He’s been through a lot this year, but it takes more than an unmentionable cinema experience to keep him down
We’ve been told in an earlier film that the shield, above, means ‘hope’ - so here is a much-needed dose.
It’s far too early to really tell, of course, and this is really his cousin’s show, but these few minutes feel more like the character I’ve always loved than anything else I’ve seen this year.
Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it’s Captain Marvel - the first superhero to be given a movie serial (played by cowboy star and sometimes mummy, Tom Tyler).
The original Captain Marvel, created in 1939, possessed the Wisdom of Solomon, The strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, Invulnerability of Achilles and speed of Mercury. Young Billy Batson only had to speak the acronym made from the first letters of those mythological deities names: SHAZAM, and ‘the world’s mightiest mortal’ would appear in his place.
It’s a wonderful concept, which DC comics finally admitted it to themselves in 1972, licensing the rights from the company they forbade from continuing the Captain’s adventures in 1953 - Fawcett comics.
Unbelievably, before this happened, yet another Captain Marvel appeared briefly on the comic stands.
Always falling apart in a crisis, this Captain Marvel didn't last very long.
An android who could disassemble himself by shouting “Split” and recombine with the suspiciously familiar cry of “Xam!” was published by MF Publications under the title of Captain Marvel in 1966 but only lasted a few issues before splitting forever.
Room for one more?
During the 1950s L Miller and Son published black and white reprints of Captain Marvel’s adventures in Britain. When DC successfully shut down Fawcett comics continuation of the character, Miller and Son found suddenly themselves deprived of their successful product. So they created a barely altered version of the Captain called Marvelman, popular enough to run until 1963. “Kimota!” (‘Atomik’ backwards) replaced the catchphrase ’Shazam’. The character was later revived in 1982 under the name Miracleman (Marvel comics objected to the use of their name), but that’s another story.
Marvelman, and the angsty, 1982 revived version 'Miracleman'.
Back to DC and their purchase of the original Captain Marvel at the beginning of the 1970s. They found that they now owned the character, but not the title, which had been trademarked by Marvel comics since 1967. And so, whenever the Captain has appeared in his own DC comics adventure, the name on the cover has been Shazam! (leading to the ‘Doctor Who’ syndrome - it’s the title of his series, not his name)
DC recognises the character's brilliance and 'with one magic word' bring
him back in 1972. Marvel Comics objected to the tagline 'The original Captain Marvel'
so it was eventually changed to 'the world's mightiest mortal'.
As an upbeat Golden Age figure Captain Marvel has had a checkered history in the modern DC comics world, joining the Justice League International but most successfully used as a supporting character. Altercations with his historical rival Superman are often depicted, usually as a result of one or the other falling under malign mind control.
Boys will be boys... not for the first, or last, time Captain Marvel
and Superman come to blows over a misunderstanding.
(Personally, I'd like to see them both just beat up Batman)
Most recently, he has been sporting a ‘hoodie’ and the moniker 'Shazam' in an attempt to emphasise the magical aspects of the character. Hmmm...
It remains to be seen where DC's most recent reboot will leave the Captain. But despite these abuses the world’s mightiest mortal perseveres. He is still an instantly recognisable figure and DC have even optimistically announced an upcoming film version. Having the Marvel and DC Captain Marvels in the cinema at the same time would be quite something.
More than any other superhero, the original Captain Marvel remains representation of a sunnier, more innocent past, ‘the Man of Yesterday’ rather than tomorrow, and perhaps that’s why he is still popular today.
My Dad turned 80 recently, and unlike many people advancing in age seems to broaden his mind with every passing year. He’s even happy to talk about superheroes and his favourite has always been Captain Marvel.
So he might be interested to hear that there is a Captain Marvel film slated for release in 2019, but the not-so-good news is this...
When he talks about Captain Marvel he means this Gentleman
When Marvel refer to their upcoming film they mean this Lady
And furthermore, when I first read Captain Marvel he looked this
Oops, I mean this
(see you in court, Pixar)
And those are only the best-known three of many figures who have held the name Captain Marvel in comic book history.
How on earth in the litigious world of comics, where rival publishers sue at the merest hint of a similar costume detail, did a convoluted situation like this ever arise?
It all began in 1939 when comic publishers Fawcett attempted to launch ‘Flash’ comics featuring a super powered figure called Captain Thunder.
Both those names had already been used and so the character was relaunched in 1940 as my Dad’s favourite: Captain Marvel in Whiz comics.
Although the name was now cleared, we can’t help but draw similarities between that cover, and this one featuring the first appearance of a another caped superhuman from two years previously.
