Shazam! is the acronym for the gifts of the gods Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, but what do these deities bring to the name of Shazam !?
Shazam! It is the name and the exclamation that makes the young and the young at heart heroes, and always precedes a new fantastic adventure.
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It has long escaped the realm of comics, permeating 20th century pop culture as a favorite commentary of surprise or excitement among readers of Billy Batson’s early adventures.
And not just because of what it represents, but because, let’s be honest, it’s a lot of fun to say. But what does the name Shazam really mean? With the new news for Shazam: Fury of the Gods fast approaching, now is the perfect time to dig deeper and get acquainted with the most powerful magic word in the DC Universe.
As viewers of the first Shazam movie know, young Billy Batson inherits the power of Shazam by speaking the name of the wizard who gave it to him.
But that wasn’t always the magician’s name. Before the universe-altering Flashpoint event of 2011, the Magician’s real name was Jebediah of Canaan. After Flashpoint, his original name is given as “Mamaragan”.
Either way, the word Shazam itself is an acronym that stands for six protective deities, each of which endows the Mage’s champion with an aspect of their power. What deities and what aspects? Let’s find out!
S: Solomon (wisdom)
The first of Shazam’s patron gods is Solomon, an ancient Jewish king who lived about 3,000 years ago. Solomon is not even a God, not even Greco-Roman, as are all the other characters on this list. So what is the problem here?
Well, as Judd Winick tries to explain in the 2006 Trials of Shazam series, the “gods” who lend their powers to the Shazam champion may not literally be the figures of folklore, history, and legend that we know of, but rather a separate pantheon of magical gods that express themselves through figures within the cultural lexicon that are best recognized for the attributes that each one of them embodies.
So while the historical and biblical King Solomon was not a God, the Solomon of the sextumverate Shazam is one, and he takes that name because Solomon is culturally regarded as a universal symbol of wisdom.
The primary gift Billy Batson and other Shazam champions receive from Solomon is wisdom, which is a very broad term… and one that raises questions, as Billy himself often gets into trouble by jumping before he looks.
The answer is that Solomon’s Wisdom is primarily an active power as opposed to a passive one, and one that Shazam’s elect must consciously activate in order to channel.
With Solomon’s wisdom comes perfect memory, battle tactics, mathematical aptitude, charisma in dealing with others, limited clairvoyance giving him arcane knowledge and flawless intuition, and natural fluency in all languages.
H: Hercules (strength)
The second of Shazam’s gods is Hercules, who is technically more of a demigod. But as we explained, the Hercules of Shazam may be a separate entity from the Greek Hercules, even though it is married to the same central concept of standing as the ultimate symbol of strength.
Force is the easiest to explain of Shazam’s powers. With this gift, Billy Batson is super strong, almost as strong as Superman, who by the way is also almost as strong as anyone in the DC Universe. It’s a pretty simple power, but sometimes it’s really all you need.
Before he could fly, which was, in fact, an even shorter time for him between creation and first flight than Superman, the Force of Hercules was the way the hero then known as Captain Marvel would take to the air, launching himself to heaven with his powerful leg muscles.
A: Atlas (Resistance)
You might think “Resistance” would imply your typical set of invulnerabilities, but that’s not the gift Atlas provides. Stamina refers specifically to Shazam’s inability to tire.
Unlike most transformation-based heroes, there is no time or effort limit on transforming Billy into his super powerful counterpart. If he wanted to, he could even remain his superego indefinitely … and indeed, this demonstrates an important plot point in stories like Kingdom Come.
The Atlas Resistance also eliminates the small physical needs to eat, sleep or breathe, so that the most powerful Mortal on Earth can operate with maximum efficiency at all times and circumstances.
Z: Zeus (power)
Zeus is the divinity of the Greek pantheon, and there is nothing more pious than that. As such, all of Shazam’s strange powers can be attributed to Zeus.
The most crucial of Zeus’ gifts is the power of the thunderbolt itself. This facilitates the transformation that gives Billy Batson his powers, opening each of Shazam’s powers to him. This also allows him to fire blasts of electricity and lightning himself, and a limited gift of teleportation that allows him to travel to and from the Rock of Eternity with just a thought.
Perhaps most impressive of all, the Power of Zeus allows the potential to use magic and cast spells, in any way imaginable … But of all Shazam’s powers, this one requires the greatest concentration, study, and discipline, none of which can consider Billy’s strengths.
A: Achilles (Valor)
Achilles is a Greek hero who is said to have fought and died in the Battle of Troy, but he is notably not a god, nor does he have parents who are gods. However, he stands out for his near-perfect invulnerability, representing the Achilles of Shazam.
While “Courage” is the term given to describe this power of Shazam, it is practically used to represent his maximum physical defenses, making it almost impossible to hurt him. Strength, heat, energy, disease, and even age are negligible when it comes to “Achilles’s Courage.”
And while Billy Batson is indeed a brave lad, it’s hard to say if it’s the gods speaking or if it’s that aspect that made him worthy of Shazam’s own Power.
M: Mercury (Speed)
At last we come to Mercury, the Roman name for the God of Speed, which is at least one god, but not Greek. (If you’re keeping track, they’re actually just two completely genuine “gods” out of the six that give Shazam its name.) For the sake of parity, it really should be called Hermes to match the other Greek names, but “SHAZAH” doesn’t have that satisfying bilabial nasal sound at the end.
The speed that Mercury lends to the Power of Shazam’s name was practically unlimited in the Golden Age, but is now more consistently said to be as fast as, appropriately, lightning.
This speed is not just a matter of locomotion, it carries over to your reflexes and motor skills, allowing you to react to events as they unfold at high speed.
Most importantly, Mercury’s speed is what grants those with the Power of Shazam the gift of flying – a must-have in the pack for any top-notch metahuman (sorry, Flash and Aquaman).
Shazam’s true strength
So what makes Shazam’s powers different from, say, Superman? As you can see, there is a lot of overlap.
The differences really come to the fore when it comes to Wisdom and the Power of the capital P, but these days, what sets the Power of Shazam apart most of all is the power of family, as Billy shares it with each of his adoptive siblings.
It may interest you: Who are the members of the Shazam! Family?
Source: DC Comics
SHAZAM! still in the orbit of SMASH and DC Comics México
Science has ruled the world for centuries, while old magic has withered and died. But now he’s back with Billy Batson, a fifteen-year-old boy whose name means trouble… and yet he was chosen to receive an ancient power.
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