Captain Bamboozle

"**Captain Bamboozle**" is the forty-ninth episode of Justice League Action.

## Summary

Shazam's uncle, Dudley, is given super powers by a disguised Mr. Mxyzptlk just to cause chaos, but Dudley is not quite the stooge that the imp thinks he is.

## Story

An army of flying, robot-like knights-in-armor edged in flames attack in the streets of a city (Metropolis?) as the citizens flee. Their controller, the sorcerer Felix Faust, moves in amongst them (on a self-balancing scooter with no handle bars) declaring that an ancient army has been brought back to life. The superhero Shazam arrives to oppose him and begins to beat the knights into scrap metal. When Justice One passes overhead, he is joined by Batman, Wonder Woman and Red Tornado who float down and help to finish off the armored army. Shazam pursues the fleeing Faust and captures him, handing him over to the other three superheroes. While all this is going on, the the Fifth-Dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk happens to be floating above the scene as a spectator and takes notice of an ageing, portly man who is directing civilians to safety while cheering on Shazam from the side lines. The imp considers him to be a ripe target for his mischievous attempts to bamboozle people. Shazam recognises him as Dudley H. Dudley, his uncle, but Batman and Wonder Woman see him as a civilian and ask him to keep clear of the trouble. Shazam escorts him away.

Later, in Uncle Dudley's motorhome, Shazam changes to his everyday alias, Billy Batson, while his uncle tells him that he loves being there for him when he is in action. Billy, however, asks him, for his own safety, to stay out of harms way in future, causing his uncle to look very dejected. But, after Billy leaves, Uncle Dudley hears a noise coming from his bathroom and goes in to see a diminutive figure rising from the toilet bowl. It is Mister Mxyzptlk dressed as a wizard and pretending to be the one who gave Shazam his powers. He says that he had observed the heroic nature of Dudley and he will now have the powers of a superhero as soon as he says the magic word "Bamboozle!" Dudley says it and, with a flash of lightning, transforms into a costumed superhero - or at least an aging, portly one. Mxyzptlk directs "Captain Bamboozle" to go out and bamboozle the world.

Later, flying over the city, 'super' Dudley sees a cat stranded up a tree and, uprooting the tree, brings the cat down to its owner but in casting the tree aside wrecks a police car. Then he spots black smoke coming from a high rise building and sucks up water from a rooftop swimming pool. He blows it through a window where a woman has a fire in her frying pan and wrecks her apartment. Dudley then hears a bank alarm but in smashing through the wall of the bank he damages the structure of the building and has to hold it up, allowing the robbers to escape. Shazam, also responding to the robbery, shores up the building and is then told by Dudley that his super powers were given to him by Shazam's wizard.

Suspicious of this, Shazam takes Dudley to see Batman (somewhere outside in the street) who is able to build a composite picture of the wizard from Dudley's description. No sooner have they established that it is Mister Mxyzptlk, and that they need to get him to say his name backwards, Wonder Woman and Red Tornado arrive to indicate a new problem: a gigantic cat terrorising the streets of the city. Mxyzptlk floats above to enjoy the view of the chaos that his cat is creating. The superheroes move to deal with the cat, but Shazam tells Dudley not to interfere as that is exactly what Mxyzptlk wants. Dudley, not happy, mutters that he knows how to deal with the imp. After the cat rubs against buildings, damaging them, and chases trucks in the street, Shazam and Wonder Woman grapple with it unsuccessfully. Batman attempts to preoccupy it by projecting a small Bat-signal down onto the street which the cat chases after. In the meantime, Dudley has gone back to directing the public, but Mxyzptlk, as the wizard, interrupts him and tells him to go and help get rid of "Catzilla." Dudley agrees and lists three powers that he will use: 'food' power, muscle power and *kltpzyxm* power. Mister Mxyzptlk protests that he did not give him the last one but, on saying it, he disappears. Catzilla and Captain Bamboozle both return to normal.

The Justice League commend Uncle Dudley for the heroism shown in ridding them of the imp but he insists it was only his ability to bamboozle.

## Notes

* Uncle Dudley gaining powers is a part of the old mythos of the C.C. Beck *Captain Marvel* comics, where he is known as Uncle Marvel of the Marvel Family.