Freddy Freeman

> That's the thing about invisibility. You end up all by yourself.
>
> Freddy Freeman to Billy Batson, Shazam!

**Frederick Christopher "Freddy" Freeman** is the best friend and foster brother of Billy Batson. When Billy was chosen by the wizard Shazam to become his champion, Freddy helped his best friend to come into his own with his new powers as the resident superhero expert. Eventually, he and the rest of his foster siblings gained the powers of Shazam.

## Biography

### Early life

Like the rest of his siblings, Freddy was a ward of the state until taken in by foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez. He became interested in the emergence of metahumans and their roles as heroes.

Freddy's past is not likely really known as he was joking when he claimed his foster father and husband of Rosa Vasquez, Victor, threw him out the window, and when he claimed he had constrained a hopeless case of cancer that meant he had weeks to live. He developed a snoring habit, which he was aware of and possibly exaggerated, though apparently his hygiene wasn't satisfactory according to Victor. Being a preteen when the Black Zero Event, the Death of Superman, the unsuccessful conquest of Enchantress and Incubus, and Steppenwolf's campaign took place, Freddy, being geekish by nature, was extremely excited about the overwhelming evidence that superheroes were no longer widely perceived as being fictional and began learning all he could about the members of the Justice League.

### The birth of Shazam

#### Meeting Billy Batson

 File:Billy meets Freddy.jpeg
Freddy first met Billy Batson after Child Protection Services placed Batson with the Vasquezes, initially making him uncomfortable by informing him that in Ancient Rome, citizens used their own urine to brush their teeth, before pulling his leg three times and briefly elaborating on his superhero memorabilia.

#### Helping the champion

 File:Shazam first look.jpg
At the end of the day, Freddy was on his way to go home, but the bullies Brett and Burke Breyer hit him with their car and picked on him, while his foster siblings failed to successfully defend him. His new adoptive brother Billy came to his aid, beating up the boys picking on Freddy. It was during his running away from these bullies that Billy was summoned by the wizard Shazam and granted his powers.

Unsure of what to do or how to return to his normal form, Billy turned to Freddy for advice on how to behave like a superhero and use his powers. In the process of doing this, Freddy and Billy began to film Billy testing out his powers and post the videos of Billy testing out his powers to YouTube, where they became increasingly popular and raised Shazam's profile in Philadelphia.

#### Getting let down by Shazam

 File:Shazam - First Look.jpeg
Later, Freddy is walking with Billy through the hallways at school, and are confronted by Brett and Burke. Freddy tells them that he knows who the new hero is. Because they don't believe him, they tell him to make sure he shows up at lunch tomorrow. Frustrated with this offer, Billy walks away to class while Freddy asks him if he's going to show up or not.

The next day, Freddy is sitting in the cafeteria surrounded by everyone, waiting for Shazam to show up. Feeling embarrassed, Freddy pretends to try and call him, but when a kid figures out he is faking the call, everyone walks away, leaving Freddy all alone.

Angry and frustrated, Freddy later walks across the city to meet Billy, who is out getting paid to entertain people with his powers. As he is putting on a show with the "Lightning with my Hands" song, Freddy angrily storms through the crowd of people and confronts Billy about not showing up. Then, when Billy accidentally uses his lightning powers to electrocute a bus and rescues it, Freddy is still angry. He then proceeds to let it all out and talks about how he wishes he had Billy's powers, but since he is a disabled child, he gets constantly bullied. He angrily stomps away.

### Fighting Thaddeus Sivana

 File:Sivana confronts Billy.jpeg
Not too long after, he walks through the city and witnesses Billy getting punched across the city. When Billy flies over to Freddy asking for help, Freddy is shocked to see that Billy can fly. Suddenly, Billy is flung into the ground by Thaddeus Sivana, and Freddy asks who the other guy is.

 File:Rock of Eternity Attack.png
Later, Freddy arrives at the mall where Billy was trying to run away from Sivana in an attempt to find Billy, not knowing that Billy has changed back to his child form and blended in with the crowd to get away from Sivana. Freddy tries calling out Billy's name, not knowing that his conversation with Billy from earlier would be recorded on the news and put him in danger. He is captured by Sivana, who takes him to an isolated room, and forced him to give the location of Billy. When Freddy does so, Sivana then forced Freddy to lead him over to their house where Mary, Darla, Eugene, and Pedro were, right after Billy ran out to go see his biological mother, with Rosa and Victor Vasquez who went after him.

