so...DC can’t use the name “Captain Marvel” but...

why can’t they refer Billy’s adopted family ad “the Marvel” family?

@RobertScorpio Here’s an explanation from an article about it (link after quote):

"It’s all because of the rights issues, and mainly because how Marvel Comics has the rights to the name Captain Marvel. Fawcett, publishers of the original Captain Marvel/Shazam comics, stopped making them in the ‘50s. In the ‘60s, Marvel Comics trademarked the name Captain Marvel for their own Kree alien superhero, which meant when DC licensed the Fawcett characters in 1972, they had the Fawcett character named Captain Marvel, but couldn’t call the comic Captain Marvel, so they used his transformation cry “Shazam!” for the title.

This extended to other media as well — DC could not promote the character as Captain Marvel anywhere, even though the character’s named was Captain Marvel. "

Source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-captain-marvel-ms-marvel-shazam-clusterf-ck-explai-1251423862?_gl=11up2oo4_ga*YW1wLVk2OWNYRFluU1l4TFZGUkhQYklpVG9VZFNPOFBEUHRPWW1IaTZneE9pbVd0ckpPUWQxeEo0dnVvUmV4eXRWTy0…

I don’t know that they can’t refer to them as the Marvel family, but the fact that for over 40 years they have marketed him as Shazam and now the family is kind of known as the Shazam family. So, they probably just don’t want to draw attention to it.

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That was still pretty petty tho. It doesn’t matter because you never what someone might do with their own property in the future. Very petty😏

@Sassoue you mean Marvel trademarking the name was petty? Or what do you mean?

They can use it. They just can’t BRAND it. Or put a logo on a cover, or a movie poster-- they can’t trademark that logo, and Marvel will pick a fight, anyway.

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In the movie itself, they can use it all they want; just not in the title or promotion.

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Additionally, since Geoff Johns figured “everyone” already thought his name was “Shazam” anyway, that’s how he reinvented him back in 2012. Not exactly the most sound logic, if you ask me.

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Batman calls Shazam “Captain Marvel” in Young Justice when they’re discussing if he should stay on The League

@SmushyBear That’s because of the distinction that @MisfitH made. They can use the name, they just can’t brand it or in other words infringe on Marvel’s trademark of the name.

For instance, you will never see a book or movie from DC called, Captain Marvel, but they could call him that in the story.

Were I DC, I would just move away from the Marvel connection altogether. It’s just a name. In legal terms, it’s a bunch more. But for story purposes, it shouldn’t matter, and if it does, then they’re not telling strong enough stories.

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We can.

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I liked the Captain Thunder name they used in Flashpoint. That could’ve worked in the reboot. I don’t really mind calling him Shazam though.

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There was nothing “petty” about it. When Stan Lee came up with the idea for Mar-Vell Fawcett had been out of the comic business for about a decade. The character was considered to be completely defunct and chances of a reboot non-existent. This is why they had a Shazam Award for a while; no one thought the Big Red Cheese was ever coming back. It was only natural for Marvel to grab the trademark for a character who shared a name with their brand. Even if they didn’t have the TM, DC would still br working at cross purposes to use it, especially outside of comics.

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After what Disney went through getting Oswald back, I think they could license Warner Bros. to use the name or come to some arrangement. To me the worst is the listing of Freddy as “Shazam Jr.”