. When Elvis was introduced to Snow's manager for the first time, he must have been thunderstruck -- the man's name was Colonel Tom Parker.
Elvis knew well that Freddy Freeman transformed into his boyhood hero, Captain Marvel Jr., by saying the name 'Captain Marvel'.
Now, here he was, being introduced to the man who would soon transform himinto an immortal superstar -- not a Captain, but a Colonel! Holy Shazam.
It was destined to be!
Parker wasn't a real Colonel -- he received the honorary title in 1948 from Jimmie Davis, the governor of Louisiana.
But then again, Captain Marvel wasn't actually a real 'Captain' either! And, as fate would have it, the Navy rank of Captain is directly equivalent to the Marine rank of Colonel!
Elvis must have felt fate was calling.
Parker took over Presley's contract on August 18, 1955, and proceeded to dominate every phase of his career for the rest of his life. The Colonel was instrumental in virtually every business decision Presley ever made. His influence over Elvis has been criticized as Svengali-like, but without the Colonel, Presley might never have become the superstar he became.
Elvis' relationship with the Colonel could not be damaged, even when the truth about Parker's past was finally revealed.
It turned out Colonel Tom Parker, West Virginian, was actually a Dutch citizen, and his name wasn't Tom Parker. He had been born Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk, in Breda, Netherlands, in 1909. When he was 18, he fled to America and joined the US Army, changing his name to Tom Parker.
Some have speculated that the reason Elvis never performed abroad may have been that Parker was worried that as a non-citizen, he would not be readmitted to the United States. One book even claims he left the Netherlands to escape a murder rap. But whatever the Colonel's past may have been, it had no effect on his legendary management of the future King of Rock 'n' Roll.
Mirror, Mirror: Elvis and Cap Jr.
Now, with his talents at their peak and the skills of a brilliant manager to guide him, Elvis hit his stride. From January 1956 to November 1957, Elvis Presley spent a phenomenal 51 weeks occupying the number one spot on the Billboard pop chart. He would go on to record 104 singles that hit the Top 40, with an astounding 38 Top 10 Billboard hits. This total is unchallenged even today. The closest competitors are Madonna with 35, and The Beatles with 34. No artist before or since has ever dominated American popular music so completely.
And who was there, with Elvis, every step of the way? Who else? Captain Marvel Jr.!
Above: Master Comics #119, featuring Cap Jr. in a typical pose.
Right: Elvis belts out a
tune, striking a
similar typical pose.
Above: Master Comics #54, with Capt. Jr's black hair, long sideburns and red cape.
Right: Elvis with dyed black hair (his
natural hair color was sandy brown),
long sideburns and red shirt.
Elvis and Cap Jr. in the Seventies
As he grew older, Elvis began to look and dress even more like Captain Marvel Jr. Below, an unpublished sketch of Cap. Jr. by artist Dave Cockrum -- who drew the World's Mightiest Boy in his DC revival of the early Seventies -- and a 1971 portrait of Elvis. Note the locks of tousled black hair on both foreheads, and Elvis' ultra-high shirt collar and jacket, both blue, the main color in Cap Jr's uniform.
Now middle-aged, Elvis took to wearing jumpsuits during his numerous live performances. Where did the designs for these outlandish, theatrical outfits come from? According to Elvis' cousin Billy Smith, 'If you go back and look at a drawing of Captain Marvel Jr., it looks a whole lot like the seventies Elvis -- one-piece jumpsuit, wide belt, boots, cape, lightning bolt and all'.
Above: Captain Marvel Jr. #131, with Cap Jr. wearing a blue uniform with gold trim, wide belt, and short cape.
Right: Elvis in 1972, wearing
a blue jumpsuit with gold trim,
wide belt, and short cape. This outfit
has been dubbed 'The Blue Owl'.
Captain Marvel's alter ego, Freddy Freeman, also inspired several of Elvis' stage outfits. According to Elvis expert Elaine Dundy, 'Subconsciously, the grown Elvis copied his hero's glistening black hair, his sideburns and his triumphant stance. Years later he wore his version of the Marvel Jr. cape, and the white scarf Freddy Freeman often wore turned up around Elvis' neck in performance'.
Below: Freddy Freeman, and a similarly-clad Elvis on stage, in concert.
Above: Captain Marvel Jr's alter ego, Freddy Freeman, wore a blue coat with a long white scarf.
Right: Elvis wearing a
blue jumpsuit with a
long white scarf.
