Mary Marvel Mary Marvel Mary Marvel is a fictional character originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics. Created by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze, she first appeared in "Captain Marvel Adventures" #18 (cover-dated Dec. 1942). The character is a member of the Marvel/Shazam Family of heroes associated with the superhero Shazam/Captain Marvel. She is the alter ego of teenager Mary Batson (adopted name Mary Bromfield), twin sister of Captain Marvel's alter-ego, Billy Batson. Like her brother, Mary has been granted the power of the wizard Shazam, and has but to speak the wizard's name to be transformed into
Captain Marvel (DC Comics) with "Justice League" #21, preceding DC's crossover storyline "Trinity War" which heavily features the Shazam mythos. Johns and Frank's reboot was met with both acclaim and criticism, and the renaming of the hero as Shazam brought mixed reactions. Johns noted that the change was made "because that's what everyone thinks his name is anyway," due to the inability to use the "Captain Marvel" moniker on comic book covers and merchandise. In updating "Shazam!," Johns and Frank skirted some controversy among long-time fans by introducing Billy Batson as a cynical foster child who comes to appreciate his potential as a hero