Captain Marvel's prototype and official first appearance.
Don't know who the guy on the right is...
The company now known as DC, publishers of Superman’s adventures, certainly noticed as well. As Captain Marvel’s popularity began to soar, out-selling every other title on the comic stands, including the Man of Steel’s, they decided to do something about it and took Fawcett to court.
Although one of the keys to Captain Marvel’s success was that his adventures appealed more to a younger demographic (his alter-ego is Billy Batson - a 12-year-old boy, and he was later joined by Mary Marvel - a Girl’s Own superheroine), DC made a case that the ‘big red cheese’ infringed too closely on the appearance and character of their ‘boy in blue’.
It didn’t go DC’s way at first, but Fawcett eventually settled out-of-court and in 1953 agreed to cease publication of Captain Marvel. The truth was that the character’s popularity had been in steady decline since his heyday in the war years (battling nemeses like ‘Captain Nazi) and continuing the fight was no longer worth it for Fawcett.
Enter Marvel comics - opportunists extraordinaire, but also probably justifiably anxious that a character bearing their company name had belonged to another publisher.
They bought the rights to the Captain Marvel name and in 1967 launched the first in a long line of characters to bear the title. In the Marvel Universe, the name Captain Marvel is more of a franchise than a single figure (enabling them to retain the trademark), and the current (7th!) incarnation: Carol Danvers, is admittedly a welcome female presence in a comic universe which features relatively few memorable superheroines.
Marvel's first go at their own Captain -
who's attempt to merge into one of our Earth
crowds undetected appears to be an epic fail.
Ironically, the first Marvel iteration of the Captain was even more like Superman than Fawcett’s - an alien called Mar-Vell sent to our Planet who adopts a secret identity and stays to become Earth’s champion. A member of the Kree race (currently name-checked vigorously in the Agent’s of Shield TV series), this Captain Marvel switches his allegiance to humanity, and in 1969 received a makeover which lead to my jumping-on point for the character.
This change of costume didn't do much for the characters anonymity,
But he could swap bodies with an ordinary human for a limited period.
(presumably by saying "Shazam"?)
But Marvel Comic’s success has always been due to them never being content to simply follow the conventions and in 1982, in arguably the first-ever graphic novel, Captain Marvel died (really died). Despite having become one of the most cosmically powerful figures in the Marvel universe the Captain falls victim to lung cancer (in a convoluted tale I’m certainly not going to go into here), giving rise to a succession of figures adopting his mantle.
The original Captain Marvel meets some of Marvel's Captains
.
Former ‘Ms Marvel’ Carol Danvers currently holds the title, and has built an impressive readership of her own. You go, Girl.
Ms Marvel (later to become Captain Marvel) flies into action,
apparently unconcerned that she appears to have left half her costume behind.
But the original Captain Marvel which Fawcett created wasn’t to remain absent for long. Lightning was to strike again, within the pages of the company who once banished him forever.
Batman v Superman begins next week, but the most interesting character may not even be in the title.
Brilliant artwork by Doug Chiang showing live-action depictions
of Wonder Woman, forty years apart: Lynda Carter (left) and Gal Gadot.
I have to admit I’m going a little cold on the thought of DC's upcoming big screen spectacular. I love Henry Cavill’s Superman, (although this wasn’t the film I wanted to see him in next), and Batman is well, glowery and gravelly-voiced, and I don’t doubt Affleck could turn out to be the definitive portrayal.
But the bright spot for me is finally seeing a live action depiction of the third member of DC comic's trinity.
Gal Gadot, soon to be seen as the first big screen Wonder Woman
As usual, I don’t have any comic book fan credentials to speak of - to me and possibly most other people, Wonder Woman is still Lynda Carter.
The former Miss World USA starred in two closely related but separately produced series between 1976 and ’78 (the single, WWII-set Wonder Woman season for ABC followed by the contemporary New Adventures of Wonder Woman for CBS).
Given that superheroes on television were still equated with the campy ‘60s Batman series, and that the mid-seventies were hardly noted for progressive media representations of women, I recall that the Amazing Amazon actually fared pretty well on the tube.
Yes, she had a figure which impacted our developing libidos like a crashing invisible plane, but Carter also managed to depict a strong, sensitive, inspiring and intelligent character who still served as a role model for young women for generations afterwards; long before (the obviously derivative) warrior princess Xena. Her sincere portrayal also gave a comic-book character 'verisimilitude' before Christopher Reeve ever took to the air.
All hail to the Princess, baby
So in a week’s time Gal Gadot (and we wish her all the luck in the world) will become the second actor ever to play Wonder Woman in a live-action production?
