Captain Marvel may receive the most acclaim, everyone knows that he was joined in his battles for good by several cohorts, who eventually dubbed themselves The Marvel Family.

Though they all share the Marvel moniker in their superheroic states, only two of them are actually related. Billy Batson (Captain Marvel's normal guy alter-ego) and Mary Batson (also known as Mary Marvel) were long-lost siblings who discovered each other--not to mention their shared Shazam-imparted powers--and teamed up to fight the forces of evil.

Captain Marvel Jr., on the other hand, is a mere friend of the literal family. Known in his everyman-state as newspaper Freddy Freeman, he was inducted into the pantheon of protagonists after becoming gravely injured in a battle with Captain Nazi. Captain and Mary Marvel imparted a portion of their powers to help him heal and their effects were permanent. Unfortunately, so were the effects of Captain Nazi's violence. Freddy remained crippled.


Throughout its numerous incarnations, the extended version of The Marvel Family had many different members. It included Uncle Marvel (who was Uncle Dudley, Billy's guardian), who had no powers. It also included three Lieutenants Marvel: Tall Billy Batson, Fat Billy Batson and Hill Billy Batson. The unrelated trio just happened to also be named "Billy Batson," and when the original would get in trouble they would shout the magic word (Since there could only be one Captain Marvel, it was presumed they must be Lieutenants). Baby Marvel showed up on the family's doorstep in Marvel Family #1. Another family member - of sorts - was Hoppy, The Marvel Bunny, who actually turned out to be one of the most prized Captain Marvel-related collectibles.

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