Tagging [@ErsatzEmperor] as the writer in control of Shazam/Ms. Marvel. Mention of Wonder Woman in the history coordinated with [@Star Lord].

[CENTER][COLOR=SLATEGRAY][B]C H A R A C T E R   C O N C E P T   P R O P O S A L[/B][/COLOR][h1][color=gold][b]C A P T A I N   M A R V E L[/b][/color][/h1][hr]
[img]http://baku-panda.org/images/absolute_billy_batson2.png[/img][h3][sup][sub][color=1E90FF]BILLY BATSON   [color=crimson]♦[/color]   HOMELESS ORPHAN   [color=crimson]♦[/color]   FAWCETT CITY, OHIO   [color=crimson]♦[/color]   JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ([color=crimson]1941-1953[/color])[/color][/sub][/sup][/h3][ Theme: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9hagVL-__c]Starsailor - Way To Fall[/url] ]
[/CENTER][COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R   C O N C E P T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR]
[CENTER][sup][color=1E90FF]"One thing I've learned is... you can't save everyone. Try to save them anyway."[/color][/sup][/CENTER]
[INDENT][INDENT][i]Truth. Justice. The American Way. The Protestant Work Ethic. Billy embodies a number of tropes typical of "Golden Age" superheroes. At the same time, he's a character defined by opposites -- primarily, his youth contrasted by his experiences in World War II and the Kree-Sh'ar Conflict that consumes the greater cosmos. Through it all, no matter how many times that he gets hit, Billy keeps getting back up. Why? There's no single answer for that question, other than Billy Batson has the courage of Billy Batson.

Captain Marvel is just a label that the newspapers gave him. Billy Batson is just [b]who he is[/b].[/i]

William Joseph "Billy" Batson was born in Fawcett City, Ohio in the year 1929. His parents died during an archaeological expedition to Egypt in the mid-1930s, leaving Billy to be raised by his Uncle Dudley and he started working at the age of eight years in a glass factory in order to bring home what money that he could. Then, in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, effectively making child labor illegal. Billy managed to pick up work as a paper boy, though truancy laws coming about at the same time caused him to go to school for the first time. In 1940, shortly before his eleventh birthday, Billy became caught in the middle of a battle between Aelfrye Whitemane and the Skrulls, as the latter struggle crashed down on the planet Earth. The mortally wounded Billy was tended to by the Kymellian sorcerer, resulting in his becoming the empowered hero who emerged in the 1940s.

At first a local hero, the [i]Fawcett Gazette[/i] dubbed the anonymous hero [b]Captain Marvel[/b] -- though their artist reconstructions were often highly inaccurate, typically portraying Billy as some strange mix of Elvis Presley and Steve Reeves. The name was picked up by the [i]Daily Planet[/i], leading to nation-wide association with the hero. Billy participated in the Second World War in the European Theater, often mistaken for a mere child as he served as both a courier and a secret weapon of the French and Allied Resistance against the Third Reich. During this time, Billy was also a founding member of the Justice Society of America, an organization that he continued to serve until the early 1950s, when McCarthyism black listed him as a Communist sympathizer for his support of his fellow World War II veteran, [b]Wonder Woman[/b] (who had made "un-American" statements regarding the use of the atomic bomb in Japan). This ultimately led to Billy leaving the Justice Society when the hero was prohibited by the U.S. Government from providing aid to the Korean Conflict.

Fifteen years passed. He battled against industrial tycoon, Thaddeus Sivana, ushered in the space race, and buried his Uncle Dudley. By the time that Saigon fell and the United States found itself embroiled in the Vietnam War, Captain Marvel had disappeared from both the media and the popular culture. A homeless vagrant, Billy traveled the world searching for answers about who he was supposed to be. The return of the Kymellians in 1975 ushered Billy into an interstellar conflict apart from Earth. Now, he returns to the planet of his birth. A little older, a little wiser, but still possessed with the courage of Billy Batson![/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R   M O T I V A T I O N S   &   G O A L S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT]This is a familiar concept by now. It's been done and re-visited before, but always seems to work well in a DC/Marvel setting. At the same time, the addition of EE's [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4863968]Kamala Khan[/url] caused me to remove any of the usual references to Billy's usual source material for a character who relies more on Marvel's Captain Marvel. At the same time, this allows me a lot of freedom to dump the usual baggage that comes with picking up a character with such a long publication history. Otherwise, this is just me doing what I do best, writing kids who punch above their weight.

In terms of goals, I hope to do a better job of pacing myself in this RP. Rather than rapid firing posts in quick succession, which leads to my burning out, I hope to do a better job of posting at a consistent rate by writing posts ahead and then adhering to a post schedule (maybe pick a particular day to post each week) so that I'm remaining active without pushing it too hard.[/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R   N O T E S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT]• Billy's power comes from the [url=https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Nega-Bands]Nega-Bands[/url] and the [url=https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Negative_Zone]Negative Zone[/url], not from the Rock of Eternity. This means that Captain Marvel and Shazam have different sources for their powers, even if they act similarly.

• As Billy is connected to the Negative Zone, where time passes differently than in our dimension, he does not appear to age. On a practical level, this prevents the cerebral hematoma that he suffered in 1940 from killing him for so long as he continues to wear the Nega-Bands.

• Other characters associated with this Billy concept: [url=https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Aelfyre_Whitemane_(Earth-616)]Aelfyre Whitemane[/url], [url=https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kofi_Whitemane_(Earth-616)]Kofi Whitemane[/url], and the [url=https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Smartship_Friday_(Earth-616)]Smartship Friday[/url]. Nothing about the usage of these characters is intended to prevent or dissuade someone from picking up Power Pack at a later date.[/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]S A M P L E   P O S T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT]All right, let's do this [b]one more time[/b].

My name is Billy Batson and, for the last [i]eighty years[/i], I've been the one and only [b]Billy Batson![/b] The Daily Planet calls me Captain Marvel. The Kree call me Mar-Vell, the Z'ynx call me... something unpronounceable. And the Shi'ar call me [i]Ja'loja[/i].

...[b]DON'T[/b] ask me what that means ([i]I'm not supposed to say those words[/i]).

A Kymellian and a Skrull fought to the death in 1940 (their fight, my death) and a horse-alien sorcerer named Aelfyre Whitemane brought me back with these things that I call the [b]Nega-Bands[/b], because they draw power from this alternate dimension known as the Negative Zone. The rest, you probably know. I saved the city. Saved the world. Even saved a girl ([i]gross[/i]), but hey... being a hero means sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to.

I couldn't save my Uncle Dudley though.

I fought the Nazis and the Japanese through the Second World War, then wound up fighting Congress only five years after the war ended. I had the absolute [b]privilege[/b] of being part of the Justice Society of America, then, [b]holy moley[/b], it all turned sour when some biscuit boxer, braggart from Wisconsin named McCarthy started laying down the law on us! We each went our separate ways. Without Uncle Dudley, I didn't have a home. So, one day, I just started walking. Newark, Cincinnati, Beijing, Marseilles... I just kinda lost track of things. Went where the wind would blow. I think I was looking for answers, but I'm not sure I knew what the question was.

Aelfyre came back. The Kymellians were apparently in a bad spot. The Kree and the Shi'ar were warring and didn't care about what planets might be in their path, so I went and gave them something to think about. I didn't think that I was gone all that long, then I got back to Fawcett City and nothing looked the same!

Einstein said that time was relative, but [i]jeepers![/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]P O S T   C A T L O G:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][i]Coming soon?[/i][/indent][/indent]