History: (Whiz Comics (Fawcett) #25) - Freddy Freeman was orphaned when his parents died in a hurricane and he was sent to live with his fisherman grandfather. While fishing they discovered a half drowned man and brought him aboard their boat. The man was the villainous Captain Nazi, who’d been knocked into the bay after a furious fight with Captain Marvel. Captain Nazi killed Freddy's grandfather, and attacked Freddy, leaving him for dead in the water. Captain Marvel discovered Freddy and rushed him to a hospital, but the doctors said he’d been crippled and expected him to die within the night. Marvel took Freddy to see the wizard Shazam, and asked him to save Freddy. Shazam told Marvel he couldn't do anything, but Marvel could save him by sharing his power with Freddy. Freddy spoke Captain Marvel's name, and was transformed by a bolt of lightning into Captain Marvel, Jr.

(Master Comics (Fawcett) #22) - Dr. Eternity went on a killing spree, preserving the corpses of his victims in wax and displaying them  in his wax museum. He sent a letter to Sir Henry Eliot warning him that he was his next victim. Sergeant Kent, Susan and Jim Barr went to Eliot’s house to protect him, but Eternity’s men cut the lights to Eliot’s home and abducted him. Jim changed into Bulletman to go after Eternity’s goons. Susan wanted to go into action as Bulletgirl, but he asked her to stay with Lady Eliot. Bulletman stopped Eternity’s men from kidnapping Sir Henry Welch, and Eternity called in his ally Captain Nazi, who he praised for his war efforts on Germany’s behalf. In response Captain Marvel sent captain Marvel, Jr. To help Bulletman. They located Dr. Eternity’s wax museum where he had his victims on display, and made short work of him and Nazi. They managed to bring Eternity into custody, but Captain Nazi escaped to fight another day.

(Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #18) - Billy hosted the WHIZ quiz show the Mental Marvel Quiz, with the contestants being Freddy Freeman and rich girl Mary Bromfeld. During a commercial break Billy got a note from Sarah Primm, saying she was dying and it was urgent he go to see her. He changed into Captain Marvel to see her, and she revealed that she was his nurse when he was an infant. He had a twin sister, Mary, and when their parents died she despaired at the thought of sending them both to an orphanage, but she was also the nurse of the rich Mrs. Bromfeld, and when her infant daughter suddenly died Primm switched Mary with the dead baby so she’d be raised in luxury. When Mary was a young girl Sarah gave her half of a locket telling her that her life would change when she found the other half, not revealing that she intended to find Billy one day to give him the other half. Sarah gave him the other half of the locket and told him to find his sister. Mary won the quiz show, and Billy and Freddy pondered who his sister might be. Mary was abducted by some kidnappers, but saved by Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. Cap saw her locket, and realizing she was his sister he changed back into Billy and told her the whole story. The kidnappers revived and knocked out Billy and Freddy. Mary said the magic word Shazam, which Billy used to change into Captain Marvel, and found herself transformed into Mary Marvel. She easily dispatched the kidnappers, and the Marvels visited the ghost of Shazam. He said he’d given powers to Mary, but she drew her strength from different gods than Billy and Freddy, giving her the wisdom of Selena, the strength of Hippolyta, the stamina of Ariadne, the power of Zephyrus, the courage of Aurora and the speed of Minerva. Together they were now one big happy Marvel Family.

(Captain Marvel, Jr. (Fawcett) #12) - John Wilson, a mining engineer, discovered a uranium mine on Baffin Land, and set sail back for America with his wife and assistants. A Nazi sub sunk the ship, and took the crew prisoner, but Wilson managed to evade detection in a lifeboat, and made his way back stateside. The Nazi torpedoes that sunk his ship left him with memory loss, but he kept babbling about the uranium mine. Freddy Freeman was hawking his papers at the hospital where Wilson was recovering when Captain Nazi, disguised as a doctor, abducted John. Freddy changed into Captain Marvel, Jr. To find out where he was headed. Captain Nazi and several Nazi officers took Wilson to Baffin Land, demanding he tell them the location of the mine so they could use the uranium for their war effort. Wilson’s memory returned when Captain Nazi threatened to torture his wife Helen, and Nazi pressed his prisoners into working the mine. Jr. Arrived and knocked out Nazi by hurling drilling equipment at him. Jr. Changed back into Freddy Freeman to find Wilson and Helen, only to be captured by a Nazi guard who locked him up alongside the Wilsons. Freddy changed into Captain Marvel, Jr. And helped them and the other prisoners escape. He confronted the revived Captain Nazi and defeated him, tossing him down a mine shaft and sealing the entrance with a boulder. Jr. Called the U.S. Navy for a pickup and said he had Captain Nazi in captivity.

