William Batson (Prime Earth)

History

I'm not supposed to be Shazam, Freddy. The Wizard said so himself.

-- Billy Batson ^src 

Shazam!

Billy Batson was a terrible foster child. After the death of his parents and his treatment thereafter Billy had become cold and cruel to most people. Growing selfish and heartless, he went from foster home to foster home until he landed in an orphanage in Philadelphia and was partially forced to live with a new family; the Vasquezes.

After being adopted he moves to the Vazquez's home where he meets the rest of their family, who are also adopted. It is immediately apparent that Billy does not fit in with the rest and he soon gets into a fight with the others, storming off into his room. Annoyed by his new family, which includes Mary, Freddy, Eugene, Pedro, and Darla, he decides to leave as he's done countless times before but as he does he's whisked away to the Rock of Eternity where he meets the Wizard. There, he searched the boy's soul and saw that he was not perfectly good. When he told him so, Billy was instantly enraged, telling the wizard off for thinking that perfect good exists. The Wizard, seeing the boy's point, witnesses all the good Billy has done and accepts that the world has changed and now perfection has been exchanged for the hope of becoming good. Although he stated that he won't be able to take them back once given, the Wizard grants Billy the ability to wield the Living Lightning, turning him to the Champion, Shazam.

During this however, Black Adam has been freed from his prison by Doctor Sivana who, through an accident, became able to see magic with his injured eye. Sivana showed Black Adam the new world which the past Champion was not satisfied with. He started his plans to change the world and to do that, he left to find the Rock of Eternity. There, he found out that there was a new Champion who Adam now desperately wants to find.

Meanwhile, Billy met up with Freddy and after convincing his foster brother about his change, went out for a night of shenanigans. Seemingly by accident however, the two seemed to find all sorts of trouble all of which Shazam solved. He helped a woman when she was being mugged, stopped a bank robbery and punched out a man who wanted to rob a store. All the while, Shazam and Freddy aimed for goals such as getting money to drink beer. Not fully responsible yet, Billy showed his age. He got into a fight with Freddy over not wanting to go home or to change back into his teenage form and the two split up.

When he was alone, Shazam was finally found by Black Adam who attacked without remorse. Billy managed to escape by changing back into his mortal form and hid in the Zoo with a tiger he called Tawny. That was where his foster siblings found him and where they decided to go back to the Rock of Eternity. When Billy found the metro station from where he originally travelled to the Rock, a magical spirit called Francesca spoke to him. She tried to talk to him previously as well, however Billy always thought that he was hallucinating before. Now, listening to what she had to say, Billy learned that the only way he could reach the Rock if he was underground and spoke the magic word. However, Francesca also told him that if he did, Black Adam will find him. Since Shazam and Black Adam were the only two beings in existence who possessed the Living Lightning, the two were connected and would always feel where the other was.

Then, Francesca showed Billy visions of a boy and his family who were enslaved in ancient Kahndaq, a country in the East where all magic originated from. There, the boy was forced to work in mines and was all alone before his uncle saved him from a guard. The two wanted to escape but in the process were found by the Council of Wizards. There, the Wizard Shazam decided to give the boy a connection to the Living Lightning but he refused and wanted to share it with his injured and dying uncle to save him. A wish the Wizard granted.

Seeing this, Billy thought that Black Adam was the boy of ancient times, a lost child just like he was. Not listening to Francesca's pleas, Billy ran out to meet Black Adam, revealing his mortal form to the other Champion. Wanting to talk Adam off of his unholy crusade, Billy tried to bring out Adam's emotions but was rebuffed. There, Adam revealed that he was not the boy, but the Uncle. He killed his nephew when he learned that he did not want to use his powers for revenge.

Billy was horrified by this and was saved by his foster family when they drove a car into Black Adam who let Billy go. Turning into Shazam, the Champion faced his nemesis only to find that Adam caught his foster siblings. Black Adam ordered Shazam to give him all his powers which the hero did try to do but accidentally enchanted his own siblings with the Living Lightning. They all tried to overpower Black Adam but needed to split up when the Sins Sivana gathered together summoned a demon who started to destroy the city. Shazam and Adam continued their battle and arrived at the Zoo where Tawny tried to help Billy and attack Adam. Fearing his long time friend's life, Shazam tried to enchant the tiger unsuccessfully. That spell broke the balance of his existing enchantments and his siblings instantly started to feel a loss of power.

