Captain Marvel (DC Comics) Marvel's protégé, Captain Marvel, Jr., who was the alter-ego of Billy and Mary's best friend, the disabled newsboy Freddy Freeman. Before DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" comic book miniseries in 1985, the Marvel Family also included part-time members such as Mary's non-powered friend "Uncle" Dudley (Uncle Marvel) and three other protégés (all of whose alter egos are named "Billy Batson") known as the Lieutenant Marvels. A pink rabbit version of Captain Marvel, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, appeared in his own stories featuring a funny-animal cast. The current-continuity version of Shazam has a Shazam Family made up of his five foster
Legacy hero Legacy hero A legacy hero is a type of character, usually a superhero, that is the descendant or relative of an already or previously existing hero who either inherits or adopts the name and attributes of the original. One of the earliest examples of this character type was comic strip hero The Phantom, assumed to be immortal by his enemies—various members of a single family, the descendants of Christopher Walker. The term is used most often to refer to characters published by DC and Marvel comics. Family franchises such as DC's Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Atom, Black Canary, Captain Marvel,