#7 Spawn
The religion-heavy book began with a very superhero-like tone, much like McFarlane's previous work, but the title character evolved into a more flawed anti-hero. The current book has skewed significantly darker than early issues would suggest. McFarlane attributes this to being a necessary part of development. To introduce the book to readers it had to be slightly cleaner than he really wished it to be so that it read like a superhero tale. As the book took off and became more established he was able to alter the tone closer to his vision.
A CIA agent killed by his own boss for witnessing his corruption, Al Simmons was sent to hell. To see his wife one more time, he made a deal with the demon Malebolgia to become an undead "hellspawn". Spawn has tried to retain his own humanity while finding a way out of Malebolgia's control and battling a variety of enemies, both supernatural and criminal.
Largely due to the popularity McFarlane accumulated illustrating Marvel Comics' Spider-Man, Spawn became an instant sales sensation and perhaps the most popular comic book character owned by a third company since Marvel and DC dominated the market in the 1960s.
The series has spun off several other comics, including Angela, Curse of the Spawn, Sam & Twitch and the Japanese manga Shadows of Spawn. Spawn was adapted into a 1997 feature film, an HBO animated series lasting from 1997 until 1999 and a series of action figures whose unprecedented detail made McFarlane Toys a toy industry giant.
Spawn's popularity cooled and creators other than McFarlane have been responsible for the monthly series—a source of criticism as McFarlane and others left Marvel in the belief that creators should own and control their own characters, although McFarlane still makes decisions for the book's course. After David Hine took over the title, the monthly series, with a new focus on horror, began picking up heat again. The title, along with Savage Dragon is one of the only two original Image titles still published, (YoungBlood returned to Image in 2008, but without Liefeld at the helm).
On April 20, 2008, it was announced at the NY Comic-Con that a new team consisting of two Image founders would be taking over Spawn beginning with issue #185.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Military history and death
Albert Francis Simmons is a highly decorated Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He later joins the United States Secret Service and becomes a highly decorated member, most notably for saving the President in an assassination attempt, which leads to his promotion to the CIA. In the CIA, he is recruited into a special division known as the U.S. Security Group, a high-level task force with jurisdiction in all domestic and foreign situations.
Al questions many of the actions of his agency, particular of its director Jason Wynn, believing that certain missions involved the unnecessary sacrifice of innocent civilians. Wynn and Simmons begin to butt heads more often and Simmons plans to resign. He returns home, and beats Wanda in his blind rage at Wynn, something that would rest heavily on Simmons' thoughts and haunt him later.
Upon learning of Al's resignation, Wynn orders an assassin (initially Youngblood's Chapel, but later retconned to be Jessica Priest after arguments with Rob Liefeld) to murder Simmons. Simmons is sent to Hell, and makes a deal with Malebolgia: Al would be reborn a Hellspawn, a lieutenant in Hell's army, if he is allowed to see his wife one final time.
[edit] Resurrection
Malebolgia returns Simmons to the Earth, but with little memory, a badly disfigured body, seemingly unlimited magical powers that come with a time counter, and a monitor, the Clown. Simmons slowly realizes that five years have passed. When he decides to visit Wanda for his "one final visit", he shapeshifts his body, but discovers his transformation forces cannot give him his former appearance - he finds himself turned into an unknown white man. He discovers that his wife, Wanda Blake, has since married his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald, and the two have a daughter, Cyan.
Now known as Spawn, Al's first few adventures are antihero in nature: he takes down street gangs and organized crime (including their enforcer Overtkill), and he kills a child molester/murderer named Billy Kincaid. Most notable of all in his early adventures, Spawn would encounter Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark. Spawn encounters Anti-Spawn, the Redeemer, who is actually Jason Wynn (unknown to Al), but too impure to contain the power. He survives an assault by Angela, an angel whose mission in Heaven is to hunt Hellspawns for sport and claims the Medieval Spawn as one of her trophies. As this occurs, he takes over the alleys that comprise "Rat City" and befriends the homeless within it, becoming their champion. In particular, an old bum named Cogliostro seems to know a lot about him. Cogliostro and the Clown act as polar guides for Al, trying to convince him to use his powers for good and evil respectively. The Clown shows that he can transform into his real form, a demon known as the Violator. In his earliest adventures, he also encounters Harry Houdini who teaches Spawn some new tricks, saves Terry from being murdered by the mob (leading to a bullet ripping up his face, which Spawn's friend Bobby ties shut with a shoelace to conserve his energy timer), reveals that he is Al to Terry, and brings his friend Bobby back to life after being killed by Chapel. Spawn would eventually encounter Cyan, who takes the shoe lace from his face. "Shoestring face" Spawn would remain one of the iconic visuals of the character.
[edit] First metamorphosis
After a nearly fatal encounter with the Redeemer, Spawn's costume evolved into a more advanced form. The formerly immaculate cape became ragged and shredded, and his costume lost its red coloring and became pure black and white. Spawn's gloves and boots also morphed, becoming heavily armored and covered with spikes. Spawn's costume was now much more powerful, and the cape and chains were capable of shapeshifting to a much greater degree. The costume shifted into a blade and cut off Redeemer's hand during their second encounter, while Spawn simply watched.
After his encounter with the Redeemer, Spawn encounters the Freak, and during the "Bloodfeud" storyline, nightmares began to torture the former military assassin, consisting of a first-person point of view, where a creature, seeming to have kind of the same appearance as Spawn, hunts down other beings and consumes them and when he wakes up he finds himself in a mess of several killed persons. He suggests that, after the metamorphosis of his suit, it feeds off blood like a Vampire, but after his first battle with Jans San-Coeur, "the heartless Jans" ("real" Vampire and true reason behind the messes that Spawn finds himself in) and after he stripped himself of his suit, he argues with the clown about the latter. He tells Spawn that his costume feeds on souls, and after he made peace with his state he re-bonded with his suit and, in a vicious battle, drove Jans out of New York City.
[edit] Heaven and Hell
Spawn struggled to find a way to free himself from Hell's control and recapture his humanity. Attacks from both Heaven and Hell were coming faster and faster, and Spawn was on the verge of losing himself to the violence and the evil. Salvation arrived in the form of a mound of festering garbage - The Heap, an emissary of the Greenworld, a power equal to Heaven and Hell that Spawn had never encountered before. They endowed him with a host of new abilities that would enable him to overcome the worst both Heaven and Hell had to offer.
While these powers are not directly described, they appear to give Spawn control over all the elements and other aspects of the natural world. It was explained to him that the Greenworld did not care for the war of Heaven and Hell, but were growing increasingly agitated by the destruction it brought about. They inflicted on him the pains of the Earth, and when he returned Spawn became "aware" of the world. Spawn did not utilize his powers however, other than listening to the Earth, until he was impaled on the pole of a large sign by the dark god Urizen (named after the tyrannical creator-figure in the personal mythology of Romantic poet–artist William Blake). Urizen was wreaking havoc on the world, and the Greenworld imbued him with a "gift" which, after recovering thanks to Angela, Spawn uses to contain Urizen. Spawn splits the ground open and imprisons Urizen within the Earth.
[edit] The New King of Hell
After defeating Urizen, Spawn learns that the dark god's release was orchestrated by Malebolgia, as part of an elaborate scheme to take total control of all the kingdoms of Hell. Having failed spectacularly, Malebolgia's power is at its lowest ebb. With the help of Angela, Spawn is able to return to Hell and finally destroy his demon master, although Angela's life is lost in the process. Though offered Malebolgia's crown by the sinister Mammon, Spawn declines both it and an offer to enter the gates of Heaven. Spawn instead turns his efforts towards stemming the torment of humanity and defeating the evil that exists on Earth.
Overwhelmed by the darkness on Earth, Spawn turns to his old mentor, Cogliostro, with a new plan. He will accept the crown of Hell, and then remake it, turning it from a dark realm of evil into a new paradise that will sweep away all sorrow and sadness on the Earth. Spawn and Cogliostro encounter Redeemer III, and in the subsequent battle, Spawn is dragged to Hell by some Scorpion demons. Mammon hands a box to Cogliostro, who kills himself and ends up in Hell, box in hand. He gives it to Spawn, who opens it and sees a fleeting glimpse of a utopia, along with his wife, and then Cogliostro reveals that he is the biblical Cain, the first murderer, and takes the crown of Hell for himself. Cain uses his newfound power to return Spawn to earth, alive and well, back in the body of Al Simmons, but separating him from the Hellspawn symbiote.
[edit] Spawn reborn
Wandering the Earth in a daze, Al Simmons is confronted by a young witch named Nyx. With Nyx's help, Al is reunited with his Hellspawn symbiote, and Spawn is reborn. Seemingly human, with a human's frailty and vulnerability, when not shrouded in his costume, Spawn has lost much of his power, but continues with his mission to right the wrongs of the world and seek out peace of mind for himself. However, Mammon continues to plot against him from the shadows. After tempting and betraying Nyx, Mammon gains his magical power over the union between Al Simmons and Spawn, and uses it to rob Al of all of his memories. Al wanders the Earth, searching for something he feels, but cannot remember. During this wandering, Al unwittingly unleashes a band of angels known as the Forgotten, angels who were neutral, taking neither the sides of Heaven or Hell during the Fall. Al learns that Mammon is one of the Forgotten, and is far more powerful than Malebolgia ever was.