(Captain Marvel, Jr. (Fawcett) #14) - A street vendor was hawking his eggbeaters when Freddy spotted a Gremlin casting his magic on the projects. An elderly man named Jonas Weatherby bought one of the eggbeaters, and its’ whisk started spinning until it carried him up into the air. Freddy changed into Captain Marvel, Jr. To save Jonas, who was wildly flying through the sky. Jonas kept taking off, and Jr. Had to save a woman he accidentally knocked off a rooftop and save Jonas from some crooks who wanted the flying eggbeater to commit crimes. Jonas made his way home and found a way to control his flight. He was tempted by his new power and decided he wanted to be a millionaire. Jonas robbed the National Bank, and when Jr. Responded he locked himself in the vault. Two burglars had tunneled into the vault, and Jonas used their tunnel to escape. Jonas counted his money and realized he had one million and twenty dollars. Not wanting to be greedy he went to the National Bank to return the twenty dollars. Jr. Convinced him that he wasn’t just stealing from a bank, he was robbing people of their life’s savings. Jonas never was a real criminal, he’d just been tempted by power, so he returned the full sum of money. His eggbeater flew off of its’ own accord and Jr. Laughed as he ran off after it.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #1) - Sterling Morris got a report of an identified object from deep space approaching Earth at the speed of light, and asked Billy to cover the story. Billy visited an observatory, but the astronomers were baffled. The object turned out to be Black Adam, who’d been flying towards Earth for thousands of years. He arrived and proclaimed that he would conquer the planet. Captain Marvel and Marvel, Jr. Confronted him, but their powers were too evenly matched and they fought to a standstill before Adam decided to retreat for the moment. The Marvels changed back into Billy and Freddy to see Shazam and ask him if he knew anything about Black Adam, whose powers were so similar to theirs. Unbeknownst to them Black Adam was following them. Shazam told the boys that thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt he made Teth-Adam into Mighty Adam, his first champion. Adam’s power corrupted him, and after killing the pharaoh he declared himself ruler of Egypt. As punishment Shazam renamed him Black Adam and banished him to the furthest star in the universe, never realizing he’d be determined enough to find his way back to Earth. Shazam vanished and Black Adam tied up Freddy and Billy, gagging them so they couldn’t say the magic words that gave them power. Mary Marvel and Uncle Marvel realized the boys were missing, and made their way to Shazam’s throne room only to discover their friends trussed up. Mary fought Black Adam, while Uncle Marvel freed the boys and summoned Shazam, asking him how to defeat Black Adam. Shazam told Uncle Marvel he had to get Black Adam to say his name. Uncle Marvel told the Marvel Family that Black Adam was too powerful for them to defeat and said he should join their family. He annoyed Black Adam by mispronouncing Shazam’s name until Adam spoke the magic word, turning him back into Teth-Adam. His mortal form was 5,000 years old, and he rapidly turned into an elderly man before decaying into a skeleton. Shazam thanked the Marvel Family for destroying his worst mistake, and said he was glad he entrusted his power to good people.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #4 ) - Billy invited Mary and Freddy to WHIZ to watch the station's latest program, "The Witch's Hour," in which Ellie Hawkins told scary stories. Three witches flew into the studio on a broomstick and abducted Ellie, so Billy, Mary and Freddy transformed into the Marvel Family and went in pursuit of them. The witches lost the Marvels in a stormcloud, so the Marvels split up to cover more ground to find them again. Captain Marvel, Jr. found their cave, but the witches cast a spell forcing him to stand on his head. He broke the spell by turning back into Freddy Freeman, and the witches grabbed him and tried to turn him into a bat. Mary saw the lightning bolt that accompanied Freddy's transformation, and rushed to the cave. She knocked out two of the witches, but the third fled on her broomstick with Ellie in tow. Captain Marvel caught her and rescued Ellie, but the Marvels couldn't agree on what to do with the witches. Ellie admitted that she was a witch and used to be in their coven before striking out for the big city to make her name in radio. She asked the Marvels to find her fellow witches a productive job, so Billy set them up as a singing quartet, and the reformed witches found instant fame at WHIZ.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #10) - On the Marvel Family Round-Table television program Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr, Mary Marvel and Uncle Marvel talked about the threat Sivana posed to the world. Sivana met with his children Sivana, Jr. and Georgia Sivana, saying that since they’d failed to take the Marvel Family down on their own they needed to team up as the Sivana Family. Sivana developed a machine to destroy the Marvels, but when he tried to test it by measuring the voltage of Shazam lightning the power surge broke the meter. Sivana knew he needed a power source greater than an atomic bomb to make his machine work. Sivana, Jr. Had uncovered manuscripts from ancient Atlantis about protium, an element even more powerful than plutonium. Protium was a radioactive element that turned into neutrium after 10,000 years and electrium after another 10,000. Sivana wanted samples of all three elements but knew they’d need to time travel. Fortunately for him he knew all the Marvel Family’s secrets and they could reach the future and the past from the Rock of Eternity. The Sivana Family flew their rocketships faster than the speed of light to reach the Rock, and Shazam alerted the Marvel Family. Mary Marvel followed Georgia Sivana to the Atlantis of 8,000 B.C. Chal-Patzun was the Atlantean professor who discovered protium and Georgia met up with him, learning that he’d correctly predicted Atlantis was about to