Shazam

> I open my heart to you, Billy Batson. And in so doing, choose you as champion.
>
> Shazam to Billy Batson, Shazam!

**Shazam**, commonly referred to as **the Wizard**, was a powerful sorcerer who lived in an otherworldly lair called the Rock of Eternity and granted Billy Batson and Teth-Adam their incredible powers as his champions.

## Biography

### Choosing a champion

Long ago, Shazam, along with six other wizards, chose a champion because of the heroic acts he had done. When the champion's family were murdered by criminals, he became vengeful and ruthless and released the Seven Deadly Sins upon the criminals who killed his family and the people of the city of Kahndaq, killing millions. Shazam's brethren were slaughtered by the Sins before he managed to imprison them within statues in the Rock of Eternity.

Because of this, Shazam left him entombed ever since, plaguing him with the name "Black Adam". After the event, he swore to only choose a champion pure of heart to succeed him.

### Meeting Thaddeus Sivana

By modern times, the wizard had grown old and became weakened. In 1974, he summoned young Thaddeus Sivana to the Rock of Eternity to determine his worthiness as his successor. The imprisoned Seven Deadly Sins tempted Thaddeus to touch the Eye of Sin, forcing the wizard to declare the boy unworthy and thus banished him back to Earth. As the Sins taunted the wizard's progressively weakening powers, he invoked a seeking spell to find a pure soul, no matter how long it took.

By Christmas of 2018, Thaddeus figured out a way to enter the Rock of Eternity after researching various accounts of people who encountered the wizard, eventually finding a repeating sequence of symbols from a video. Initially, the wizard did not recognize Thaddeus until he was reminded of their first encounter years ago and grew angry at his intrusion. In turn, Thaddeus rebuked the wizard for mentally scarring him as a child by telling him that he was unworthy before taking the Eye of Sin, carrying the Seven Deadly Sins within it. The wizard warned Thaddeus that the Sins were merely using him in order to destroy mankind. In desperation, he attempted to stop him as he cast a lightning bolt from his staff, but a now mystically empowered Thaddeus merely repelled his attack back at him, mocking that no soul's truly pure before departing.

### Final champion and death

> You have been transformed to your full potential, Billy Batson. With your heart, unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brothers and sisters await.
>
> Shazam to Billy Batson, Shazam!

Finally, the wizard chose Billy Batson, an orphan and a foster kid, as his final champion. Naturally, the boy was confused and assumed that the wizard wanted money from him. Upset at being patronized, Shazam used his magic to explain the history of Black Adam and the Sins, as well as his quest to find a pure soul to succeed him. Billy admitted that he was not pure of heart and that no one can truly possess the qualities he's looking for. Shazam insisted that Billy was all he had left and instructed to take the staff and say his name. After transforming Billy to his fullest potential, he instructed him to share his powers to fill the thrones of the Council of Wizards then crumbled to dust in front of him.

## Personality

Shazam was a wise wizard, being able to tell who was pure in heart by testing them to see if they could resist the temptations of the Seven Deadly Sins. Despite this, he was not merciful or understanding to those he saw as unworthy, as seen when he immediately banished Thaddeus Sivana, a poor child who was a victim of neglect and abuse, when he was tempted to take the eye, with Shazam declaring he would never be good enough, which led Thaddeus onto the path of villainy.

## Powers

> Lay your hands on my staff, and say my name so my powers may flow through you.
>
> Shazam to Billy Batson, Shazam!

 File:Shazam attacking Sivana.png
* **Master sorcerer**: Shazam was a tremendously powerful and skilled sorcerer, possessing immense magical power and mastery of the arcane.
	+ **Electricity manipulation**: Shazam was able to project powerful lightning bolts from his staff.
	+ **Teleporting**: Shazam was able to teleport people to him and to banish them back to where he teleported them from.
	+ **Power bestowal**: Shazam was able to bestow the power of the gods upon those he deems worthy. He bestowed Billy Batson with the power to transform into his mighty champion by calling out his name.
	+ **Illusion manipulation**: Shazam was able to conjure up golden-colored illusions, which he utilized to better explain his history to his championship candidates.
* **Superhuman durability**: Shazam possessed inhuman durability, as even in his advanced age, he was able to survive multiple hits, both physical and magical, from the Sins and Sivana, though they did hurt him.
* **Longevity**: Shazam possessed a vastly extended lifespan far beyond that of a regular human being, allowing him to live for thousands of years. However, he was not truly immortal like the Olympian gods, and eventually grew older and weaker, and after he transferred his powers to Billy, Shazam passed away and crumbled into dust. His physical aging doesn't appear to be linear or even coordinated with his actual aging, as his appearance hardly changed for millennia, even though it was stated that he has aged.

## Equipment

* **Magic staff**: With his magic staff, he could bestow the power of the gods upon those he deems worthy, as well as project bolts of lightning.

## Relationships

Allies* Billy Batson - champion
* Shazam Family - spiritual successors
	+ Freddy Freeman
	+ Mary Bromfield
	+ Darla Dudley
	+ Eugene Choi
	+ Pedro Peña
	+ Gluttony
	+ Pride
	+ Greed
	+ Lust
	+ Envy
	+ Sloth
	+ Wrath
* Mister Mind - former inmate
* Teth-Adam/Black Adam - former champion
* Thaddeus Sivana - rejected champion and attempted killer

## Trivia

* In DC Comics, the wizard was named Shazam before the superhero took the name due to legal disputes over "Captain Marvel". The wizard is now known as **Mamaragan**, originally an ancient sorcerer from Kahndaq, the birthplace of Black Adam.
* In the original comics, Shazam was a young shepherd in Canaan named Jebediah who was chosen by six of his gods to be their champion, Vlarem, 9000 years ago
* Mamaragan (also called Namarrkun) is the name of an Australian Aboriginal lightning god who lives in a puddle and "speaks with thunder as his voice". His mythology states that the god rode a storm-cloud and would throw lightning bolts at humans.
* Ron Cephas Jones was originally cast for the role of The Wizard.

## References

Gayden, Henry, Lemke, Darren (writer) & Sandberg, David F. (director) (April 5, 2019). *Shazam!*.

## External links

The ***DC Extended Universe Wiki** has a collection of images and media related to* **Shazam***.*
* File:Favicon.png Shazam on DC Database
* File:WP favicon.png Shazam on Wikipedia

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