Knowing that physically he was no match for Black Adam, Billy turned back to his mortal form and started goading Adam to do the same. The old Champion did so in rage, unwillingly killing himself. Because he did not change back in centuries, his mortal form aged hundreds of years in a single moment, making his body turn to dust.

Trinity War

After the defeat of Black Adam, Billy gathered his ashes and kept it in a jar. Understanding his enemy and even growing to respect him, Billy decided to honour him by burying his remains in Kahndaq. Unfortunately, the country was a war zone and no intruders were allowed. By deciding to go there, Shazam unwillingly became the sole reason the Trinity War began, the pinnacle of the existing tension between the Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League of America.

After Superman's accidental killing of Doctor Light, John Constantine lured Billy away from the battle with the promise of knowledge of his real family when in essence, Constantine just wanted to steal Shazam's powers to defeat a demon. Thanks to Billy's sharp mind, they managed to kill the demon and he got his powers back, deciding to rejoin the battle for Pandora's Box which was in Wonder Woman's possession. After he successfully battled Diana, Shazam touched the Box himself which he could not control. Turning his uniform black, Shazam was corrupted by the evils of the Box but it was wrestled from his hands by the other Leaguers. 

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Divine Empowerment: Given powers by a dying Shazam, Billy Batson was granted the magic of Shazam which allowed him to transform and make use of powerful magical abilities.^[1]

• Transformation: By saying "Shazam", Billy Batson can transform into an adult version of himself with magical powers. He can fly, generate electricity, crush cars and deflect bullets off his skin. He has no inherent control of these abilities and must learn to use them.^[1]

• Superhuman Strength: The Wizard said Billy would have the strength of a demigod, thus making him as strong (at the very least) to demigods like Perseus, Heracles e.t.c. Billy can lift cars with ease, crush guns, and knock over superhuman enemies with little effort. He punched Superman enough to hurt him when he went to Kahndaq.^[1]
• Superhuman Durability:: The Wizard said he has the strength of a demigod which also means his durability is at the level of demigods as he has not shown any physical weakness. Bullets have no effect on Billy, knives conventional weaponry does nothing to his physical body as well. Only the most powerful of superhumans can topple him. He withstood a punch from an enraged Superman without any noticeable pain and injury afterwards.^[1]
• Superhuman Speed:: When he granted Billy his powers, the Wizard told him that he will be able to travel like lightning itself which means that Shazam can fly through the sky at multi-mach speeds upper limits are still unknown though, he has even reacted to the likes of superman in battle . ^[1], ^[2]
• Magic: When the Wizard granted him his powers, Shazam became the Keeper of Magic and the Living Lightning. He can control electricity and can use various spells and enchantments. During his fight with Black Adam, Shazam enchanted his foster family, giving them not only his but their own unique powers as well seemingly without any effort. He did not become weaker after he cast the spell like he did in past incarnations of the character.^[1]
  • Electrokinesis: Shazam has the ability to control electricity in a multitude of ways:
    • Electro-Blast: He can discharge a powerful blast of electricity from his body and attack foes with it.
• Flight: Billy can fly with no upper known limits. He's fought villains in the sky and been knocked out of the sky by the same villains with the grace of a falling brick.^[1]

Notes

• Captain Marvel (Billy Batson) was created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker, first appearing in Whiz Comics. However, in the rebooted Prime Earth continuity his first appearance as part of the DC Universe is in Geoff Johns and Gene Ha's New 52 Justice League series.
  

Trivia

• In this incarnation of Shazam/Captain Marvel, Billy is not given the typical powers as he is normally given. His powers do not come from multiple gods but rather all from Shazam himself. One of the missing powers is the Wisdom of Solomon.

Links and References

• 43 Appearances of William Batson (Prime Earth)
• Minor Appearances of William Batson (Prime Earth)
• Media William Batson (Prime Earth) was Mentioned in
• Images featuring William Batson (Prime Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about William Batson (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: William Batson (Prime Earth) 
• William Batson (Prime Earth) on Wikipedia.org

Footnotes

JLA-William Batson (Prime Earth)

Marvel Family member This character is or was a member of the Marvel Family in any of its various incarnations, and an ally of Captain Marvel and the Wizard Shazam. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Marvel Family members."

Justice League member This character is or was a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.