The TCB Thunderbolt Logo
Elvis' motto was 'Taking Care of Business in a Flash', represented in his personal logo by the letters TCB and a lightning bolt. Elvis wore a famous ring with the TCB logo on it (pictured left). Where did the phrase and logo come from? It was designed in the Seventies by Elvis and his new bride, Priscilla'. Taking Care of Business was a Black expression', recalls 'Memphis Mafia' member Marty Lacker, and Elvis used to say it in a sort of ethnic way. It was just a hip saying. Aretha Franklin sang 'Take care/TCB' on her version of Respect, for example'. The lightning bolt has two meanings', Lacker explains'. One is 'in a flash'. In other words, 'whatever you need to do, do it quick'. But the lightning bolt was also the insignia for the West Coast Mafia. In addition to doing things in a flash, [Elvis] liked the idea that the West Coast Mafia used it'.
Billy Smith, another of Elvis' 'Memphis Mafia' pals, strongly disagrees with Lacker ...
'Nah. The lightning bolt came from his army days. It was the insignia of his battalion ...
Or maybe in the back of his mind, he
identified it with Captain Marvel Jr ...
That's where he got the idea for the capes. From the comic books'.
Given the fact that the 'C' is elevated far above the 'T' and 'B' in the logo, I tend to agree with Billy Smith. Why would Elvis raise the middle letter so high -- unless he wanted to pay homage to someone whose name began with a 'C'. Someone such as ... Captain Marvel Jr.
Elvis gave various diamond-encrusted gold jewelry pieces bearing the logo to members of his inner circle as a gift. According to Lacker, the TCB jewelry was created around 1970'.The lightning bolt emblem Captain Marvel Jr. wore on his chest
became Elvis' logo, his signature', says Elaine Dundy'. The lightning bolt turned up on Elvis' private plane, the Lisa Marie (pictured left), and in the Graceland game room (pictured above). It turned up on the jewelry he gave special friends: the gold neck chains and bracelets. All of them were designed with Captain Marvel Jr's lightning bolt in the center'.
There was also a 'TCB Oath', written by the King himself, which Elvis' pals were required to follow. It stated:
'More self-respect, more respect for fellow man, respect for fellow students and instructors. Respect for all styles and techniques. Body conditioning, mental conditioning, meditation for calming and stilling of the mind and body. Sharpen your skills to increase mental awareness, for all those who might choose a new outlook and personal philosophy. Freedom from constipation'.
That last sentence is not an editorial insertion -- Elvis had a great sense of humor, and he actually included the phrase 'Freedom from constipation' in his otherwise-solemn 'TCB Oath'.
The lightning had struck, and it seemed there were no new heights left for Vernon and Gladys' little boy Elvis to scale. But there was one thing Presley had still never done ... he'd never had a private, Oval Office meeting with the President of the United States. That was way out of even Elvis' league. Or was it?
Let's try another approach.
CMJ #58
CMJ #61
MASTER #118
Elvis Presley, Comic Book Fan
Who is YOUR favorite superhero?
Or, who is your favorite non-super hero? And WHY?
We often idolize those who most closely resemble our current situation, as well as those who embody the ideals and values we wish to achieve
ourselves. In other words, we tend to like either who we ARE, or who we WANT TO BE. This is part of the genius of Superman, from whom all other superhero characters flow. The Superman mythos combines both aspects of hero worship in a single character, through the use of the 'secret identity'. We ARE like Clark Kent, and we WANT TO BE like Superman.
In my view, THIS is why Elvis idolized Cap Jr. -- because the Captain Marvel Jr./Freddy Freeman character was a perfect mirror image of the once and future Elvis. Freddy represented Elvis as he was, and Captain Marvel Jr. represented Elvis as he wished to be. (Pictured right: Alex Ross sketch of 'King Marvel', a possible future version of Captain Marvel Jr. from 'Kingdom Come'.) Freddy Freeman was a poor, crippled young orphan; Elvis was poor, and neglected by his father.
Freddy said 'Captain Marvel!' and the lightning struck; Elvis said 'Colonel Parker!' and the lightning struck. And what was 'the lightning'? The lightning was inspiration -- the power to use the works of others as sparks for one's own creativity, and to fashion from them something entirely NEW. In blending strains of the Grand Ole Opry and Beale Street with country and the blues, this is exactly what Elvis did, revolutionizing music -- and the entire nation -- in the process.
Immortal Elvis will always be remembered, and as long as Elvis endures, the world will remember Captain Marvel Jr., too -- because there is a Captain Marvel Jr. comic book stored in the Elvis archives!
Also, much DC would later buy Captain Marvel's right and continue to ignore him and give him no proper credit, much like Elvis's attitudes towards not giving black culture proper respect but profiting off using various aspects of it. The business world is cruel, eh?
This precious piece of memorabilia serves to remind us that powers bestowed at the Rock of Eternity will now rock FOR an eternity. The King is dead -- LONG LIVE THE KING!
Aren't they also going to have an "Elseworlds" line of movies like Joaquin Phoenix's Joker?
