When DC Comics (then National Periodical Publications) bought out the Fawcett Comics stable of characters, they seemed to make a conscious decision to make sure to keep any of those characters' adventures well out of the mainstream DC Universe. Why they did this, I don't know. You'd think that they would want to play off the inherent rivalry between the mightiest super-heroes in comics. I do know it was nearly fifteen years before Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family finally launched itself officially into the DC multiverse, and a little longer before Cap and Superman finally went toe-to-toe, and that was in a giant-sized tabloid comic (Superman Vs. Shazam!).

Well, that is, unless you remember a little tryout for that somewhat major event that DC did in 1974, with a very similar hero known as Captain Thunder.

Captain Thunder was really a clever homage to Captain Marvel and Fawcett Comics. In fact, Captain Marvel was originally called Captain Thunder, in the first issue of Whiz Comics (which was called Flash Comics and was never published). Like The Big Red Cheese (as Dr. Sivana would put it), Captain Thunder's alter-ego was a young orphaned boy who changed into the powerful hero by saying a magic word, and who was given these abilities by a mysterious stranger in a cave.

Willie Fawcett transformed into Captain Thunder by uttering the word "Thunder" while he rubbed his magic belt buckle (a sensible change and precaution, considering "thunder" is a tad more common word than "Shazam"). Much like Billy Batson's trip into the subway that lead him to the wizard Shazam, Willie was on at a summer camp for orphans when an owl led him to a cave in which he found Merokee, the last of the great Medicine Men of the Mohegan tribe. He bestowed upon him the magic belt and gave him his magic word.

Willie also had the habit of saying "Creepies!" when he was startled or fascinated with something, much like Billy's "Holey Moley!". He was also, apparently, an precocious boy broadcaster (though for WHAM-TV instead of WHIZ Radio). Captain Thunder's costume was virtually identical to Captain Marvel's with the exception of a sunburst insignia on Thunder's chest where Marvel's lightning bolt would have been.

Besides his origin, Captain Thunder was also depicted battling a very Sivana-like villain, and his last adventure against the Monster League of Evil was related. Thunder had been battling the Monster League (a clever play on Captain Marvel's Monster Society of Evil; the evil organization consisted of Count Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and the Frankenstein Monster - or at least characters that looked exactly like the stereotypical presentations of those monsters) "across 1953 dimensions of time and space" when he finally captured them, though not before they had secretly tampered with Thunder's psyche. This caused Thunder to do evil whenever he was in his super-hero guise, and Willie did not seem to remember his activities when he changed back to normal.

This is where Captain Thunder's only recorded adventure begins, with Willie returning home to Earth and ending up in the future, in modern day Metropolis. He found the WHAM-TV station building to be replaced with Galaxy Communications (home of WGBS), and saw Superman in action, chasing a crude illusion of a flying lizard across the sky. The illusion had been a distraction so a gang of criminals could heist an armored car. Willie saw this and changed into Captain Thunder, who then proceeded to usurp control of the armored car from the crooks and join the criminals in their larcenous endeavor. Superman intervened, but Captain Thunder managed to get away by changing back into Willie, who had no memory of what had happened.

Willie went to Galaxy Communications to find Superman and was directed to Clark Kent, to whom he told his origin and the circumstances that led him to Metropolis. Willie realized that the Monster League had made Captain Thunder turn evil. Clark, Willie and Lois Lane went off to check with the police to see if a 'Willie Fawcett' was reported missing. On the way, Clark noted that the criminals were attacking the police station, using a strange vehicle to free their boss in the police garage underground. Clark dashed off to change into his Superman costume, and Willie reflexively changed into Captain Thunder when the alarms started going off.

Thunder immediately attacked Superman and the battle was soon taken outside of Metropolis to the mountains. Superman tricked Thunder into saying his magic word (and managed to make him rub his belt buckle at the same time) and Willie was back on the scene. Superman realized that Willie had come from a similar Earth in a different dimension, and Willie decided that the only way he was going to get home was to use Captain Thunder's natural wisdom. Superman kept Willie in a full-nelson head lock while he changed, and forced to realize what had been done to him. Thunder also used his wisdom to figure out how to get home, and the next time he said "Thunder" he and Willie were gone…hopefully back home to his normal time and dimension.

While a rather obscure character, I think Captain Thunder is rather fondly remembered by most folks who read this story. For many kids in the early seventies, this tale provided their first exposure to the Captain Marvel mythos, ersatz though this may be. The previous year, DC had already started publishing Shazam! with Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. I really don't believe the distribution was very good on the book, as I know I never saw an issue of Shazam in my neighborhood until about late 1974-early 1975. In any case, it wasn't until the advent of the 100-Page Super Spectacular issues that we were able to read a plethora of older stories of the Marvels, and we had to wait until Justice League of America #135-138 to see any of the other denizens of the universe that became known as Earth-S.

Since then, Superman and Captain Marvel have jousted in a couple of issues of DC Comics Presents, met in a few Justice League and JLA adventures and a number of company crossover events, and appeared in the excellent Elseworlds tale Kingdom Come.

Superman #276

June, 1974
"Make Way For Captain Thunder!"
Script by Cary Burkett
Art by Don Newton and Dan Adkins
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Paul Levitz