Marvel Family - Marvel Family Allies

Marvel Family Allies

• The Wizard Shazam - Although he is killed as prophesied after giving Billy the power to become Captain Marvel, Shazam's spirit remains as the vigilant caretaker of the Rock of Eternity. His power varies in different stories. In current continuity, Shazam does not die after granting Billy his powers, and was a much more active character than he was during the Golden Age Marvel Family adventures. He attained godhood after the 1998 Genesis crossover, and was ultimately defeated and destroyed by The Spectre in the 2005 Day of Vengeance miniseries after he is convinced to destroy magic. Shazam was sent to the Rock of Finality, a Netherworld realm where he was imprisoned in stone. He was later revived in the recent issues of "Justice Society of America" due to Black Adam giving his power up.

• Uncle Dudley/Uncle Marvel - During the Golden Age, an old man named Dudley (who was clearly modeled after W. C. Fields) claimed that he was not only a relative of the Marvels but also a Marvel himself, although neither was true. Regardless, the Marvels took a liking to him and decided to humor his pretense, and "Uncle" Dudley became Uncle Marvel, the Marvel Family's manager. He'd make his "transformation" along with one or more of the others, but not by magic; rather, by quickly removing his break-away garments (under the cover of lightning that the real Marvel(s) called down) to reveal his homemade Marvel costume underneath. He explained his lack of superpowers by claiming he suffered from "shazambago". His niece Freckles Marvel was an irregular companion of Mary Marvel's in her Golden Age solo adventures. In modern continuity, Dudley H. Dudley is simply a janitor at Billy's school who finds himself involved in the Marvel Family's adventures, although in one story he was temporarily given superpowers by Shazam's ally Ibis the Invincible to help round up the escaped Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.

• Mister Tawky Tawny - A humanoid sapient tiger who, in Golden Age continuity, wishes to live among the humans in civilization instead of in the wild or the zoo. As such, he is typically dressed in a tweed business suit and usually carries himself in a formal dignified manner. The modern-day Tawky Tawny was a stuffed tiger doll who was animated by Lord Satanus to assist the Marvel Family in their battle against Satanus's sister Blaze. He describes himself as a "pooka" (Púca), which is a magical creature from Celtic mythology. He only appeared as an animate being to Billy, Mary and later Dudley, (much in the same way that Hobbes only appears sentient to Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes). Mister Tawky Tawny was made permanently real by the power of Ibis the Invincible. In Trials of Shazam! #10 (2008), Tawny reveals that the Tenth Age of Magic has given him the ability to change into a giant sabre-toothed tiger. In the 2008/2009 Final Crisis miniseries, Tawny teamed up with Freddy Freeman to help stop the then-evil Mary Marvel. He battled and killed a tiger form of Darkseid's son Kalibak, gaining control over the tiger army he once commanded. In the variant continuity in the miniseries, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil, and its ongoing follow up series, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Tawny is a benevolent shapeshifter who prefers to become a tiger when appropriate. As he is a close associate to the wizard Shazam, he has partially access to his magic, which Doctor Sivana exploited as part of a scheme to defeat the Marvels. When Mister Mind secretly took control of Billy's Captain Marvel form, Tawny help bring Billy to the Wizard Shazam to find an answer to his Marvel form's inexplicable anti-social behaviour. When the heroes realized the truth, they inadvertently created a doppelganger of Captain Marvel with Mind in control while Billy was able to transform into a version under his. In the resulting battle, Tawny was struck while transitioning between forms and he was left fixed as a humanoid tiger. Although he is distressed by this development, the Batsons insisted he remain with them and now he stands as their adult guardian, at least to their landlady, but his strange appearance is creating awkward questions and situations. In the Flashpoint (comics) event he is the last of the great striped tigers of Khandaq and most people see him as a house cat. He is also transformed by the lightning.

• Beautia and Magnificus Sivana - Dr. Sivana's beautiful adult daughter Beautia shared her father's passion for world domination until meeting, and falling for, Captain Marvel. She has an unrequited crush on the shy Captain, not realizing that he is actually only a young boy. Her brother Magnificus is also generally depicted as a Marvel Family ally, although in his only Golden Age appearance, Magnificus was super-strong and fought Captain Marvel hand-to-hand.

• Mr. Sterling Morris - The president of WHIZ radio and Billy's employer.

• Miss Wormwood - In modern-era comics, Billy's schoolteacher (and later principal), presented as the typical "mean teacher" stereotype. She is named after Calvin's schoolteacher in Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.

• Cissie Sommerly - Billy's girlfriend in Golden Age continuity.

• Nick and Nora Bromfield - In modern continuity, Mary Batson's adoptive parents, who adopted her through illegal means after their maid, Sarah Primm, brought the child to them (Primm saved Mary from her kidnapper, Primm's brother Theo Adam). Nora Bromfield was a cousin of Billy and Mary's mother, but chose not to tell Mary about her real family. The Bromfields would eventually gain the rights to legally adopt both Mary and Billy, giving the children a traditional family structure again. The couple was named after Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man film series.

• "Muscles" McGinnis - The antagonist of a story included in Captain Marvel Adventures #3 (1941), the toughest gangster of the city possessing enormous strength "Muscles" McGinnis promises to go straight after being defeated by Captain Marvel when he tries to take over Whiz Radio Station, as he feels the side opposing crime is much stronger. The character was reintroduced as a recurring supporting character in the Power of Shazam! series of the 1990s, in which "Muscles" had indeed reformed to become an undercover cop and a frequent ally of Captain Marvel.

• Kid Eternity - In DC's pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, Kid Eternity ("Christopher "Kit" Freeman) was the long-lost brother of Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. (a retcon made because both characters shared the same surname, even though each was originally created for and published by a different comic book company: Fawcett Comics for Captain Marvel, Jr., and Quality Comics for Kid Eternity). A resurrected boy with the power to summon deceased figures from eternity to aid him in battling evil after he died 75 years before his time, Kid Eternity often joined forces with the Marvels in early-1980s Shazam! adventures from World's Finest Comics.