[edit] Armageddon
With the aid of the Greenworld, Spawn regains his lost memories, and something more. His costume metamorphoses again, seemingly becoming one with his necroplasmic body. Spawn is captured by Mammon and his demonic minions, and tortured horribly so that the secrets his body contains can be revealed. Spawn's discarded heart, torn from his chest in an earlier battle with the Disciple, Heaven's Warrior, transforms into a young boy named Chris. Chris, together with Sam and Twitch, rescue Spawn from Mammon's clutches and return him to Earth. Spawn learns that thousands of human souls are contained within his body, each one capable of being summoned in the form of a Hellspawn. As signs of the end of days wreak havoc across the world, Spawn must find a way to stave off Armageddon, and learn the true nature of Heaven, Hell, and the Earth.
Spawn learns that Wanda's recently born twin children (by way of Terry) are the ones responsible for Armageddon. The twins, who have been displaying destructive and sadistic tendencies for months now, attempt to murder their entire family, when Spawn arrives to stop them. Spawn is unable to destroy the twins, and the unexpected arrival of Zera, the Queen of the Seraphim, reveals the awful truth - Jake Fitzgerald is God, and Katie Fitzgerald is Satan.
It is revealed that both God and Satan were removed from their respective kingdoms and reincarnated as human children by the all-powerful being known as Mother. Mother is the creator of the universe and all its worlds, and God and Satan are two of her many children. She regards them as disappointments, being consumed with destructive hatred towards one another. Mother, who has aided Spawn in the past under the guises of Kali, the Keeper of the Greenworld, and the Man of Miracles, warns Spawn that he alone has the potential to rise above God and Satan, and preserve the human race. He also warns that Armageddon cannot be stopped - it is Earth's destiny.
Spawn is entered into one last final test to prove if he is worthy to preserve the human race: the Disciple. Before his final test, the Mother told Spawn to trust Cyan because she is "wise beyond her years". She also reveals that the Disciple is actually the guard of the portal to the Garden of Eden, where Spawn must eat the Forbidden Fruit in order to save humanity. After Spawn blasts the Disciple into Eden and killed him, it is revealed that there are actually 11 more Disciples, who are based on the Twelve Apostles. Also, because Hellspawns are never meant to enter into the Garden of Eden, Spawn's life will fade away the longer he is in the garden. This is shown through a video game like counter, which Cyan sees through a laptop. With the help of Cyan and the souls within him, Spawn fights each of the Disciples, killing them off one by one as the counter continues to drop to zero until the final Disciple left is Judas, whom Spawn is about to kill. However, Cyan yells to Spawn to not kill him. Spawn, remembering what the Mother said about trusting Cyan, does not deal the final blow to Judas. Judas stabs Spawn through the heart and his counter reaches zero.
As Spawn lies slain, Mother appears and plucks a piece of fruit from the Tree of Life. She speaks with Judas, revealing that when she took the form of Jesus, Judas was his most beloved disciple, the only one who had the courage to betray him. Without his death, the life of Jesus would have had no greater meaning. Mother gives the power of the Forbidden Fruit to the lifeless Spawn, resurrecting him in a new form - his cloak and chains are gone, replaced with shining white wings. Mother explains that Cyan was right; Spawn needed to die in order to be resurrected and gain the power to rival God and Satan. Returning to Earth, Spawn finds New York totally destroyed by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The slain population of the Earth have become possessed by angels and demons, who are gathering for the final battle. As Spawn races to the place where Armageddon will be fought, he confronts Zera, the Queen of the Seraphim.
During this battle, Spawn shows Zera his true power as an equal to both God and Satan. Spawn defeats Zera and returns to the battle between Heaven and Hell with her head as a trophy. Spawn arrives at the battle as the last of Heaven's warriors are slain. He believes that he knows one of them. Searching the battle field, Spawn discovers that he knows one of the soldiers as Granny Blake. She realizes that she has been betrayed and misled by her faith in God. Spawn faces off against the Hellspawn of Satan's army, declaring that the Earth realm belongs to him. Calling him a traitor for breaking his oath, the Hellspawn from all the ages converge on their "brother." Spawn battles the Hellspawn, calling upon the earth to swallow them, returning them to Hell. Hearing of this, Satan sends all of his remaining warriors after Spawn. Fearing that Spawn will unbalance Armageddon, God does the same. These events are watched by Mammon and a cloaked figure, whom Mammon responds to as a subordinate. During their exchange it is implied that all is going according to their plan, and Mammon says that he should have never been doubted. As Heaven and Hell attack Spawn, he calls to himself all the power given to him by the Mother, and in a single display of power destroys the armies of Heaven and Hell, along with the rest of humanity.
Laughing, he dismisses his act as a way to halt the Armageddon itself, leaving God and Satan without soldiers to use in their battle. He then asks the Mother to restore his children to their former glory and powers, but refuses to fight them. They eventually incinerate Spawn, then proceed their endless battle... fighting by themselves, in a barren, scorched Earth.
[edit] The Reconstructed World
Spawn, now given the powers of a god and the protection of the Mother, gains the power to recreate Earth, restoring everyone to life, but leaving humanity every memory of the Rapture. Both God and Satan have no role in the "new" Earth, because they're trapped in their perception of a barren Earth until they cease their seemingly endless fight, and Spawn, with his last act as a god himself, closes every door between Hell, Heaven and Earth.
He then asks the Mother to turn him into Al Simmons, talking her into leaving the former Spawn the chance to win back Wanda and becoming a fatherly figure for Cyan. A now fully human Simmons returns to his former home, but facing the memories of the miscarriage he inflicted upon Wanda by beating her the last night before dying, he relinquishes once more humanity, accepting to go on in his death as the monster he was always thought to have been in life.
Realizing how Al Simmons himself, not Mammon, claimed the Hellspawn role as penance, Spawn, again in his "red-cowled" costume, once more takes residence in a deserted and barren Rat Alley.
Later a robed figure would tell Mammon of Spawn's defeating of Clown and closing the portal to hell, which he had wanted Spawn to do, and calls Spawn "my good and faithful servant."
In Issue 169 Zera has returned. She is seen again now as a rotting decapitated head immersed in preservative liquids within a glass container. As she was one of God's favorites she was granted immortality by God. Spawn is summoned by Voodoo priestess Mambo Suzanne while Zera is trying to possess Nyx. Zera uses Nyx's body to successfully do battle with Spawn. Mambo Suzanne, however uses the conflict as a distraction to shatter the glass containing Zera's head and throw the head to streets below. There, demon dogs devour the head until there is nothing left, thereby freeing Nyx from Zera's possession. This issue leads to the recovery of Nyx and Spawn's friendship as well as Nyx's recovery of her powers.
[edit] A tale of three brothers
In the next arc, "A Tale of Three Brothers" composed of the latest few issues but was the title that run through issue 170-173, Abb and Zab create a literal hell house where visitors are forced to face their most heinous sins, due to demons called sin eaters that feed on the guilt by making their prey face the evil that they had done. A woman and a minister within the house are both caught in the delusions caused by the sin eaters, and slowly fed on by the demons. Spawn confronts Abb and Zab but is faced with his own sin against Wanda and his unborn child. Unable to break free from the guilt, he is slowly fed on by a sin eater. Nyx however decides to intervene, overcoming a sin eater and breaking a sin eaters illusion that was subduing Spawn. (It is revealed later on that Nyx is becoming more powerful) Spawn then tears apart many of the other sin eaters until he comes upon the minister who is being fed on by a sin eater.
It is then revealed that the minister is Al Simmon's brother, Richard, who was reliving his own worst sin. Spawn, who up to that moment had not yet recovered all his memories as Al Simmons since he became Hellspawn decides to allow Richard to relive his sin so that he can peer into his own past. It is then revealed that Mammon, under the guise of a man, Mr. Malefick, had a profound influence on Al Simmons childhood. It was Mammon/Mr. Malefick (a constant visitor in the Simmons' household and close acquaintance of Al Simmons' mother) that tutored Al Simmons to torture and murder small animals at a very young age as well hurt his own body, seemingly grooming him to become his servant, who would feel neither glee nor pity in taking another being's life. Malefick had also influenced Richard Simmons to take drugs as well as introducing him to the drug dealer Weasel. It was only Marc Simmons that seemingly was able to save himself from Mammons influence, but was unable to help his brothers. Richard Simmon's vision of his past climaxed with him stabbing and gravely injuring Weasel (with a knife that was given by Mammon/Malefick) while intoxicated with drugs. Richard calls his brothers to come and help him in his predicament. Al Simmons not wanting him and his brothers to be implicated in the crime decides against calling an ambulance that could save the drug dealers life and instead pulls the knife from Weasel's body and kills him with it. Mammon/Malefick then appears sending the brothers home while he hides the drug dealer's body.
Finding that the sin eater was already killing Richard Simmons Nyx breaks the illusion while Spawn kills the last sin eater. Spawn then asks Richard about their parents, finding that Richard had neither thought nor heard of them in years, Spawn determines that Mammon had blocked the memory of their parents and prevented the brothers from even thinking about their parents. Spawn then leaves, but not before Nyx places a spell preventing Abb and Zab from leaving the building and Spawn promises to come back for his brother. Spawn then finds his parents home which Mammon had hidden under a spell and within it his parents who were trapped there for many years. There he is greeted by his mother, who recognizes Al Simmons even in the form of Spawn while Al Simmons' father is shocked.
Al Simmons' mother had conspired with Mammon to give birth to a hellspawn that would be greater than those which came before, that would remake the world and place all of existence under Mammon/Malefick's power. Al Simmons father falls into grief for not being able to stop his wife from what she and Mammon had done to his son. When Spawn wonders why his father was chosen to bear him, his father points out a journal from his great grand father, passed down from generation to generation. A journal that Al Simmon's mother had prevented her husband from showing their children.
As Spawn is given the journal by his father, Richard Simmons is seen providing the demons Ab and Zab some food, then retiring to his quarters to recall a time in his childhood when he would pretend to be asleep and his father would come weeping and reciting a prayer beside his bed. Mammon/Malefick then appears. Feeling that there can be no redemption for himself, Richard follows Mammon down to a door where upon entering Richard is swallowed into the bowels of hell.