sink,. Chal-Patzun showed her his machine powered by protium that he said could save Atlantis, and she hit him over the head with a stick. Mary Marvel arrived in time to restrain Georgia. Chal-Patzun explained that Atlantis was doomed, but after 20,000 years the protium in his machine would be changed into electrium which could be used to raise the city again and restore it to its’ former glory. Chal-Patzun had sent his son away from Atlantis with the secrets of how to operate the machine, and his son would pass that knowledge on to his children and his children’s children. Mary Marvel changed back into Mary Batson to see if her magic lightning could speed up the change of protium to electrium to no avail. The cataclysm hit Atlantis and the city sank, and Georgia managed to restrain Mary, steal a vial of protium and escape in her rocketship with Mary as her prisoner. In the present Sivana kidnapped Dr. Charles Patterson, the descendant of Chal-Patzun, and forced him to show sivana were Atlantis was under the waves. Captain Marvel pursed him underwater, but Sivana used a giant electric eel to shock Marvel and turn him back into Billy Batson. Sivana took a vial of neutrium from Chal-Patzun’s machine, fatally shot Dr. Patterson and left with Billy as his prisoner. In the future of year 12000 Chass Passon, Chal-Patzun’s descendant, used the remaining electrium to finally raise Atlantis. Sivana, Jr. Clocked him with a wrench, but Captain Marvel, Jr. Ran him off. Marvel, Jr. Introduced himself to Passon, but by saying Captain Marvel he changed back into Freddy Freeman. Sivana, Jr. Knocked him out with a rock, took a vial of electrium and returned to the present with Freddy in tow. Sivana powered his machine, which created a cloud of free electrons around Earth, deflecting the Shazam lightning when the Marvels said their magic words. Sivana showed off his newly built palace, confident that without the Marvel Family to thwart him his family would assume their rightful role as rulers of the universe. The Sivana Family let the Marvels loose on the grounds to hunt them for sport, but Billy was wily enough to evade them and make his way to Sivana’s machine, depowering it. The Marvels said their magic words, wrecked the machine, and defeated the Sivanas.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #25) - The newsies on Freddy's beat were all excited because they spotted the boxing champ walking down the street. They all crowded round asking for autographs, but the champ told them he had no time for them. Newsie Shortie's autograph pen dripped ink on the champ's pants, and the furious boxer hit the boy knocking him into the street. Freddy had to change into Captain Marvel Jr. to save Shorty from an oncoming car, and then grabbed the champ, flying him to a nearby park. He demanded an explanation for the champ's actions, but the champ was unrepentant. Billy humiliated by dumping him in an oil barrel and then knocking him out. He brought the champ back to his apartment, and when the boxer woke up Marvel showed him that Freddy Freeman had a bunch of newspaper clippings about him. He said all the newsies idolized him, and he should act like someone worth looking up to. The champ said he wasn't a good guy, and admitted he was being paid $50,000 by mobsters to throw his next fight. Freddy's landlord Mrs. Wagner overheard him, told the champ she knew his parents, and said they would be spinning in their graves if they knew what their son had become. The champ was determined to be a better person, and marched on over to the gangster's hangout to tell them he wasn't throwing the fight. They threatened to shoot him, but Marvel had been following the champ and quickly whooped the mobsters. The champ thanked Marvel and said he owed Shorty an autograph and an apology. Marvel turned back into Freddy, and led him to Shorty, who was charging 5 cents to see the jaw the champ had socked.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #53) - Professor Martin Mason was an atomic scientist greatly worried about the future of Earth. He was concerned with a future shortage of metals, and invented an expander ray that could enlarge inanimate matter to create more raw resources of metal. Before long he decided the greatest threat to the future of humanity was overpopulation, so he tinkered with his expander ray so it could enlarge the size of the Earth and every inanimate object tenfold and hopefully supply the needs of humanity until the end of time. His expander ray had unintended consequences, forcing the Marvel Family to go into action. Billy Batson finished his newscast when the ray hit, and Miss Baker, who provided music for his show fell from her now gigantic keyboard organ, and he had to change to his heroic identity of Captain Marvel to save her. Freddy Freeman shrunk while hawking newspaper, and had to change into Captain Marvel Jr. to save a driver when his car grew to large for him to control. Mary Batson saved her neighbor Mrs. Barstow from being crushed by her phone by turning into Mary Marvel. The Marvels met up, and stopped a jailbreak when the prisoners ran between the bars of their cell, and the Marvels locked the prisoners in the warden's desk for the time being. Mason's machine was too large for him to pull the lever that turned it off, so he sent out a radio broadcast asking for the Marvel Family's help. They used their superstrength to pull the lever, and Mason admitted he'd made a big mistake, and would reverse the ray to return Earth to its' normal size. He left the ray in reverse for too long, causing the Earth to rapidly shrink, and the Marvels had to evacuate Fawcett City before the residents crushed their newly tiny city by accident. Mason was again in a fix, because his underground lab where the ray was was now too small to reach. The Marvels carefully removed the roof of the underground cabin and flicked the lever again, restoring the world to normal. They destroyed the ray lest it cause more chaos, and took Mason to the authorities to see if the courts would choose to punish him for his grievous error. Captain Marvel chided Mason that he was wrong to tamper with the scheme of things.

