10 Changes That Totally Ruined Comic Book Characters

10. Captain Marvel

The first Captain Marvel was published by Fawcett Comics in the late 1930s and quickly proved to be such a popular character that he outsold all other superheroes, including Superman. DC Comics reacted to this by suing Fawcett, claiming Captain Marvel was just a copy of the Man of Steel, then later licensed the character and acquired him outright and adding him to the DC Universe. Captain Marvel as originally conceived was the alter ego of Billy Batson, a homeless newsboy who was discovered by the old wizard, Shazam. Seeing the hardship Billy endured and sensing his purity and goodness, Shazam granted Billy the ability to transform into the adult Captain Marvel by speaking the word Shazam, thus bestowing upon him the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. Even in the modern era, Captain Marvel continued to maintain a youthful, sunny disposition, setting him apart from the more darker superheroes in the modern age. But after DC rebooted their entire universe with the New 52, it was determined that superheroes can no longer be good, decent, or fun. So now they had to darken up Billy Batson as well. The new Billy Batson is an orphaned, arrogant and troubled teenager who has been through several foster homes. The Wizard (no longer called Shazam) deemed Billy as being unsuitable because he wasn€™t pure of heart, but Billy manages to persuade him that those kinds of people simply don€™t exist (what a positive message). Also, because Marvel owns the trademark on the name Captain Marvel, DC also decided to call this new version simply Shazam, essentially transforming this character into something completely different from what he€™d always been.