Powers and Abilities
As Billy's twin, Mary shared Billy's ability to transform into a superhero by speaking the name of the wizard Shazam. In her petite superpowered state, Mary Marvel originally wore a red short-sleeved blouse and red skirt lined with gold trim, which included a lightning bolt insignia and cape.
The Fawcett and pre-1985 version of Mary Marvel did not derive her “Shazam” powers from the male mythological figures who empower Billy, but from a set of female benefactors: Selena for grace, Hippolyta* for strength, Ariadne( later changed to Artemis, Greek Goddess of the hunt) for skill, Zephyrus for fleetness (and flight), Aurora, (later changed to Greek Goddess Aphrodite) for beauty, and Minerva for wisdom.
Although these deities were originally described and depicted as goddesses, Zephyrus is actually a male god. In addition, the list does not account for all of the superhuman traits shared by Billy and Mary, specifically Captain Marvel's powers of invulnerability, stamina, and courage. The original Mary Marvel remained a teenager when she transformed rather than becoming a mature adult like Billy. Pre-Crisis, it is revealed she cannot call on her power for 24 hours every 1,000 years, as Shazam loses his powers during that time (although he is still able to send his spirit to contact her), and therefore so must she. In one story she is able to call on the goddesses to send an even greater lightning blast to blast away earrings that are drawing her lightning away.(Mary Marvel Comics 1) Pre-Crisis if the Elders who power her are incapitated she cannot call down the magic lightning to transform. It is shown a recording of her voice can transform her, once Georgia Sivana took advantage of this with a jukebox, turning Mary back, knocking her out with a cosh, then binding her to a chair and gagging her. However, Mary knocked the jukebox over setting it off, then for the first time with her mouth gagged Mary's voice summons the lightining. She then destroys the jukebox. In one story it is claimed Mary is weaker on Earth-1 then Earth-S.
The current version of Mary Marvel, originating in The Power of Shazam!, has the same powers from the same benefactors as her brother (Solomon, Hercules*, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury). A power-sharing element was added to the mythos in the Power of Shazam! series; one finite source of power was shared between Mary, Captain Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr. It should be noted that this power-sharing element has not been honored by all later appearances of the Marvels. Mary loses these powers in the 2006 Brave New World one-shot special. In early stories, if she had lost her memory or been transformed, her transformation would restore her.
In Countdown to Final Crisis (2007–2008), Black Adam gives Mary his powers. Since Adam was not sharing his powers with anyone else when he granted them to Mary, and had also been carrying the powers of his dead wife Isis (who had granted them to him with her death), Mary is now more powerful than she's ever been. Mary's patron deities become seven Egyptian gods: Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aten, Mehen, and the "most powerful" Egyptian deity, Isis, which increases her other powers and allows her to perform magical feats like weather control and transforming others. Mary's powers continue to expand rapidly as she and her mentor Eclipso seek new sources of magical power for her, gaining various new magical powers. She became sufficiently powerful to withstand Darkseid's Omega Beams. Eventually realizing she had been corrupted by Eclipso and the powers of Adam's gods, Mary relinquished these abilities. Mary's powers were restored when she aided the Olympian Gods in retaining their freedom from Apokolips. Later, her Black Adam powers were restored, given to her by Darkseid.
In the later Final Crisis miniseries (2008–2009), Mary's body was further enhanced with genetic technology stolen by the Atomic Knights. In addition to her impressive magical powers, her empowered form is now "aged" from late adolescence to adulthood, with clawed hands able to slice through metal. Later Black Adam restores her powers from the Egyptian gods. She is able to bestow part of it upon Billy, making him Black Billy.
Power of Shazam: Formerly, in order to change form, Mary had to call upon the name of Shazam, thereby invoking spells involving the energies of those extradimensional beings once known as gods on Earth. When Mary Batson said the magic word "Shazam!", she would be transformed into Mary Marvel. In her Mary Marvel form, Mary possessed the following attributes:
| S | Wisdom of Solomon | As Mary Marvel, Mary had instant access to a vast amount of scholarly knowledge, exceptional photographic recall and mental acuity allowing her to read and decipher hieroglyphics, solve long mathematical equations instantaneously and make intuitive guesses based on limited data to the point her guesses were almost always correct. The wisdom of Solomon also gave Mary clairvoyance and provided her with counsel and advice in times of need. She had knowledge of all languages, ancient and modern, and could hypnotize people. |
| H | Strength of Hercules | Mary Marvel had incredible amounts of super strength, was strong enough to lift at least 100 tons, and was able to effortlessly bend steel, punch through walls, and lift massive objects. Mary's strength is enough that she has fought beings such as Captain Atom and Wonder Woman to a standstill. Her strength parallels that of Superman. |
| A | Stamina of Atlas | Using Atlas' endurance and durability, Mary Marvel could withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults. If she were somehow wounded, her godly energies would enable her to recover with superhuman speed and with more finality than mortals. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might have been possible for a god of significant power, such as Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo, or for a number of Olympian gods of equal power working together, to revive her. Additionally, her Olympian metabolism ensured that she did not need to eat, sleep, or breathe when in Mary Marvel form. |
| Z | Power of Zeus | Zeus' power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transformed Mary Marvel, also enhanced Marvel's other physical and mental abilities, provided physical invulnerability and resistance against most magic spells and attacks, and allowed her to access the Rock of Eternity. Marvel could use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The magical lightning had many other uses, including creating apparati, restoring damage done to Marvel, or acting as fuel for magical spells. |
| A | Courage of Achilles | Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological and gave Marvel superhuman amounts of inner strength from which to draw. She was always supported by an innate and harmonious presence of good will and strength of perseverance so that she never backed down from a challenge. |
| M | Speed of Mercury | By channeling Mercury's speed, Mary Marvel, while not as fast as the Flash, could fly and move at hypersonic speeds exceeding Mach 10 (2 miles a second) while in Earth's atmosphere and could fly at close to light speed through space. She could move fast enough to not register in the normal peripheral range of humans and seemingly vanish and disappear at will. At this speed, her mind processed information on par to a computer or at least on a subliminal level that she was aware of her surroundings. She could also mystically fly through the atmosphere through sheer act of will, enabling her to soar through the atmosphere at sub-orbital levels and travel across the planet. She was immune from the effects of extreme height, such as dizziness and lightheadedness. With effort, she could travel from the earth to the moon, but required extra-precautionary paraphernalia for interstellar travel. Hermes Trismegistus (Greek for "thrice-great Hermes"), an occultist aspect of Hermes/Mercury, also gave her the ability to wield magic and cast spells, though she never used this as Mary Marvel, apparently because she did not know how. |
Read more about this topic: Mary Marvel
Famous quotes containing the words powers and/or abilities:
“However much we may differ in the choice of the measures which should guide the administration of the government, there can be but little doubt in the minds of those who are really friendly to the republican features of our system that one of its most important securities consists in the separation of the legislative and executive powers at the same time that each is acknowledged to be supreme, in the will of the people constitutionally expressed.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“No matter what one says, you can recognize only those matters that are equal to you. Only rulers who possess extraordinary abilities will recognize and esteem properly extraordinary abilities in their subjects and servants.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)