Captain Marvel Jr. character as resembling Tiny Tim as Freddy Freeman, and Peter Pan as Captain Marvel Jr.). Junior, Captain Marvel, and Mary Marvel began appearing together in "The Marvel Family" comic book beginning in 1945. That title and Junior's own ran until 1953, when Fawcett Publications discontinued all the Marvel Family comic books as the result of a lawsuit brought by National Comics (later DC Comics). After Fawcett Comics folded, Captain Marvel Jr. remained unpublished, alongside the rest of the Marvel Family, for years. In 1972, DC Comics purchased the rights to the Marvel Family characters and revived them in a new
Adventures of Captain Marvel most popular superhero, and they agreed. Director William Witney, however, was skeptical about trying to adapt Captain Marvel after the problems encountered with Superman. In spite of this, "Adventures of Captain Marvel" became the first superhero film adaptation of a comic book character. National attempted legal action to prevent Republic from developing their arch rival's most successful character, citing Republic's failure at adapting a Superman serial. Their attempt was unsuccessful, however, and Captain Marvel went into production. Writing in his autobiography of the period, William Witney revealed that in his court deposition he had claimed that both Superman and Captain