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Post by redsycorax on Jun 24, 2024 23:04:45 GMT
Or perhaps he did sponsor champions in the intervening millennia, and there may be untold stories of earlier interventions throughout human history when necessity demanded it? There might be need of such champions during particularly fraught periods like (say) the Fall of the Roman Empire, the aftermath of the Black Death in 1348, the European Wars of Religion or similarly anarchic, lawless eras elsewhere in the world where civil order had more or less broken down? They might not have been recorded extensively because literacy was highly restricted to monasteries and religious institutions, or those trained within them. Or the Wizard may have wanted to keep their existence secret for some reason.
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Post by dans on Jun 25, 2024 1:57:11 GMT
That's certainly an interesting speculation. Shazam initially seemed reluctant to tell Billy much history, who knows what stories he could tell? I think we need the Historama!!
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jun 25, 2024 2:46:21 GMT
Or perhaps he did sponsor champions in the intervening millennia, and there may be untold stories of earlier interventions throughout human history when necessity demanded it? There might be need of such champions during particularly fraught periods like (say) the Fall of the Roman Empire, the aftermath of the Black Death in 1348, the European Wars of Religion or similarly anarchic, lawless eras elsewhere in the world where civil order had more or less broken down? They might not have been recorded extensively because literacy was highly restricted to monasteries and religious institutions, or those trained within them. Or the Wizard may have wanted to keep their existence secret for some reason. It's very possible. The big question then is, what happened to these champions? We know from Black Adam that, in their empowered form, champions do not age and could live forever.
It seems that, after Black Adam, the wizard gave the champions some kind of compulsion to keep them from remaining in their empowered form indefinitely. This means that they would age, but slowly. If he hadn't made any in the last few centuries, the last champion might have died of old age before Billy's time. It was established in Captain Marvel Jr. #17 that Freddy will live to be over 100 years old before he dies. This may also explain why Billy and his family look so youthful. Since they spend half their time in their marvel forms, they only age half the time.
Of course, champions do not live a risk-free life. Most of them likely did not live to old age. It's possible that some of them are still around somewhere, imprisoned or lost and believed dead.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 25, 2024 3:58:05 GMT
We don't know what magnitude of villainous threats these hypothetical Wizard's champions might have had to encounter. Or, for that matter, whether Shazam himself is a figure of unparalleled thaumaturgic power. Might there exist a sorceror on the exact opposite side of the moral compass, able to empower champions of chaos and evil? Hmm. Come to think of it, one wonders if the Lords of Chaos are either aware of, or operating within, Universe-S? Added to which, Shazam might have chosen champions whose background belief systems prohibited acquisition of immortality because of the moral and ethical risk of corruption on the immortal's soul (or psyche). Which is why the Amsterdam Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza - for precisely the reason that he undertook such 'dangerous' speculations in the eighteenth century. Some Christian denominations or branches of Islam might have analogous beliefs, arguing that immortality is only something that their Deities have the right to confer. Which isn't to say that Shazam might not have chosen champions from Africa, India or Eastern Asia when he judged they were necessary, particularly during the high point of their respective cores of civilisation.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 25, 2024 4:11:19 GMT
So here's a story idea. One of the major league enemies of a past Wizard's Champion shows up to challenge the Wizard and the Marvel Family, or possibly also the Squadron of Justice. Isis and Ibis turn to Shazam and ask him: "Isn't it time you told your current champions?" "They have a right to know, Shazam." "'Current' champions? You never told us that there were any others, apart from Black Adam and ourselves." " Strictly, Captain, that wasn't unequivocally true. I hoped this day would never come, but clearly it has. Ibis and Isis are indeed correct. There have been other virtuous individuals throughout human history who have served morality and justice like yourselves. [Redacted] was the enemy of Chatelaine Merveille, my chief champion in fourteenth century France. After a fierce battle, she threw [[redacted]] into the heavens, where they froze into ice and dust and became indistinguishable from a long period comet, out in the Oort Cloud beyond Neptune."
Okay, that's a hypothetical example. But you can see how it could be managed.
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Post by dans on Jun 25, 2024 10:07:18 GMT
These past 'Champions of Shazam' might not have received the same power set as Billy. Maybe the power set was more limited and less spectacular, as Shazam was still regaining his confidence in choosing wisely, and maybe he deliberately limited them to a 'normal' lifetime and let them age naturally. And chose them as adults, further limiting their heroic lifespans. So with less spectacular powers over a shorter period of time, they didn't have the same impact on the world that Billy (and Billy and Billy and Billy and Cool), Freddy, and Mary (and Mary and Mary and Mary) do.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 25, 2024 23:03:53 GMT
Good idea, Dan. I can certainly see how those past champions might have had limited or different power sets, although it might depend on the era in question, the risks and skills that specific eras might demand. For example, take the hypothetical Chatelaine Merveille. She might have superstrength, flight and invulnerability capabilities, but her particular asset might be the wisdom of a particular historical heroine or goddess, which would come in handy during the horrors of the Black Death era. In another historical era, the Wizard might have required different power sets for different circumstances. The question is, why would he choose some eras to intervene rather than others? For example, the Spanish conquest of Latin and South America in the sixteenth century, although the Aztec Empire did engage in human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism. I might have suggested an answer myself! For example, the Carthaginian Empire's core deities (Baal and Moloch) were equally bloodthirsty and for that reason, the same grievous wrongs may have forfeited the Wizard's support- so Centurion Mirari (a Punic War Captain Marvel analogue) would try to save Roman civilians from harm, although might not have the extent of superstrength needed to rout the Carthaginians altogether). He might be able to carry a naval or merchant marine or passenger ship away from harm, though.
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