(Shazam! I #1) - <1953> The mayor of Fawcett City threw a celebration at city hall to honor the Marvel Family, with a number of their friends and fans in attendance. The wicked Sivana Family chose that moment to strike from Sivana's spaceship, hitting the crowd with a vortex transporter paralyzer ray, drawing them into space, and encasing them in a globe of suspendium, a compound that would put them in suspended animation. Sivana, Junior slapped his dad on the back for a job well done, causing Sivana to lose control of his spaceship and crashing into the suspendium, trapping the villains with their victims. The globe orbited the sun for decades until the heat of the sun began to melt the suspendium, freeing the Marvel Family. They realized the suspendium was being pulled into the sun's orbit, and had to act fast to save the lives of everyone inside the globe. The Sivana Family revived and flew their spaceship to safety while the Marvel Family pushed the globe back to Earth before smashing it, freeing their friends and returning to Fawcett. Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. went into space to search for the Sivanas, while Captain Marvel checked out one of Sivana's old mountain hideouts. He found the Sivana Family working on a death projector, which Sivana fired up, hoping it would destroy most of Earth's population, making him ruler of the world. Marvel smashed their machine and took the Sivanas to jail, but they all shared a laugh over how happy they were to be a live and out of suspended animation.

(Shazam! I #3) - In an attempt to adjust to modern times Billy bought a new outfit and went to a teen hop dance and concert, but still felt incredibly out of place. He reasoned that he didn't fir in because he was actually 20 years older than the kids around him because of being in suspended animation, so he visited Shazam at the Rock of Eternity, asking him to make him into an adult. Shazam agreed, and had him grasp a magic hourglass to make the boy into a man, but warned that interfering with the timestream could have unintended side effects. Billy went to visit WHIZ when he saw Sterling Morris arguing with a wizard named Shagg Naste who was furious that the station refused to give him his own show. Freddy Freeman walked by and Nasty turned him to stone, threatening to do the same to Sterling if he didn't give in to his demands. Billy changed into Captain Marvel, who was now a boy the same age as Billy was before Shazam aged him. Nasty cast a spell on him that wrecked havoc with his ability to fly, and Marvel ended up crashing into the WHIZ building. He turned back into the adult Billy and confronted Nasty, whose magic had no effect on adults, and ran him off after forcing him to turn Freddy back to normal. Neither Sterling nor Freddie recognized him, and he went back to see Shazam to turn him back to his proper age.