[edit] Gunslinger Spawn
Spawn issue 174-175 tells the story that is found in the journal. A runaway soldier, who later becomes Henry Simmons, Al Simmons's great grandfather, is to be lynched with a man who supposedly murdered his family. Mammon approaches both, saying he will give them what they want. Henry refuses, while the innocent man accepts, when they are hung. While the man is hung, Mammon causes a misfire to save Henry's life. A short time thereafter, the man is reborn as Gunslinger Spawn, and he slaughters the town, but leaves Henry alive under Mammon's orders. The Gunslinger Spawn places the soldier in a pine box casket belonging to the now-dead real Henry Simmons. The box floats down a river, where an awaiting Mammon tells Henry a descendant will become the Spawn that destroys the world.
[edit] The Monster in the Bubble
The story returns to the Simmons house where the television mysteriously reports reveals a new case involving the death of American comic book artist. The artist was a deformed teenager named Kenneth Erskine, a man that had been unable to leave the protection of a bubble dome due to a medical affliction. Though didn't die during the end of the world, he was affected by a leak inside his sterile bubble that gives him the power to project anything he draws as real. Al's brother, Marc, is the lead detective of the case, and the only one not to be corrupted by Mammon's influence. Nyx and Al leave to assist Marc, believing that it was Mammon who sent the transmission to the television about the case. As soon as Al and Nyx leave, Mammon and a man in a cloak with visible vampire-ike fangs suddenly appears in the house and proceeds to draining Al's father of blood. The cloaked figure's identity seems to be known by Simmons' mother as she smiles after Mammon asks her if she knew who the creature is. Spawn fails to save the Erksine's next victim. The last frame of the final part of the arc leaves Spawn doubting himself, unable to save a few people from dying - much less the entire world.
The continuation of "The Monster in the Bubble" from the last issue left Spawn utterly helpless against Erskine's psychic projection of a tentacled creature, that had impaled him multiple times. Erskine's projection suddenly shows features of Mammon, continually coaxing and tempting Spawn to accept death. Nyx intervenes by stabbing the creature with a sword, gaining the creature's attention, but leading her to become the creature's next target. She then telepathically contacts Marc Simmons, begging him to shoot Erskine. Erskine relents and ceases his attack causing the creature to disappear, allowing Nyx and Al to go to the hospital where Erskine is held. Spawn is faced with the predicament however of whether or not to cause Erskine's death, threatening to enter the bubble dome if Erskine does not reveal the whereabouts of Mammon, whom Spawn believed was pulling the strings. Mammon then appears to complicate the situation allowing Erskine to complete his last murder using a psychic projection of a woman to attack the last victim in his home. Mammon reveals that it was he who taught Erskine to use his powers. Upon killing his last victim, Erskine then proceeds to commit suicide, leaving his worldly possessions in the name of the doctor who had taken care of him. Spawn then proceeds to attack Mammon, and ask what Mammon wanted from him. Mammon then says that he wants nothing from Spawn, saying that Spawn had lost everything that made him special, only wanting Spawn to accept that it is his time. It is then revealed that Mammon had been using Erskine's powers to project a psychic projection of himself, and he was actually in another location. As the psychic projection melts away, Spawn is left kneeling, accepting the belief that whatever he tries to do ends in failure or goes wrong, that he is no longer needed by the world and that it is time for him to die.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Spawn's body is quite dense, weighing over five hundred pounds (250 kg), and is composed completely of necroplasm. This gives him super strength and durability. While he still has internal organs, they are non-functional, and their damage/destruction does not hinder Spawn in the least. These organs re-appear when he magically regenerates his wounds. This may be due to Spawn's inability to let go of his human self, retaining his human organs even though he no longer requires them.
Spawn wears a living symbiotic costume, Leetha of the 7th House of K (aka: K7-Leetha). While wearing it the host assumes a dominant role over his suit. His cape, spikes, chains, and skulls are all part of an organism bonded to his central nervous system that will protect Spawn even if he is unconscious.
The true source of the costume is the necroplasm in Spawn's body, from which it feeds. It is possible for Spawn to draw this energy back when he needs it, using it to power his abilities without draining his own reserves. The costume can also feed off evil energy from the physical world, feeding off the ambient evil of people, animals (mainly carrion insects, but also wolves and bats) and even certain parts of the city. A part of his physical powers actually comes from his suit, because of its connection to his nervous system, Simmons is able to use it in a shapeshifting manner, including the manifestation of spikes, armor plating, or transforming the cape into a battle axe. The cape itself is an effective offensive weapon able to strike in battle with its extreme preciseness, severing limbs, and or disarm enemies.
Spawn has vast magical powers. Spawn has a limited power supply whose quantity would be shown to the reader in the form of a counter that began at 9:9:9:9. Each time Spawn used his energy, the counter drains. Consequently, Simmons relies primarily on his costume's natural abilities or weapons, rather than the magical abilities in combat. Though the power source is finite, Spawn's biggest limitation is imagination. Simmons uses his ability in various ways including: resurrecting the dead, firing blasts of necroplasmic energy, teleportation, shapeshifting, and curing the sick. Simmons powers briefly becomes omnipotent, after he eats fruit from the Tree of Life.
Spawn is practically immortal unless beheaded by a weapon of heaven. He is also rendered powerless (and therefore mortal) in a patch of alley known as "The Deadzone": a small patch of Earth that is Heaven's domain and in the ethereal realm of the "Greenworld."
Following the Armageddon storyline, Spawn's power level has decreased, deriving most of the power he has left from his symbiont suit. [1]
Simmons is a highly trained soldier proficient in both armed and unarmed combat. Spawns training is to the extent that he chooses to use firearms over his magical abilities.
Spawn has an ability to "feel" or "sense" misery, pain and hatred as a gift/punishment given to him by The Keeper, an agent of the Emerald Parliament of Greenworld. He is aware, even subconsciously when someone is attacked or murdered because he has gained a further affinity with the creatures of the night and shadows and through them experiences the anguish of all mankind.
Spawn contains an unknown quantity of lost souls who can share his Hellspawn abilities, collectively known as Legion. Detective Twitch theorized that the souls that Spawn carries are those that died during the same hour that Al Simmons was killed, and that there could be as many as 6,000 souls within him. The power from these souls rendered Spawn uncontrollable by Malebolgia, and after the souls move to a hight plain, Simmons retains their knowledge and experiences.
#2 Captain Marvel
Billy was separated from his sister Mary following the death of their parents and left in the care of their uncle Ebenezer, his father's half-brother. Unfortunately, Ebenezer threw Billy out and stole the youth's trust fund money which had been set aside for Billy's care and welfare. Left penniless and homeless, Billy eked out a sorrowful existence in Fawcett City as a newsboy. For shelter, he often slept in the subway terminals.
One night, a mysterious stranger - later revealed to be the spirit of Billy's father - convinced Billy to follow him deep into the subway tunnels. There, Billy found a marvelous train decorated in hieroglyphics and mystic runes. Billy and the stranger rode the train deep into the bowles of the earth and arrived in a cavern that held statues epitomizing the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, including Envy, Lust, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, and Gluttony. Within the cavern, Billy met the ancient wizard Shazam, a champion of mankind for thousands of years. Withered with age, Shazam sat on a throne poised benaeth a giant stone block suspended above him as if by magic.
There, the ancient wizard revealed that he had 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 ordered Billy to speak his name, which was actually an acronym for various legendary figures who had 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 (which enhances all Marvel's other physical abilities and allows for interdimensional travel)
A - for the courage of Achilles (which would include invulnerability from ancient mythology)
M - for the speed of Mercury (and, by extension, the power to fly)
Billy then said the wizard's name, and was immediately struck by a magic lightning bolt, turning him into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero. He then learned that he has only to speak the word again to be instantly changed back into Billy.
With that, Shazam was immediately killed by the large granite block that fell from above his throne. Billy vowed to fulfill his bestowed role. Whenever he needed advice, Billy could light a brazier near Shazam's throne, summoning the wizard's ghost.
Marvel's first call to duty was saving the world from the evil mad scientist, Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, who threatened to silence radio forever unless he was paid a large sum of money. Resuming his regular form, Billy told WHIZ radio mogul Sterling Morris that he could stop the Radio Silencer and Sivana; a disbelieving Morris offered Billy a job on the air if he could do so.
After finding the crooks' hideout, Billy transformed into Captain Marvel, destroyed Sivana's radio silencing machine and apprehended his henchmen. Sivana escaped, setting the stage for a long line of future confrontations. Marvel transformed back into Billy, who presented the captured criminals and destroyed Radio Silencer to Sterling Morris. True to his word, Sterling Morris made Billy an on-air news reporter for WHIZ radio.
Through his adventures, he soon gained a host of enemies, including Adolf Hitler's champion Captain Nazi, an older Egyptian renegade Marvel called Black Adam, an evil magic-powered brute named Ibac, and an artificially intelligent nuclear-powered robot called Mister Atom. The most notorious Captain Marvel villains, however, were the nefarious Mister Mind and his Monster Society Of Evil, which recruited several of Marvel's previous adversaries.
In the early 1940s, Captain Marvel also gained allies in The Marvel Family, a collective of superheroes with similar powers and costumes to Captain Marvel's. (By comparison, Superman spin-off character Superboy first appeared in 1944, while Supergirl first appeared in 1959). Early on marked the debut of the Lieutenant Marvels, the alter egos of three other boys who found that, by saying "Shazam!" in unison, they too could become Marvels. Soon a friend named Freddy Freeman, mortally wounded by an attack from Captain Nazi, was given the power to become teenage boy superhero Captain Marvel, Jr.. Eventually Billy and Freddy met Billy's long-lost twin sister Mary Bromfield, who discovered she could, by saying the magic word "Shazam", become teenage superheroine Mary Marvel.
