History: The Marvel Family were initially three heroes granted their magical powers by the wizard Shazam. Their later adventures swelled their ranks.

Family (Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #18) - The wizard Shazam bestowed Billy Batson with the powers of Captain Marvel to fight evil in the world. Captain Marvel shared a portion of his powers with Freddy Freeman, who became Captain Marvel, Jr. 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.

(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 rename dhim 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.

(Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #71) - Worldwide Captain Marvel Day was announced, and Captain Marvel was invited to appear in Washington, D.C., Paris, France, Moscow, Russia and Chungking, China. The only problem was that the appearances were slated at the same time, so Captain Marvel visited his Lieutenants Hill Billy Marvel, Tall Marvel and Fat Marvel, asking them to fill-in at three of the locations. Sivana was outraged that Captain Marvel was being celebrated by the world, and knowing he could only be at one of the four main celebrations he determined to wreck them all using his Instantaneous Rocket Ship. He showed up in Washington, deflating a Captain Marvel balloon that threatened to smother the crowd underneath. Fat Marvel flung the balloon away, but before he could get his hands on Sivana, the mad scientist was off. Sivana used a blowtorch on the Eiffel Tower to bring it down, but Hill Billy Marvel chased him off. In Moscow he threw a bomb  into the crowd, which was caught and defused by Tall Marvel. In China Sivana hid inside a dragon float and released poison gas, but was foiled by Captain Marvel. Marvel told him how he could be in four places at once, and tore out the motor on Sivana’s Instantaneous Rocket Ship. He had an auxiliary motor and flew off, but was caught in international waters by Captain Marvel. They’d crossed the International Date Line, and Captain Marvel was amused that he’d caught Sivana on a Tuesday for crimes he committed on Wednesday. Sivana said he never wanted to think about time again and just wanted to go to jail

(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 #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.

(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 Otto Binder.

The Marvel Family were originally published by Fawcett Comics, which DC obtained the rights to in 1972.

The Marvel Family received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #14.

The Marvel Family had a cameo in Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #59.

The Marvel Family's appearance in Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #18, 71, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #1 was reprinted in Shazam! I #8, Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #59 was reprinted in Shazam! I #12, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #4 was reprinted in Shazam! I #3, Marvel Family (Fawcett) #10 was reprinted in Shazam! I #12,  Marvel Family (Fawcett) #53 reprinted in Shazam! I #6, 7.