 File:The Shazam Family.png
A little later, Freddy, along with the rest of his siblings, witness Billy arrive home, now empowered and willing to protect them. When Billy enters the Rock of Eternity with Sivana to give up his powers, Freddy and the other siblings walk in shortly after, aided with "weapons". Freddy then throws his batarang replica at the back of Sivana's head, exploiting a weakness of his and allowed Billy to attack Sivana and throw him back. Then, when they realized the door home was gone, they tried running through the tunnels to find a way to escape, only to find mysterious doors that didn't seem to lead home.

He is threatened along with the rest of his foster siblings by Thaddeus Sivana in order to gain Shazam's power. However, all of them were granted the power of Shazam, allowing them to defeat the villain and his demonic allies.

### A new hangout

 File:Shazam Family sitting in Rock of Eternity.png
After their fight with Sivana and the Sins, Freddy and his brothers returned to the Rock. Billy put the Eye back and re-imprisoned the Sins. Freddy was thrilled they had found a place of their own. They proceeded to sit down on six of the thrones before noticing there was an empty seventh throne.

### Lunch with Shazam and Superman

 File:Superman Freddy and Shazam.jpg
One day, Freddy sits alone in the cafeteria, with people looking at him and the Breyer brothers mocking him, as they have not forgotten about Shazam not showing up. While he is eating and sitting alone, his foster siblings join him. Because they have different lunch periods, he asks them why they're here. Then, Shazam walks in, surprising everybody, including Freddy. Shazam then talks about how Freddy taught him how to be a good superhero and excitedly sits down with him.

When Shazam says he has brought another friend, everyone gasps in awe when Superman walks in. Looking over, Freddy saw Superman standing right next to him, and is shocked that the Man of Steel is actually there.

### Rescue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 File:Superheroe Hooky moment.jpg
While listening to a police scanner in class, Freddy and Billy heard of a police blockade in response to a museum heist. The pair texted Darla, Eugene, Pedro, and Mary to meet at the lockers, where they transformed into their superhero alter-egos and headed for the museum. They arrived and quickly intervened. Freddy and Mary each took down a thug by smashing them with pieces of art from the museum while his brothers stopped the other thugs. The robbers were detained and the art was returned.

## Personality

> Freddy Freeman. This guy taught me everything I know about being a dope superhero. True story. You should get some pointers from him.
>
> Billy Batson, Shazam!

Freddy Freeman is talkative and smart. He's a massive superhero enthusiast who knows a lot of random information and is very knowledgeable about superheroes. He owns many pieces of memorabilia from the members of the Justice League, and is always excited to talk about them, to the point that he occasionally annoys those around him.

Freddy makes light of his situation in life, often cracking jokes about his walking disability, but that does not mean that he is unaffected by it. He is bullied and disabled, and it is made clear through his argument with Billy that these things do in fact bother him. He feels unseen and lesser-than. However, he tries not to focus on those feelings and to keep his head up. He cares about his foster family and welcomes Billy into it immediately, then feeling hurt each time Billy rejects them.

Upon learning that Billy obtained superpowers, Freddy quickly became excited to help Billy discover his powers, soon the two became close friends over Shazam's powers which they used for their entertainment. However, Freddy also struggled with jealousy as Billy irresponsibly used the superpowers that Freddy always desired. It is not stated if he feels this way the entire time, or if it only emerges once Billy starts blowing him off and acting selfishly. At that point, they argue and Freddy tells Billy how he feels about his behavior and how much he wishes it were him. Even with his anger at Billy, when Freddy is cornered by Sivana, he does not immediately give up Billy's location.

