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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Klaus" data-source="post: 2488043" data-attributes="member: 607"># 66 - Captain Marvel<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/Captainmarvel.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Captain Marvel's origin story finds the homeless and orphaned Billy Batson making a meager living selling newspapers near an old subway station, sleeping in the doorway of the station. Billy had been living with his uncle after the deaths of his parents, but the cruel old man threw the boy out into the streets and stole his inheritance. While selling papers one rainy night, a dark clothed stranger comes to the boy, and asks him to follow him down into the subway station. There, a strange subway train with no visible driver appears, which carries the pair to the secret lair of the wizard Shazam. There, the ancient wizard reveals that he has selected Billy to be his champion to fight for good as the "strongest and mightiest man in the world--Captain Marvel!".To that end, Shazam orders the boy to speak his name, which was actually an acronym for various legendary figures who have agreed to grant aspects of themselves to a willing subject:S for the wisdom of Solomon H for the strength of Hercules A for the stamina of Atlas Z for the power of Zeus (usually in the form of resistance to any injury) A for the courage of Achilles M for the speed of Mercury (and, by extension, the power to fly) Billy complies and is immediately struck by a magic lightning bolt, which turns him into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero. He then learned that he only had to speak the word again to be instantly changed back into Billy.Marvel is usually depicted as a pure-hearted and unwaveringly upstanding; since he is still a youth, it is harder for him to become corrupted (thus the wizard's reasoning for not choosing another adult like Black Adam as his champion). In the Underworld Unleashed miniseries (1999), Captain Marvel's soul is treasured by the demon prince Neron, but Marvel's soul is so pure that Neron was unable to possess it.</blockquote>

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