The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League. That same year, he was also given his own miniseries, Shazam! The New Beginning. With the four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Doctor Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. In this miniseries, both Sivana and Dudley were Billy Batson's real uncles, who fought over the custody for the boy after his parents were killed (by Sivana) in a car accident. Black Adam is also present in the story as Sivana's partner in crime.
The most notable change that Thomas and Justice League writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain (classic-era comics tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities). This change would remain for all future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world. (Captain Marvel's Justice League teammate Guy Gardner often jokingly referred to the innocent, pure-hearted Captain as "Captain Whitebread"). Another notable change in this version was the relocation of the Shazam characters from Fawcett City to San Francisco.
The Power of Shazam
In this version of the story, Billy's parents - archaeologists C. C. and Marylin Batson - were killed by their treacherous assistant, Theo Adam, while on a dig at the tomb of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt. Theo Adam was the resurrected non-powered form of Teth-Adam aka Black Adam. He also kidnaps Billy's sister Mary, who ends up missing.
The wizard Shazam is made aware of all of these events, and (just as in the Fawcett origin) has Billy brought before him by the dark-clothed stranger, and grants the boy the power to become Captain Marvel. As Captain Marvel, Billy takes on the form of his late father, which is how Theo Adam guesses his identity, has a revelation about the power of Shazam, and becomes Black Adam using a scarab he stole from the tomb. After subduing Black Adam and his employer, the rich tycoon Doctor Sivana, Billy swears to find his sister as Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel became a member of the revived Justice Society of America and was featured prominently in that group alongside his nemesis Black Adam. Captain Marvel had originally joined the team to keep an eye on Adam, who had joined the JSA claiming to have reformed. Black Adam eventually left the JSA to instigate a takeover of his home country of Kahndaq; he had a fondess for the country, and wished to see the totalitarian regime done away in what he saw as justice. Captain Marvel remained with the team.
During his tenure in the JSA, Marvel dated Courtney Whitmore, also known as Stargirl, which put him in an unusual position; while he could legally date Courtney as Billy Batson, it looked very strange for the grown-up Captain Marvel to be with the teenaged Stargirl. The Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, another JSA member, confronted Marvel about the issue. Rather than telling Garrick and the team the truth about his age, Marvel chose to follow the Wisdom of Solomon and leave the team and Courtney.
Captain Marvel transforms into Marvel. Art by Howard Porter.
Captain Marvel transforms into Marvel. Art by Howard Porter.
The Marvel Family played an integral part the Infinite Crisis. The climax of the Day of Vengeance saw the Spectre engaged in a cosmic-level battle with the wizard Shazam. At the conclusion of this battle, Shazam was obliterated, and the Rock of Eternity burst apart into Earth's dimension, freeing scores of ancient magicks and evils that had been captured eons ago back into the Universe.
In a later Day of Vengeance one-shot special, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family then helped Zatanna and several other beings to capture the Seven Deadly Sins and rebuild the Rock of Eternity. Captain Marvel was then required to take over Shazam's role as caretaker of the Rock. Marvel was later shown fulfilling this role, although teetering on the brink of sanity, constantly talking back to the Seven Sins around him. During this time, Marvel was shown helping Black Adam grant Adrianna Tomaz the powers of the goddess Isis. Later that year, Captain Marvel presided at the marriage ceremony of Adam and Isis in Kahndaq. Black Adam's continued attempts to reform, and depicted Adam's formation of, with Captain Marvel's blessing, a "Black Marvel Family". Joining Black Adam in the Black Marvel Family were his wife Isis and her brother Osiris. Isis and Osiris are murdered by the "Four Horsemen", creatures engineered by a team of DC's mad scientist characters (Dr. Sivana among them). As a result, Black Adam takes his revenge out on the entire world, killing millions. Black Adam is halted for a few minutes, just the time needed for Captain Marvel to force a magic lightning bolt on him, turning Black Adam back to Teth-Adam and changing his magic word into an unknown one.
Trials of Shazam!
Currently Captain Marvel (now with long white hair) taking over the role of the wizard Shazam waits, while a powerless Freddy Freeman (formerly Captain Marvel, Jr.) attempts to prove himself worthy to take over the mantle of Captain Marvel by undergoing a series of trials.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Captain Marvel vs. Spectre
Captain Marvel vs. Spectre
Known Powers:
Power of Shazam: In order to change form, Billy must be able to call upon the name of Shazam, thereby invoking spells involving the energies of those extra-dimensional beings once known as gods on earth. This spell adds almost a hundred pound of impervious godly muscle and tissue to his frame as well as aging him into adulthood. The abilities of Shazam wont come to him by simply letting a word fall out his mouth. He can call for them and they will come with a thought. They will come with the word. They will surely come when he demands them to. The precision of this spell is somewhat askew. He can share his power with Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., but while in this state, each person is only in possession of a fragment of the full power of Captain Marvel as opposed to one person commanding all of it. By calling upon Shazam again, each member of the Marvels can once again return to their normal form and size; thereby allowing one of their number, such as Billy or Mary, to have the full power of the spell. There is one susceptibility to the spell that it can be shared with other personages who are of noble intent and purity, such as Superman, who once switched identities and powers with Captain Marvel, after being in close proximity with Billy Batson during one transformation. It is known that certain gods of sufficient power, such as Thor, can manipulate Shazam's spell and render Captain Marvel back to the human form of Billy Batson once more. When Billy Batson says the magic word "Shazam!", he is transformed into Captain Marvel. In his Captain Marvel form, Billy possesses the following attributes:
S for the Wisdom of Solomon: As Captain Marvel, Billy has instant access to a vast amount of scholarly knowledge. The wisdom of Solomon also gives Marvel clairvoyance and provides him with counsel and advice in times of need. He has knowledge of all languages, ancient and modern, and could hypnotize people through this power.
* Superhuman Knowledge: Captain Marvel has exceptional photographic recall and mental acuity allowing him to read and decipher hieroglyphics, recall everything he has ever learn, solve long mathematical equations instantaneously and make intuitive guesses based on limited data to the point his guesses are almost always correct.
* Clairvoyance: an uncanny awareness of his circumstances that allows him to turn disadvantages into advantages, an understanding of divine interactions with the mortal world.
* Omni-lingual
* Hypnosis: can occasionally hypnotize people as well, through this power.
H for the Strength of Hercules: Dubbed "The World's Mightiest Mortal," Captain Marvel has incredible amounts of super strength, Captain Marvel is strong enough to lift at least 100,000 tons , he is able to effortlessly bend steel, punch through walls, and lift massive objects. Marvel's strength is enough that he has fought beings such as Superman or Wonder Woman to a standstill. Captain Marvel (alongside his counterpart, Black Adam) is considered as one of the strongest physical powerhouses on Earth, matched only by the Man of Steel himself.
* Superhuman Strength: Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman strength and weight.
A for the Stamina of Atlas: Using Atlas' endurance, Captain Marvel can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults. Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe when in Captain Marvel form.
* Superhuman Stamina: His Olympian metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities.
* Self-Sustenance: Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe and can survive unaided in space when in Captain Marvel form.
Z for the Power of Zeus: Zeus' power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Captain Marvel, also enhances Marvel's other physical abilities, provides physical invulnerability and resistance against most magic spells and attacks, and allows for inter-dimensional travel. Marvel can use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The magical lightning has many uses, including creating apparatus, restoring damage done to Marvel, or acting as fuel for magical spells.
* Magical Resistance
* Physical Enhancement
* Inter-dimensional Travel: This can only be used to travel to the Rock of Eternity
* Spell Source
* Advanced Healing
A for the Courage of Achilles: Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological, and gives Marvel superhuman amounts of inner strength from which to draw.
* Invulnerability: If he were somehow wounded, his godly energies would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo or for a number of Olympian gods of equal power working together to revive him.
* Superhuman Inner Strength: He is always supported by an innate and harmonious presence of good will and strength of perseverance that he never backs down from a challenge.
M for the Speed of Mercury: By channeling Mercury's speed, Captain Marvel,while not as fast as the flash, can fly and move at speeds exceeding Mach 10 (2 miles a second) while in earth's atmosphere and at near-light speeds while in space. Hermes Trismegistus (Greek for "thrice-great Hermes"), an occultist aspect of Hermes/Mercury, also gives him the ability to wield magic and cast spells, though Billy has never used this as Captain Marvel, apparently because he doesn't know how.
* Super Speed: He can move at incredible speeds, possibly equal to Superman. He can move fast enough to not register in the normal peripheral range of humans and seemingly vanish and disappear at will. At this speed, his mind processes information on par to a computer or at least on a subliminal level that he is aware of his surroundings.
* Flight: Captain Marvel can also mystically fly through the atmosphere through sure act of will, enabling him to soar through the atmosphere at sub-orbital levels and travel across the planet. He is immune from the effects of extreme height, such as dizziness and lightheadedness. With effort, he can travel from the earth to the moon, but he requires extra-precautionary paraphernalia for interstellar travel. Thanks to the power of Mercury Marvel can fly at close to light speed through space.
* Sorcery: unused by him but allowing for the ability to wield magics and cast spells.
The religion-heavy book began with a very superhero-like tone, much like McFarlane's previous work, but the title character evolved into a more flawed anti-hero. The current book has skewed significantly darker than early issues would suggest. McFarlane attributes this to being a necessary part of development. To introduce the book to readers it had to be slightly cleaner than he really wished it to be so that it read like a superhero tale. As the book took off and became more established he was able to alter the tone closer to his vision.
