Captain Marvel Jr., now known as Shazam Jr., was a constant inspiration for the King of Rock, Elvis Presley. Here the anecdote.
Among the great contributions of American culture to the world are undoubtedly superhero comics and rock and roll, and there is an anecdote that unites them knowing that Captain Marvel Jr. or Shazam Jr. was an inspiration for Elvis Presley.
If there was one publisher that rocked DC Comics in its early days (when it was called National Allied Publications), it was Fawcett, whose flagship character was Captain Marvel, now known as Shazam! And its success was such that it soon led to a powerful family, of which perhaps the most famous are Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. The latter debuted in Whiz Comics #25, December 1941.
Captain Marvel Jr. turned out to be just as popular and was given his own series, one of the biggest fans of which was a young man named Elvis Aaron Presley.
“Captain Marvel Jr. was teenager Freddy Freeman, who is crippled in a fight between Captain Marvel and his nemesis, Captain Nazi. Marvel takes Freddy to the lair of the wizard Shazam, who grants him the same powers as Captain Marvel, as long as he says the hero’s name out loud to him. However, unlike his mentor, Freddy remains a teenager in superhero form, and also remains disabled while in his mortal identity. Despite being a teenager, many of those early stories were more serious than those in the adult Captain Marvel comics, with Freddy dealing with urban crime, while living a miserable existence in his normal identity.”
How the character of Shazam Jr. inspired Elvis Presley
It is not known how Elvis met Captain Marvel Jr., but it is known that at Graceland, the mansion where the singer lived in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis’ childhood comic book collection is still preserved. “In addition, a copy of 1947 Captain Marvel Jr. #51 sits on the desk in the recreation of his childhood bedroom at the Lauderdale Courts housing complex in Memphis. Elvis himself has stated how much he loved comics, picturing himself as the hero when he read them as a child.”
It has also been mentioned repeatedly that Elvis’s early haircut seems to be very much based on that of Freddy Freeman’s from his late 1940s era. the ones worn by the teenage hero. And the flagship of Elvis’ main rhythm section, the TCB band? It’s a lightning bolt logo much like Shazam’s. All of this points to direct tributes to the superhero that he liked the most as a child ”.
In retribution, in several more recent appearances by Captain Marvel Jr., the hero has declared himself a fan of the King of Rock. Similarly, in Kingdom Come, artist Alex Ross designed an adult version of Freddy Freeman with the singer’s face.
Will we see this anecdote on the big screen?
In the movie Shazam!, we saw the debut of Freddy Freeman played by Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody. However, in the recent trailer for the film Elvis by Baz Luhrmann, we see this anecdote reflected from the second 00:19.
Sources: Nerdist and GamesRadar
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The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes is one of the most spectacular works that can be found in the comic medium. Originally presented as unit graphic novels, the stories brought together in this volume: Superman: Peace on Earth, Batman: War on Crime, Shazam!: Rise of Hope, Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, and JLA: Liberty and Justice, as well as JLA: Secret Origins (which features spectacular beginnings for DC’s greatest heroes), make up an effort spanning more than five years in the careers of writer Paul Dini and illustrator Alex Ross.
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