Actually, she will be the fifth.
Join me in the result of a long journey down an internet rabbit-hole which convinced me that the more you think you know, the less you actually do...
The first actress to play Wonder Woman in person was another Linda - Linda Harrison (Charlton Heston’s love-interest ‘Nova’ in the first two Planet of the Apes films).
Linda Harrison as the first live-action Wonder Woman
Admittedly, it was only in a 5-minute pitch for a television movie pilot by Batman producer William Dozier, and the concept deviated wildly from the established history of the character, resulting in something truly dreadful - exactly the kind of sleazy campiness which the '70s series managed to avoid. It will come as no surprise to anyone that this wasn’t picked up.
In the intersts of completism, here are 5 minutes of your life you’ll never get back again - but if I were you I really, really wouldn’t bother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilIodk5wQ6c
The first time Wonder Woman was successfully broadcast on the small screen, she was blonde:
Now, that's incredible - Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman (?)
Then-tennis star Cathy Lee Crosby (later to find fame on the That’s Incredible series) donned a costume completely unlike anything the character ever wore in the comics, to combat the mighty Ricardo Montalban in a 1974 ABC TV movie. No I’m not making it up - here's an image to prove it.
As obscure as this production has now become, it still generated enough interest to eventually lead to the Lynda Carter adventures which we all remember so fondly.
And perhaps because the memory of Ms Carter is held in so much affection, it took another thirty-two years for the character to (almost) reappear on television.
In the interim years nominating an actress to play the Amazing Amazon was a popular pass-time for fans. Sandra Bullock was always cited in the ‘90s, to be followed by almost every dark-haired actress in existence, from Jennifer Connolly, to Kate Beckinsale, to Megan Fox (remember her?)
However, another Megan really was a contender. Mad Max Director George Miller cast Australian actress Megan Gale as Wonder Woman in his 2008 Justice League film, but as this was aborted before filming began due to a writer’s strike, including her here would be dubious. Except, apparently-genuine shots of Ms Gale in costume came to light recently, so here she is what we very nearly could have had...
Megan Gale was cast as the first big screen Wonder Woman in 1998
Perhaps the next closest to a live-action realisation of the character was Cobie Smulders. Joss Whedon wrote two Wonder Woman film scripts with her in mind, before eventually casting the actress in The Avengers and his Agents of Shield television series, when the project collapsed. Smulders did, however, voice Wonder Woman in The Lego Movie (2014) making her the first big screen incarnation after all!
Cobie Smulders, (looking quite a lot like Lynda Carter here),
voiced Wonder woman in The Lego Movie
And speaking of Agents of Shield, not only has it featured an actress playing one of Marvel’s closest approximations to Wonder Woman (and therefore another fan candidate): Jaimie Alexander as the Thor film's Lady Sif, but someone who actually did play her.
Not a wondrous Amazon, but a marvel-lous Valkyrie (sort of).
Jaimie Alexander as Asgard's Lady Sif
In 2010, Shield's statuesque Adrianne Palicki became the first to finally play Wonder Woman in over three decades - in a TV Movie pilot which unfortunately was never even screened.
Adrianne Palicki was not well-served by the script of the aborted 2010 TV movie
She certainly looked the part, (the only actress invited to test for the role), but once again, the concept of the character was unnecessarily reshaped.
At least we weren’t given the by-now cliched ‘origin story’ approach, but instead a jaded, cynical and even sometimes cruel character who has lived in the ‘World of Men’ for some time, and become some kind of corporate brand and media celebrity.
My feeling is that with a far better script, (even either of Lynda Carter’s TV pilots), Palicki could still be Diana Prince now.
But instead we are finally getting Wonder Woman on the big screen: first guest-starring in an unsightly scuffle between two testosterone-over-dosed Capes who ought to know better, followed by her own feature film. Early footage can be seen here:
Wonder Woman fights the Nazis, just like old times
There’s been a little bit of thin-shaming (TM) after news of Gadot’s casting, (regardless of the fact that the actress is also a former Israeli army combat instructor who put on 17kg of muscle for this role), but she certainly looks the business from what we’ve seen in the trailers.
Despite the character's history of handing the titular male heroes their own bottoms in occasional clashes, I for one hope that we will see some of the gentleness and feminine wisdom in Batman v Superman, which Carter brought to the role all those years ago.
If Wonder Woman has to act like just another posturing male to succeed in the 'World of Men', then I think the character will lose much of her wonder.
And in the upcoming film, would a ‘power pirouette’ be out of the question?
More wonderful artwork, this time by Phil Jimenez, evoking the spirit of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman.