A CIA agent killed by his own boss for witnessing his corruption, Al Simmons was sent to hell. To see his wife one more time, he made a deal with the demon Malebolgia to become an undead "hellspawn". Spawn has tried to retain his own humanity while finding a way out of Malebolgia's control and battling a variety of enemies, both supernatural and criminal.
Largely due to the popularity McFarlane accumulated illustrating Marvel Comics' Spider-Man, Spawn became an instant sales sensation and perhaps the most popular comic book character owned by a third company since Marvel and DC dominated the market in the 1960s.
The series has spun off several other comics, including Angela, Curse of the Spawn, Sam & Twitch and the Japanese manga Shadows of Spawn. Spawn was adapted into a 1997 feature film, an HBO animated series lasting from 1997 until 1999 and a series of action figures whose unprecedented detail made McFarlane Toys a toy industry giant.
Spawn's popularity cooled and creators other than McFarlane have been responsible for the monthly series—a source of criticism as McFarlane and others left Marvel in the belief that creators should own and control their own characters, although McFarlane still makes decisions for the book's course. After David Hine took over the title, the monthly series, with a new focus on horror, began picking up heat again. The title, along with Savage Dragon is one of the only two original Image titles still published, (YoungBlood returned to Image in 2008, but without Liefeld at the helm).
On April 20, 2008, it was announced at the NY Comic-Con that a new team consisting of two Image founders would be taking over Spawn beginning with issue #185.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Military history and death
Albert Francis Simmons is a highly decorated Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He later joins the United States Secret Service and becomes a highly decorated member, most notably for saving the President in an assassination attempt, which leads to his promotion to the CIA. In the CIA, he is recruited into a special division known as the U.S. Security Group, a high-level task force with jurisdiction in all domestic and foreign situations.
Al questions many of the actions of his agency, particular of its director Jason Wynn, believing that certain missions involved the unnecessary sacrifice of innocent civilians. Wynn and Simmons begin to butt heads more often and Simmons plans to resign. He returns home, and beats Wanda in his blind rage at Wynn, something that would rest heavily on Simmons' thoughts and haunt him later.
Upon learning of Al's resignation, Wynn orders an assassin (initially Youngblood's Chapel, but later retconned to be Jessica Priest after arguments with Rob Liefeld) to murder Simmons. Simmons is sent to Hell, and makes a deal with Malebolgia: Al would be reborn a Hellspawn, a lieutenant in Hell's army, if he is allowed to see his wife one final time.
[edit] Resurrection
Malebolgia returns Simmons to the Earth, but with little memory, a badly disfigured body, seemingly unlimited magical powers that come with a time counter, and a monitor, the Clown. Simmons slowly realizes that five years have passed. When he decides to visit Wanda for his "one final visit", he shapeshifts his body, but discovers his transformation forces cannot give him his former appearance - he finds himself turned into an unknown white man. He discovers that his wife, Wanda Blake, has since married his best friend, Terry Fitzgerald, and the two have a daughter, Cyan.
Now known as Spawn, Al's first few adventures are antihero in nature: he takes down street gangs and organized crime (including their enforcer Overtkill), and he kills a child molester/murderer named Billy Kincaid. Most notable of all in his early adventures, Spawn would encounter Dave Sim's Cerebus the Aardvark. Spawn encounters Anti-Spawn, the Redeemer, who is actually Jason Wynn (unknown to Al), but too impure to contain the power. He survives an assault by Angela, an angel whose mission in Heaven is to hunt Hellspawns for sport and claims the Medieval Spawn as one of her trophies. As this occurs, he takes over the alleys that comprise "Rat City" and befriends the homeless within it, becoming their champion. In particular, an old bum named Cogliostro seems to know a lot about him. Cogliostro and the Clown act as polar guides for Al, trying to convince him to use his powers for good and evil respectively. The Clown shows that he can transform into his real form, a demon known as the Violator. In his earliest adventures, he also encounters Harry Houdini who teaches Spawn some new tricks, saves Terry from being murdered by the mob (leading to a bullet ripping up his face, which Spawn's friend Bobby ties shut with a shoelace to conserve his energy timer), reveals that he is Al to Terry, and brings his friend Bobby back to life after being killed by Chapel. Spawn would eventually encounter Cyan, who takes the shoe lace from his face. "Shoestring face" Spawn would remain one of the iconic visuals of the character.
[edit] First metamorphosis
After a nearly fatal encounter with the Redeemer, Spawn's costume evolved into a more advanced form. The formerly immaculate cape became ragged and shredded, and his costume lost its red coloring and became pure black and white. Spawn's gloves and boots also morphed, becoming heavily armored and covered with spikes. Spawn's costume was now much more powerful, and the cape and chains were capable of shapeshifting to a much greater degree. The costume shifted into a blade and cut off Redeemer's hand during their second encounter, while Spawn simply watched.
After his encounter with the Redeemer, Spawn encounters the Freak, and during the "Bloodfeud" storyline, nightmares began to torture the former military assassin, consisting of a first-person point of view, where a creature, seeming to have kind of the same appearance as Spawn, hunts down other beings and consumes them and when he wakes up he finds himself in a mess of several killed persons. He suggests that, after the metamorphosis of his suit, it feeds off blood like a Vampire, but after his first battle with Jans San-Coeur, "the heartless Jans" ("real" Vampire and true reason behind the messes that Spawn finds himself in) and after he stripped himself of his suit, he argues with the clown about the latter. He tells Spawn that his costume feeds on souls, and after he made peace with his state he re-bonded with his suit and, in a vicious battle, drove Jans out of New York City.
[edit] Heaven and Hell
Spawn struggled to find a way to free himself from Hell's control and recapture his humanity. Attacks from both Heaven and Hell were coming faster and faster, and Spawn was on the verge of losing himself to the violence and the evil. Salvation arrived in the form of a mound of festering garbage - The Heap, an emissary of the Greenworld, a power equal to Heaven and Hell that Spawn had never encountered before. They endowed him with a host of new abilities that would enable him to overcome the worst both Heaven and Hell had to offer.
While these powers are not directly described, they appear to give Spawn control over all the elements and other aspects of the natural world. It was explained to him that the Greenworld did not care for the war of Heaven and Hell, but were growing increasingly agitated by the destruction it brought about. They inflicted on him the pains of the Earth, and when he returned Spawn became "aware" of the world. Spawn did not utilize his powers however, other than listening to the Earth, until he was impaled on the pole of a large sign by the dark god Urizen (named after the tyrannical creator-figure in the personal mythology of Romantic poet–artist William Blake). Urizen was wreaking havoc on the world, and the Greenworld imbued him with a "gift" which, after recovering thanks to Angela, Spawn uses to contain Urizen. Spawn splits the ground open and imprisons Urizen within the Earth.
[edit] The New King of Hell
After defeating Urizen, Spawn learns that the dark god's release was orchestrated by Malebolgia, as part of an elaborate scheme to take total control of all the kingdoms of Hell. Having failed spectacularly, Malebolgia's power is at its lowest ebb. With the help of Angela, Spawn is able to return to Hell and finally destroy his demon master, although Angela's life is lost in the process. Though offered Malebolgia's crown by the sinister Mammon, Spawn declines both it and an offer to enter the gates of Heaven. Spawn instead turns his efforts towards stemming the torment of humanity and defeating the evil that exists on Earth.
Overwhelmed by the darkness on Earth, Spawn turns to his old mentor, Cogliostro, with a new plan. He will accept the crown of Hell, and then remake it, turning it from a dark realm of evil into a new paradise that will sweep away all sorrow and sadness on the Earth. Spawn and Cogliostro encounter Redeemer III, and in the subsequent battle, Spawn is dragged to Hell by some Scorpion demons. Mammon hands a box to Cogliostro, who kills himself and ends up in Hell, box in hand. He gives it to Spawn, who opens it and sees a fleeting glimpse of a utopia, along with his wife, and then Cogliostro reveals that he is the biblical Cain, the first murderer, and takes the crown of Hell for himself. Cain uses his newfound power to return Spawn to earth, alive and well, back in the body of Al Simmons, but separating him from the Hellspawn symbiote.
[edit] Spawn reborn
Wandering the Earth in a daze, Al Simmons is confronted by a young witch named Nyx. With Nyx's help, Al is reunited with his Hellspawn symbiote, and Spawn is reborn. Seemingly human, with a human's frailty and vulnerability, when not shrouded in his costume, Spawn has lost much of his power, but continues with his mission to right the wrongs of the world and seek out peace of mind for himself. However, Mammon continues to plot against him from the shadows. After tempting and betraying Nyx, Mammon gains his magical power over the union between Al Simmons and Spawn, and uses it to rob Al of all of his memories. Al wanders the Earth, searching for something he feels, but cannot remember. During this wandering, Al unwittingly unleashes a band of angels known as the Forgotten, angels who were neutral, taking neither the sides of Heaven or Hell during the Fall. Al learns that Mammon is one of the Forgotten, and is far more powerful than Malebolgia ever was.
[edit] Armageddon
With the aid of the Greenworld, Spawn regains his lost memories, and something more. His costume metamorphoses again, seemingly becoming one with his necroplasmic body. Spawn is captured by Mammon and his demonic minions, and tortured horribly so that the secrets his body contains can be revealed. Spawn's discarded heart, torn from his chest in an earlier battle with the Disciple, Heaven's Warrior, transforms into a young boy named Chris. Chris, together with Sam and Twitch, rescue Spawn from Mammon's clutches and return him to Earth. Spawn learns that thousands of human souls are contained within his body, each one capable of being summoned in the form of a Hellspawn. As signs of the end of days wreak havoc across the world, Spawn must find a way to stave off Armageddon, and learn the true nature of Heaven, Hell, and the Earth.
