You know what "SHAZAM" means?

Billy Batson is granted mystical powers by the Wizard Shazam whenever he speaks his mentor's name, becoming Captain Marvel, the World's Mightiest Mortal. You know what those powers are, right?

  • the wisdom of Solomon
  • the strength of Hercules
  • the stamina of Atlas
  • the power of Zeus
  • the courage of Achilles
  • the speed of Mercury

But Billy wasn't Shazam's first champion - back in ancient Egypt, he empowered Teth Adam (today known as Black Adam) by similarly calling his name. At the time of the character's creation, in the mid '40s, no one stopped to think that it was weird for an ancient Egyptian to call upon Greek and Roman figures. That's been rectified now - been done twice, in fact, with slightly different combos of gods each time. The pre-Crisis version, from Shazam! #28, was:

  • the stamina of Shu
  • the strength of Hershef
  • the power of Amon
  • the wisdom of Zehuti (another name for Thoth)
  • the speed of Anpu
  • the courage of Menthu

Then, in 1995's Power of Shazam! #10, it was revealed as:

  • the stamina of Shu
  • the swiftness of Heru
  • the strength of Amon
  • the wisdom of Zehuti
  • the power of Aton
  • the courage of Mehen

Crisis changed a lot of things, but that's a minor one, by comparison. And it's nice to have an appropriate pantheon backing the power of Black Adam.

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