(Shazam! I #4) - April 1st rolled around, and Billy Batson was depressed because he hadn't celebrated his birthday in decades, and after being gone from Fawcett so long he thought nobody remembered it was his birthday. Billy returned home, where all his friends, including Freddy threw him a surprise birthday party.

(Shazam! I #7) - New tenants moved into the house Billy Batson rented a room in, and Ma Potter told Billy they kept to themselves. The renter were Mr. Grump and his boss, who despised Captain Marvel because he'd broken up his gang. He considered Marvel such bad luck that he forbade Grump from speaking his name, and Grump balked his boss knocked him out. Ma Potter overheard the end of their conversation, and when the boss told her his friend had a fainting spell she became convinced that saying "Captain Marvel" really was a jinx. She told Pa Potter, who thought she was being superstitious. On his walk to the store he passed Freddy Freeman, who was listening to Billy's WHIZ broadcast about a crack in the Rockaway Dam, and Freddy said the magic words Captain Marvel to turn into Captain Marvel Jr. and save the dam. All Pa saw was the boy say "Captain Marvel," get struck by lightning and disappear, so he was now convinced Ma was right. He ran into Doc Quartz at the drugstore, and told him about what he saw. Doc started gossiping, and as the story kept getting retold and exaggerated people started believing that saying Captain Marvel's name would cause doomsday. Sterling Morris caught wind of the gossip and told Billy he could no longer say "Captain Marvel" on air. Even Billy was wary about saying his own name, suspicious that Sivana put a jinx on him. As Captain Marvel he visited Sivana in jail, and Sivana assured him he wasn't currently plotting against him. Even Sivana refused to say Marvel's name, telling Marvel that he wanted to rule the universe, not destroy it. Marvel returned home, and overheard the boss living next door fencing an expensive cane "capped in marvel"ous silverwork. The world didn't end, so Marvel realized the new superstition was baseless. He apprehended the boss, and scoffed at himself for having believed the rumor the boss inadvertently started. The boss was headed to jail, so he was still convinced the name "Captain Marvel" was a jinx.

(Shazam! I #9) -Freddy went to work only to discover his newsstand was gone, and his best customer, the kindly Mr. Joe, wasn’t there to greet him. The morning headlines were about a series of elevators that had gone missing, and Freddy wondered if there was a connection to his vanished newsstand. He spotted a robot hovercraft drawing elevators of of buildings with a beam and went into action as Captain Marvel. Jr. The hovercraft started firing energy rays at him, so he hung back and followed it to a metal-ore plant. A ring of criminals planned to melt down the elevators to sell the metal and wanted to shop around their hovercraft to hostile foreign governments. Marvel Jr. Made short work of the criminals and rescued Mr. Joe, who was trapped in one of the elevators. Joe ran off, saying he had something very important to attend to. Freddy returned to the street corner where his stand was, only to find that Mr. Joe had his stand taken away because he’d bought him a modern plastic newsstand as a thanks to Freddy for being such a swell kid.