Spawn learns that Wanda's recently born twin children (by way of Terry) are the ones responsible for Armageddon. The twins, who have been displaying destructive and sadistic tendencies for months now, attempt to murder their entire family, when Spawn arrives to stop them. Spawn is unable to destroy the twins, and the unexpected arrival of Zera, the Queen of the Seraphim, reveals the awful truth - Jake Fitzgerald is God, and Katie Fitzgerald is Satan.
It is revealed that both God and Satan were removed from their respective kingdoms and reincarnated as human children by the all-powerful being known as Mother. Mother is the creator of the universe and all its worlds, and God and Satan are two of her many children. She regards them as disappointments, being consumed with destructive hatred towards one another. Mother, who has aided Spawn in the past under the guises of Kali, the Keeper of the Greenworld, and the Man of Miracles, warns Spawn that he alone has the potential to rise above God and Satan, and preserve the human race. He also warns that Armageddon cannot be stopped - it is Earth's destiny.
Spawn is entered into one last final test to prove if he is worthy to preserve the human race: the Disciple. Before his final test, the Mother told Spawn to trust Cyan because she is "wise beyond her years". She also reveals that the Disciple is actually the guard of the portal to the Garden of Eden, where Spawn must eat the Forbidden Fruit in order to save humanity. After Spawn blasts the Disciple into Eden and killed him, it is revealed that there are actually 11 more Disciples, who are based on the Twelve Apostles. Also, because Hellspawns are never meant to enter into the Garden of Eden, Spawn's life will fade away the longer he is in the garden. This is shown through a video game like counter, which Cyan sees through a laptop. With the help of Cyan and the souls within him, Spawn fights each of the Disciples, killing them off one by one as the counter continues to drop to zero until the final Disciple left is Judas, whom Spawn is about to kill. However, Cyan yells to Spawn to not kill him. Spawn, remembering what the Mother said about trusting Cyan, does not deal the final blow to Judas. Judas stabs Spawn through the heart and his counter reaches zero.
As Spawn lies slain, Mother appears and plucks a piece of fruit from the Tree of Life. She speaks with Judas, revealing that when she took the form of Jesus, Judas was his most beloved disciple, the only one who had the courage to betray him. Without his death, the life of Jesus would have had no greater meaning. Mother gives the power of the Forbidden Fruit to the lifeless Spawn, resurrecting him in a new form - his cloak and chains are gone, replaced with shining white wings. Mother explains that Cyan was right; Spawn needed to die in order to be resurrected and gain the power to rival God and Satan. Returning to Earth, Spawn finds New York totally destroyed by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The slain population of the Earth have become possessed by angels and demons, who are gathering for the final battle. As Spawn races to the place where Armageddon will be fought, he confronts Zera, the Queen of the Seraphim.
During this battle, Spawn shows Zera his true power as an equal to both God and Satan. Spawn defeats Zera and returns to the battle between Heaven and Hell with her head as a trophy. Spawn arrives at the battle as the last of Heaven's warriors are slain. He believes that he knows one of them. Searching the battle field, Spawn discovers that he knows one of the soldiers as Granny Blake. She realizes that she has been betrayed and misled by her faith in God. Spawn faces off against the Hellspawn of Satan's army, declaring that the Earth realm belongs to him. Calling him a traitor for breaking his oath, the Hellspawn from all the ages converge on their "brother." Spawn battles the Hellspawn, calling upon the earth to swallow them, returning them to Hell. Hearing of this, Satan sends all of his remaining warriors after Spawn. Fearing that Spawn will unbalance Armageddon, God does the same. These events are watched by Mammon and a cloaked figure, whom Mammon responds to as a subordinate. During their exchange it is implied that all is going according to their plan, and Mammon says that he should have never been doubted. As Heaven and Hell attack Spawn, he calls to himself all the power given to him by the Mother, and in a single display of power destroys the armies of Heaven and Hell, along with the rest of humanity.
Laughing, he dismisses his act as a way to halt the Armageddon itself, leaving God and Satan without soldiers to use in their battle. He then asks the Mother to restore his children to their former glory and powers, but refuses to fight them. They eventually incinerate Spawn, then proceed their endless battle... fighting by themselves, in a barren, scorched Earth.
[edit] The Reconstructed World
Spawn, now given the powers of a god and the protection of the Mother, gains the power to recreate Earth, restoring everyone to life, but leaving humanity every memory of the Rapture. Both God and Satan have no role in the "new" Earth, because they're trapped in their perception of a barren Earth until they cease their seemingly endless fight, and Spawn, with his last act as a god himself, closes every door between Hell, Heaven and Earth.
He then asks the Mother to turn him into Al Simmons, talking her into leaving the former Spawn the chance to win back Wanda and becoming a fatherly figure for Cyan. A now fully human Simmons returns to his former home, but facing the memories of the miscarriage he inflicted upon Wanda by beating her the last night before dying, he relinquishes once more humanity, accepting to go on in his death as the monster he was always thought to have been in life.
Realizing how Al Simmons himself, not Mammon, claimed the Hellspawn role as penance, Spawn, again in his "red-cowled" costume, once more takes residence in a deserted and barren Rat Alley.
Later a robed figure would tell Mammon of Spawn's defeating of Clown and closing the portal to hell, which he had wanted Spawn to do, and calls Spawn "my good and faithful servant."
In Issue 169 Zera has returned. She is seen again now as a rotting decapitated head immersed in preservative liquids within a glass container. As she was one of God's favorites she was granted immortality by God. Spawn is summoned by Voodoo priestess Mambo Suzanne while Zera is trying to possess Nyx. Zera uses Nyx's body to successfully do battle with Spawn. Mambo Suzanne, however uses the conflict as a distraction to shatter the glass containing Zera's head and throw the head to streets below. There, demon dogs devour the head until there is nothing left, thereby freeing Nyx from Zera's possession. This issue leads to the recovery of Nyx and Spawn's friendship as well as Nyx's recovery of her powers.
[edit] A tale of three brothers
In the next arc, "A Tale of Three Brothers" composed of the latest few issues but was the title that run through issue 170-173, Abb and Zab create a literal hell house where visitors are forced to face their most heinous sins, due to demons called sin eaters that feed on the guilt by making their prey face the evil that they had done. A woman and a minister within the house are both caught in the delusions caused by the sin eaters, and slowly fed on by the demons. Spawn confronts Abb and Zab but is faced with his own sin against Wanda and his unborn child. Unable to break free from the guilt, he is slowly fed on by a sin eater. Nyx however decides to intervene, overcoming a sin eater and breaking a sin eaters illusion that was subduing Spawn. (It is revealed later on that Nyx is becoming more powerful) Spawn then tears apart many of the other sin eaters until he comes upon the minister who is being fed on by a sin eater.
It is then revealed that the minister is Al Simmon's brother, Richard, who was reliving his own worst sin. Spawn, who up to that moment had not yet recovered all his memories as Al Simmons since he became Hellspawn decides to allow Richard to relive his sin so that he can peer into his own past. It is then revealed that Mammon, under the guise of a man, Mr. Malefick, had a profound influence on Al Simmons childhood. It was Mammon/Mr. Malefick (a constant visitor in the Simmons' household and close acquaintance of Al Simmons' mother) that tutored Al Simmons to torture and murder small animals at a very young age as well hurt his own body, seemingly grooming him to become his servant, who would feel neither glee nor pity in taking another being's life. Malefick had also influenced Richard Simmons to take drugs as well as introducing him to the drug dealer Weasel. It was only Marc Simmons that seemingly was able to save himself from Mammons influence, but was unable to help his brothers. Richard Simmon's vision of his past climaxed with him stabbing and gravely injuring Weasel (with a knife that was given by Mammon/Malefick) while intoxicated with drugs. Richard calls his brothers to come and help him in his predicament. Al Simmons not wanting him and his brothers to be implicated in the crime decides against calling an ambulance that could save the drug dealers life and instead pulls the knife from Weasel's body and kills him with it. Mammon/Malefick then appears sending the brothers home while he hides the drug dealer's body.
Finding that the sin eater was already killing Richard Simmons Nyx breaks the illusion while Spawn kills the last sin eater. Spawn then asks Richard about their parents, finding that Richard had neither thought nor heard of them in years, Spawn determines that Mammon had blocked the memory of their parents and prevented the brothers from even thinking about their parents. Spawn then leaves, but not before Nyx places a spell preventing Abb and Zab from leaving the building and Spawn promises to come back for his brother. Spawn then finds his parents home which Mammon had hidden under a spell and within it his parents who were trapped there for many years. There he is greeted by his mother, who recognizes Al Simmons even in the form of Spawn while Al Simmons' father is shocked.
Al Simmons' mother had conspired with Mammon to give birth to a hellspawn that would be greater than those which came before, that would remake the world and place all of existence under Mammon/Malefick's power. Al Simmons father falls into grief for not being able to stop his wife from what she and Mammon had done to his son. When Spawn wonders why his father was chosen to bear him, his father points out a journal from his great grand father, passed down from generation to generation. A journal that Al Simmon's mother had prevented her husband from showing their children.
As Spawn is given the journal by his father, Richard Simmons is seen providing the demons Ab and Zab some food, then retiring to his quarters to recall a time in his childhood when he would pretend to be asleep and his father would come weeping and reciting a prayer beside his bed. Mammon/Malefick then appears. Feeling that there can be no redemption for himself, Richard follows Mammon down to a door where upon entering Richard is swallowed into the bowels of hell.