After Sivana kidnapped Freddy and his foster siblings to use as hostages against Shazam, Billy proved that he cared about them and apologized to Freddy over their disagreements which culminated in Billy giving Freddy his own Shazam powers. Now having his own superpowers, Freddy was thrilled to finally be a superhero on his own and repaired his friendship with Billy.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Divine empowerment**: After shouting "Shazam!", while holding the wizard's staff, Freddy was given the ability to transform into an adult avatar. When transformed, Freddy has many powers and abilities, which exceed the capabilities of humans and most meta-humans.
	+ **Superhuman strength**: Freddy is superhumanly strong. He was able to lift two people with him while flying, without any strain.
	+ **Superhuman durability**: Freddy's body is much more resistant to physical damage than the body of a normal human being.
	+ **Flight**: Freddy is able to fly. He was notably able to manifest this power much earlier than Billy and his other siblings did.

### Abilities

> Dude, I’ve studied the fighting techniques of every single superhero. What do you got?
>
> Freddy Freeman, Shazam!

* **Combatant**: As an superhero, Freddy showed aptitude for hand-to-hand combat, with him claiming to have researched the fighting methods of every member of the Justice League, and was excited to test this knowledge while engaging the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.
* **Marksman**: Even in his human form, before he was granted any power, Freddy was able to throw his Batarang and accurately hit Sivana in the head.

## Equipment

* **Freddy's suit**: When empowered as his Super Hero, Freddy wears a costume that is colored blue, with a lightning bolt on his chest. it also has a white cape with a hood and gold trip.
* **Walking crutch**: Freddy has a walking disability and thus requires using a crutch while in his human form. He is also able to use it to hit people.

 File:Freddy's Notebook.jpg
* **Batarang**: Freddy owns a replica batarang which he used to attack Thaddeus Sivana by throwing it at his head when trying to save Billy, incidentally revaling the latter's weakness.
* **Diary**: Freddy keeps a journal.

## Relationships

Family* Father
* Mother
* Victor Vasquez - foster father
* Rosa Vasquez - foster mother
* Mary Bromfield - foster sister
* Billy Batson - best friend and foster brother
* Pedro Peña - foster brother
* Eugene Choi - foster brother
* Darla Dudley - foster sister

Allies* Justice League - idols
	+ Superman
	+ Batman
	+ Wonder Woman
	+ Aquaman
	+ Cyborg
	+ Flash
* *Daily Planet*
	+ Lois Lane - idol
* Burke Breyer - bully
* Moran
* Thaddeus Sivana
* Seven Deadly Enemies of Man
	+ Wrath
	+ Pride
	+ Envy
	+ Greed
	+ Sloth
	+ Gluttony
	+ Lust

## Behind the scenes

* Freddy Freeman debuted as "Captain Marvel Jr. (now Shazam Jr.)" in Whiz Comics #25, which was published in December 1941 by Fawcett Comics. A member of the Marvel Family, Freeman was created by Ed Herron and Mark Raboy. In his original incarnation, Freddy Freeman was a disabled newsboy who was saved by Captain Marvel (now Shazam) from the villainous Captain Nazi. Fawcett Comics discontinued the Marvel Family comics in 1953 after a lawsuit with National Allied Publications, now DC Comics.
* In 1972, DC Comics purchased the rights to the Marvel Family characters, and reintroduced them in a new series titled *Shazam!*. In 1995, Freeman was introduced again post-Crisis, in *The Power of Shazam!* #3. The character was rebooted once again in the New 52's "Prime Earth" continuity, this time a foster child from Philadelphia.
* Cameron Hilts was a stunt double for Adam Brody in the role of Freddy Freeman.

## References

1. ↑ "‘It’ Star Jack Dylan Grazer Joins DC Superhero Film ‘Shazam!’" - Deadline
2. ↑ "Ian Chen & Jovan Armand Join ‘Shazam!’, Brian ‘Astro’ Bradley Jr. Cast In ‘Luce’" - Deadline
Gayden, Henry, Lemke, Darren (writer) & Sandberg, David F. (director) (April 5, 2019). *Shazam!*.
4. ↑ *Shazam! Becoming Shazam*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *Shazam! Freddy's Guide to Super Hero-ing*
6. ↑ *Shazam!* Deleted scenes
7. ↑ Gayden, Henry. *Superhero Hooky*. DC Comics, 2019.

## External links

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

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