(Shazam! I #11) - Billy Batson, Mary and Freddy attended Sterling Morris’ Christmas Eve party along with all of their friends. The Sivana Family groused in their lab about how much they hated Christmas, and Sivana activated his Cosmic Clock, speeding up time so Christmas day would only last 10 minutes. The Marvel Family went into action when they noticed time was speeding up around them, and they saved Santa Claus, who was having trouble controlling his sped up reindeer. Santa told them the Sivana Family were trying to ruin Christmas, so the Marvels flew to the Sivanas’ lab and made short work of them. Combining their strength the Marvels stopped the Cosmic clock and pushed its’ hands backwards so Christmas day could proceed at a normal rate. The Marvels visited the Sivanas in jail, and said they found an appropriate Christmas present, the first the Sivanas had ever gotten, for the family that proclaimed themselves the rightful rulers of the universe. The present turned out to be a book entitled The Universe, and the Marvels returned to Morris’ party to celebrate the holiday with their friends.

(Shazam! I #12) - Mailman Herschel Dockles accidentally delivered a letter for the very important  Dr. Kassover to Freddy Freeman. He had another letter for Kassover, but that was swiped by Gregorie Gosharootie, the world’s dullest boy, who no one ever noticed. Spies convinced Gosharootie to bring them letters meant for Kassover so they could monitor his activities, and convinced Gosharootie they were just saving him from wasting his time reading junk mail. The spies spotted Freddy with a letter for Kassover and told Gregory to swipe it. He succeeded, but when Freddy realized the letter was missing he changed into Captain Marvel, Jr. and his wisdom of Solomon gave him the clairty to notice Gregory. He realized the spies were duping Gregory, so he picked up their car and threw it into a wall. The spies intelligence said that Kassover was talking to an American spy in Europe, but the letter turned out to e from his friend who forgot her hat at his house the last time she visited him.

(DC Comics Presents #34) - Mr. Mind and Superman’s foe Mr. Mxyztplk teamed up to bedevil their foes, resulting in Superman trapped on Earth-S. Captain Marvel put Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel and Uncle Dudley in charge of NYC while he tried to remedy the problem by visiting the Rock of Eternity. Mr. Mind enlisted King Kull in his schemes, and he attacked the U.N. The Marvel Family responded, but were soundly defeated because Mxyztplk set up a magic lightning rod that transferred the power of Shazam bolts to Kull. Mr. Mind wanted to kill Superman and Captain Marvel, but Mxyztplk only wanted to commit pranks, not murder, so he withdrew his support and undid his magic. He summoned Hoppy the Marvel Bunny from the funny animal dimension, and he handily beat Kull, who’d been depowered.

Comments: Created by France Herron & C.C. Beck

Pre-Crisis Captain Marvel Jr. received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #4. He received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #14 under the Marvel Family entry.

Captain Marvel Jr. was originally published by Fawcett Comics, which DC obtained the rights to in 1972.

Captain Marvel Jr. appearance in Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #18 was reprinted in Shazam! I #8, Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #59 was reprinted in Shazam! I #12. Captain Marvel, Jr. (Fawcett) #12 was reprinted in Shazam! and the Shazam Family! Annual #1, Captain Marvel, Jr. (Fawcett) #14 was reprinted in Shazam! I #8. His appearance in Marvel Family (Fawcett) #1 was reprinted in Shazam! I #8, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #4 was reprinted in Shazam! I #3, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #10 was reprinted in Shazam! I #12, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #25 was reprinted in Shazam! I #5, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #53 was reprinted in Shazam! I #6, 7, Master Comics (Fawcett) #22 was reprinted in Shazam! Archives #4, Shazam! I #9 was reprinted in Adventure Comics I #496. Whiz Comics (Fawcett) #25 was reprinted in Shazam! Archives #4.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com