[edit] Gunslinger Spawn
Spawn issue 174-175 tells the story that is found in the journal. A runaway soldier, who later becomes Henry Simmons, Al Simmons's great grandfather, is to be lynched with a man who supposedly murdered his family. Mammon approaches both, saying he will give them what they want. Henry refuses, while the innocent man accepts, when they are hung. While the man is hung, Mammon causes a misfire to save Henry's life. A short time thereafter, the man is reborn as Gunslinger Spawn, and he slaughters the town, but leaves Henry alive under Mammon's orders. The Gunslinger Spawn places the soldier in a pine box casket belonging to the now-dead real Henry Simmons. The box floats down a river, where an awaiting Mammon tells Henry a descendant will become the Spawn that destroys the world.
[edit] The Monster in the Bubble
The story returns to the Simmons house where the television mysteriously reports reveals a new case involving the death of American comic book artist. The artist was a deformed teenager named Kenneth Erskine, a man that had been unable to leave the protection of a bubble dome due to a medical affliction. Though didn't die during the end of the world, he was affected by a leak inside his sterile bubble that gives him the power to project anything he draws as real. Al's brother, Marc, is the lead detective of the case, and the only one not to be corrupted by Mammon's influence. Nyx and Al leave to assist Marc, believing that it was Mammon who sent the transmission to the television about the case. As soon as Al and Nyx leave, Mammon and a man in a cloak with visible vampire-ike fangs suddenly appears in the house and proceeds to draining Al's father of blood. The cloaked figure's identity seems to be known by Simmons' mother as she smiles after Mammon asks her if she knew who the creature is. Spawn fails to save the Erksine's next victim. The last frame of the final part of the arc leaves Spawn doubting himself, unable to save a few people from dying - much less the entire world.
The continuation of "The Monster in the Bubble" from the last issue left Spawn utterly helpless against Erskine's psychic projection of a tentacled creature, that had impaled him multiple times. Erskine's projection suddenly shows features of Mammon, continually coaxing and tempting Spawn to accept death. Nyx intervenes by stabbing the creature with a sword, gaining the creature's attention, but leading her to become the creature's next target. She then telepathically contacts Marc Simmons, begging him to shoot Erskine. Erskine relents and ceases his attack causing the creature to disappear, allowing Nyx and Al to go to the hospital where Erskine is held. Spawn is faced with the predicament however of whether or not to cause Erskine's death, threatening to enter the bubble dome if Erskine does not reveal the whereabouts of Mammon, whom Spawn believed was pulling the strings. Mammon then appears to complicate the situation allowing Erskine to complete his last murder using a psychic projection of a woman to attack the last victim in his home. Mammon reveals that it was he who taught Erskine to use his powers. Upon killing his last victim, Erskine then proceeds to commit suicide, leaving his worldly possessions in the name of the doctor who had taken care of him. Spawn then proceeds to attack Mammon, and ask what Mammon wanted from him. Mammon then says that he wants nothing from Spawn, saying that Spawn had lost everything that made him special, only wanting Spawn to accept that it is his time. It is then revealed that Mammon had been using Erskine's powers to project a psychic projection of himself, and he was actually in another location. As the psychic projection melts away, Spawn is left kneeling, accepting the belief that whatever he tries to do ends in failure or goes wrong, that he is no longer needed by the world and that it is time for him to die.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Spawn's body is quite dense, weighing over five hundred pounds (250 kg), and is composed completely of necroplasm. This gives him super strength and durability. While he still has internal organs, they are non-functional, and their damage/destruction does not hinder Spawn in the least. These organs re-appear when he magically regenerates his wounds. This may be due to Spawn's inability to let go of his human self, retaining his human organs even though he no longer requires them.
Spawn wears a living symbiotic costume, Leetha of the 7th House of K (aka: K7-Leetha). While wearing it the host assumes a dominant role over his suit. His cape, spikes, chains, and skulls are all part of an organism bonded to his central nervous system that will protect Spawn even if he is unconscious.
The true source of the costume is the necroplasm in Spawn's body, from which it feeds. It is possible for Spawn to draw this energy back when he needs it, using it to power his abilities without draining his own reserves. The costume can also feed off evil energy from the physical world, feeding off the ambient evil of people, animals (mainly carrion insects, but also wolves and bats) and even certain parts of the city. A part of his physical powers actually comes from his suit, because of its connection to his nervous system, Simmons is able to use it in a shapeshifting manner, including the manifestation of spikes, armor plating, or transforming the cape into a battle axe. The cape itself is an effective offensive weapon able to strike in battle with its extreme preciseness, severing limbs, and or disarm enemies.
Spawn has vast magical powers. Spawn has a limited power supply whose quantity would be shown to the reader in the form of a counter that began at 9:9:9:9. Each time Spawn used his energy, the counter drains. Consequently, Simmons relies primarily on his costume's natural abilities or weapons, rather than the magical abilities in combat. Though the power source is finite, Spawn's biggest limitation is imagination. Simmons uses his ability in various ways including: resurrecting the dead, firing blasts of necroplasmic energy, teleportation, shapeshifting, and curing the sick. Simmons powers briefly becomes omnipotent, after he eats fruit from the Tree of Life.
Spawn is practically immortal unless beheaded by a weapon of heaven. He is also rendered powerless (and therefore mortal) in a patch of alley known as "The Deadzone": a small patch of Earth that is Heaven's domain and in the ethereal realm of the "Greenworld."
Following the Armageddon storyline, Spawn's power level has decreased, deriving most of the power he has left from his symbiont suit. [1]
Simmons is a highly trained soldier proficient in both armed and unarmed combat. Spawns training is to the extent that he chooses to use firearms over his magical abilities.
Spawn has an ability to "feel" or "sense" misery, pain and hatred as a gift/punishment given to him by The Keeper, an agent of the Emerald Parliament of Greenworld. He is aware, even subconsciously when someone is attacked or murdered because he has gained a further affinity with the creatures of the night and shadows and through them experiences the anguish of all mankind.
Spawn contains an unknown quantity of lost souls who can share his Hellspawn abilities, collectively known as Legion. Detective Twitch theorized that the souls that Spawn carries are those that died during the same hour that Al Simmons was killed, and that there could be as many as 6,000 souls within him. The power from these souls rendered Spawn uncontrollable by Malebolgia, and after the souls move to a hight plain, Simmons retains their knowledge and experiences.
#2 Captain Marvel
Billy was separated from his sister Mary following the death of their parents and left in the care of their uncle Ebenezer, his father's half-brother. Unfortunately, Ebenezer threw Billy out and stole the youth's trust fund money which had been set aside for Billy's care and welfare. Left penniless and homeless, Billy eked out a sorrowful existence in Fawcett City as a newsboy. For shelter, he often slept in the subway terminals.
One night, a mysterious stranger - later revealed to be the spirit of Billy's father - convinced Billy to follow him deep into the subway tunnels. There, Billy found a marvelous train decorated in hieroglyphics and mystic runes. Billy and the stranger rode the train deep into the bowles of the earth and arrived in a cavern that held statues epitomizing the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, including Envy, Lust, Greed, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, and Gluttony. Within the cavern, Billy met the ancient wizard Shazam, a champion of mankind for thousands of years. Withered with age, Shazam sat on a throne poised benaeth a giant stone block suspended above him as if by magic.
There, the ancient wizard revealed that he had 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 ordered Billy to speak his name, which was actually an acronym for various legendary figures who had 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 (which enhances all Marvel's other physical abilities and allows for interdimensional travel)
A - for the courage of Achilles (which would include invulnerability from ancient mythology)
M - for the speed of Mercury (and, by extension, the power to fly)
Billy then said the wizard's name, and was immediately struck by a magic lightning bolt, turning him into Captain Marvel, an adult superhero. He then learned that he has only to speak the word again to be instantly changed back into Billy.
With that, Shazam was immediately killed by the large granite block that fell from above his throne. Billy vowed to fulfill his bestowed role. Whenever he needed advice, Billy could light a brazier near Shazam's throne, summoning the wizard's ghost.
Marvel's first call to duty was saving the world from the evil mad scientist, Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, who threatened to silence radio forever unless he was paid a large sum of money. Resuming his regular form, Billy told WHIZ radio mogul Sterling Morris that he could stop the Radio Silencer and Sivana; a disbelieving Morris offered Billy a job on the air if he could do so.
After finding the crooks' hideout, Billy transformed into Captain Marvel, destroyed Sivana's radio silencing machine and apprehended his henchmen. Sivana escaped, setting the stage for a long line of future confrontations. Marvel transformed back into Billy, who presented the captured criminals and destroyed Radio Silencer to Sterling Morris. True to his word, Sterling Morris made Billy an on-air news reporter for WHIZ radio.
Through his adventures, he soon gained a host of enemies, including Adolf Hitler's champion Captain Nazi, an older Egyptian renegade Marvel called Black Adam, an evil magic-powered brute named Ibac, and an artificially intelligent nuclear-powered robot called Mister Atom. The most notorious Captain Marvel villains, however, were the nefarious Mister Mind and his Monster Society Of Evil, which recruited several of Marvel's previous adversaries.
In the early 1940s, Captain Marvel also gained allies in The Marvel Family, a collective of superheroes with similar powers and costumes to Captain Marvel's. (By comparison, Superman spin-off character Superboy first appeared in 1944, while Supergirl first appeared in 1959). Early on marked the debut of the Lieutenant Marvels, the alter egos of three other boys who found that, by saying "Shazam!" in unison, they too could become Marvels. Soon a friend named Freddy Freeman, mortally wounded by an attack from Captain Nazi, was given the power to become teenage boy superhero Captain Marvel, Jr.. Eventually Billy and Freddy met Billy's long-lost twin sister Mary Bromfield, who discovered she could, by saying the magic word "Shazam", become teenage superheroine Mary Marvel.
The first post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel was in the 1986 Legends miniseries. In 1987, Captain Marvel appeared as a member of the Justice League. That same year, he was also given his own miniseries, Shazam! The New Beginning. With the four-issue miniseries, writers Roy and Dann Thomas and artist Tom Mandrake attempted to re-launch the Captain Marvel mythos and bring the wizard Shazam, Doctor Sivana, Uncle Dudley, and Black Adam into the modern DC Universe with an altered origin story. In this miniseries, both Sivana and Dudley were Billy Batson's real uncles, who fought over the custody for the boy after his parents were killed (by Sivana) in a car accident. Black Adam is also present in the story as Sivana's partner in crime.
The most notable change that Thomas and Justice League writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis introduced into the Captain Marvel mythos was that the personality of young Billy Batson is retained when he transforms into the Captain (classic-era comics tended to treat Captain Marvel and Billy as two separate personalities). This change would remain for all future uses of the character as justification for his sunny, Golden-Age personality in the darker modern-day comic book world. (Captain Marvel's Justice League teammate Guy Gardner often jokingly referred to the innocent, pure-hearted Captain as "Captain Whitebread"). Another notable change in this version was the relocation of the Shazam characters from Fawcett City to San Francisco.
The Power of Shazam
In this version of the story, Billy's parents - archaeologists C. C. and Marylin Batson - were killed by their treacherous assistant, Theo Adam, while on a dig at the tomb of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt. Theo Adam was the resurrected non-powered form of Teth-Adam aka Black Adam. He also kidnaps Billy's sister Mary, who ends up missing.
The wizard Shazam is made aware of all of these events, and (just as in the Fawcett origin) has Billy brought before him by the dark-clothed stranger, and grants the boy the power to become Captain Marvel. As Captain Marvel, Billy takes on the form of his late father, which is how Theo Adam guesses his identity, has a revelation about the power of Shazam, and becomes Black Adam using a scarab he stole from the tomb. After subduing Black Adam and his employer, the rich tycoon Doctor Sivana, Billy swears to find his sister as Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel became a member of the revived Justice Society of America and was featured prominently in that group alongside his nemesis Black Adam. Captain Marvel had originally joined the team to keep an eye on Adam, who had joined the JSA claiming to have reformed. Black Adam eventually left the JSA to instigate a takeover of his home country of Kahndaq; he had a fondess for the country, and wished to see the totalitarian regime done away in what he saw as justice. Captain Marvel remained with the team.
During his tenure in the JSA, Marvel dated Courtney Whitmore, also known as Stargirl, which put him in an unusual position; while he could legally date Courtney as Billy Batson, it looked very strange for the grown-up Captain Marvel to be with the teenaged Stargirl. The Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick, another JSA member, confronted Marvel about the issue. Rather than telling Garrick and the team the truth about his age, Marvel chose to follow the Wisdom of Solomon and leave the team and Courtney.
Captain Marvel transforms into Marvel. Art by Howard Porter.
Captain Marvel transforms into Marvel. Art by Howard Porter.
The Marvel Family played an integral part the Infinite Crisis. The climax of the Day of Vengeance saw the Spectre engaged in a cosmic-level battle with the wizard Shazam. At the conclusion of this battle, Shazam was obliterated, and the Rock of Eternity burst apart into Earth's dimension, freeing scores of ancient magicks and evils that had been captured eons ago back into the Universe.
In a later Day of Vengeance one-shot special, Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family then helped Zatanna and several other beings to capture the Seven Deadly Sins and rebuild the Rock of Eternity. Captain Marvel was then required to take over Shazam's role as caretaker of the Rock. Marvel was later shown fulfilling this role, although teetering on the brink of sanity, constantly talking back to the Seven Sins around him. During this time, Marvel was shown helping Black Adam grant Adrianna Tomaz the powers of the goddess Isis. Later that year, Captain Marvel presided at the marriage ceremony of Adam and Isis in Kahndaq. Black Adam's continued attempts to reform, and depicted Adam's formation of, with Captain Marvel's blessing, a "Black Marvel Family". Joining Black Adam in the Black Marvel Family were his wife Isis and her brother Osiris. Isis and Osiris are murdered by the "Four Horsemen", creatures engineered by a team of DC's mad scientist characters (Dr. Sivana among them). As a result, Black Adam takes his revenge out on the entire world, killing millions. Black Adam is halted for a few minutes, just the time needed for Captain Marvel to force a magic lightning bolt on him, turning Black Adam back to Teth-Adam and changing his magic word into an unknown one.
Trials of Shazam!
Currently Captain Marvel (now with long white hair) taking over the role of the wizard Shazam waits, while a powerless Freddy Freeman (formerly Captain Marvel, Jr.) attempts to prove himself worthy to take over the mantle of Captain Marvel by undergoing a series of trials.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Captain Marvel vs. Spectre
Captain Marvel vs. Spectre
Known Powers:
Power of Shazam: In order to change form, Billy must be able to call upon the name of Shazam, thereby invoking spells involving the energies of those extra-dimensional beings once known as gods on earth. This spell adds almost a hundred pound of impervious godly muscle and tissue to his frame as well as aging him into adulthood. The abilities of Shazam wont come to him by simply letting a word fall out his mouth. He can call for them and they will come with a thought. They will come with the word. They will surely come when he demands them to. The precision of this spell is somewhat askew. He can share his power with Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., but while in this state, each person is only in possession of a fragment of the full power of Captain Marvel as opposed to one person commanding all of it. By calling upon Shazam again, each member of the Marvels can once again return to their normal form and size; thereby allowing one of their number, such as Billy or Mary, to have the full power of the spell. There is one susceptibility to the spell that it can be shared with other personages who are of noble intent and purity, such as Superman, who once switched identities and powers with Captain Marvel, after being in close proximity with Billy Batson during one transformation. It is known that certain gods of sufficient power, such as Thor, can manipulate Shazam's spell and render Captain Marvel back to the human form of Billy Batson once more. When Billy Batson says the magic word "Shazam!", he is transformed into Captain Marvel. In his Captain Marvel form, Billy possesses the following attributes:
S for the Wisdom of Solomon: As Captain Marvel, Billy has instant access to a vast amount of scholarly knowledge. The wisdom of Solomon also gives Marvel clairvoyance and provides him with counsel and advice in times of need. He has knowledge of all languages, ancient and modern, and could hypnotize people through this power.
* Superhuman Knowledge: Captain Marvel has exceptional photographic recall and mental acuity allowing him to read and decipher hieroglyphics, recall everything he has ever learn, solve long mathematical equations instantaneously and make intuitive guesses based on limited data to the point his guesses are almost always correct.
* Clairvoyance: an uncanny awareness of his circumstances that allows him to turn disadvantages into advantages, an understanding of divine interactions with the mortal world.
* Omni-lingual
* Hypnosis: can occasionally hypnotize people as well, through this power.
H for the Strength of Hercules: Dubbed "The World's Mightiest Mortal," Captain Marvel has incredible amounts of super strength, Captain Marvel is strong enough to lift at least 100,000 tons , he is able to effortlessly bend steel, punch through walls, and lift massive objects. Marvel's strength is enough that he has fought beings such as Superman or Wonder Woman to a standstill. Captain Marvel (alongside his counterpart, Black Adam) is considered as one of the strongest physical powerhouses on Earth, matched only by the Man of Steel himself.
* Superhuman Strength: Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman strength and weight.
A for the Stamina of Atlas: Using Atlas' endurance, Captain Marvel can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults. Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe when in Captain Marvel form.
* Superhuman Stamina: His Olympian metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities.
* Self-Sustenance: Additionally, he does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe and can survive unaided in space when in Captain Marvel form.
Z for the Power of Zeus: Zeus' power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Captain Marvel, also enhances Marvel's other physical abilities, provides physical invulnerability and resistance against most magic spells and attacks, and allows for inter-dimensional travel. Marvel can use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The magical lightning has many uses, including creating apparatus, restoring damage done to Marvel, or acting as fuel for magical spells.
* Magical Resistance
* Physical Enhancement
* Inter-dimensional Travel: This can only be used to travel to the Rock of Eternity
* Spell Source
* Advanced Healing
A for the Courage of Achilles: Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological, and gives Marvel superhuman amounts of inner strength from which to draw.
* Invulnerability: If he were somehow wounded, his godly energies would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo or for a number of Olympian gods of equal power working together to revive him.
* Superhuman Inner Strength: He is always supported by an innate and harmonious presence of good will and strength of perseverance that he never backs down from a challenge.
M for the Speed of Mercury: By channeling Mercury's speed, Captain Marvel,while not as fast as the flash, can fly and move at speeds exceeding Mach 10 (2 miles a second) while in earth's atmosphere and at near-light speeds while in space. Hermes Trismegistus (Greek for "thrice-great Hermes"), an occultist aspect of Hermes/Mercury, also gives him the ability to wield magic and cast spells, though Billy has never used this as Captain Marvel, apparently because he doesn't know how.
* Super Speed: He can move at incredible speeds, possibly equal to Superman. He can move fast enough to not register in the normal peripheral range of humans and seemingly vanish and disappear at will. At this speed, his mind processes information on par to a computer or at least on a subliminal level that he is aware of his surroundings.
* Flight: Captain Marvel can also mystically fly through the atmosphere through sure act of will, enabling him to soar through the atmosphere at sub-orbital levels and travel across the planet. He is immune from the effects of extreme height, such as dizziness and lightheadedness. With effort, he can travel from the earth to the moon, but he requires extra-precautionary paraphernalia for interstellar travel. Thanks to the power of Mercury Marvel can fly at close to light speed through space.
* Sorcery: unused by him but allowing for the ability to wield magics and cast spells.
Spawn all day baby.
