Marvel created thier character to bag the trademark on the name in the period between the original ceasing publication and DC picking up the Fawcett characters and reviving him.
Yup, yup. That is why DC can't have a comic named "Captain Marvel", so they opt for the next best thing. "Shazam".
Okay. Now explain how BOTH publishers/universes have a set of characters that look exactly the same and are named the same. I'm talking about Jack Of Hearts, a white haired dude and a brown haired Wolverine wannabe in a cheesy outfit with a yellow wolf-head icon on the chest. I have seen both in a Thanos story as well as an old Legion Of Superheroes book. They might even have been called the "The Marvels" or "The Marvel Family". I don't get that...
It's an oddity of copyright. Apparently 2 companies can have same name characters, however a book on the newsstands from each company with the same name cannot exist. Thus, someone could technically create a character called "Superman". They just would not be allowed to create a book of the same title. I used to have an article on it. Have to dig it out.
do you want the long torid history of it, or just the cliff notes? Basicly the company that published Captain Marvel was being sued by DC because thier charcters where viewed and "too similar" By 1953, Captain Marvels publish, settled out of court and reliquished all righ to DC for the Big Red Cheese. DC used the Capt. half assed over the years and let the trademark lapse. Marvel swooped in and published thier own Captain Marvel. Lots a legal tussles later, DC was able to put out a Captain Marvel comic, but couldnt call it that. Hence why Capts books are call "Shazam" or "Power of Shazam." and why Marvel puts out some sort of "Captain Marvel" Title every couple of years to keep the trademark.
That all said and done I think the character is more DC in tone and that the Marvel Captian Marvel is mostly useless.
Which Marvel Captain Marvel exactly? There have been 3 people to use the name Captain Marvel in the Marvel universe. Mar-Vell, Genis-Vell and Monica Rambeau.
Nope. Fawcett settled by volentaraly ceasing publication of the Captain Marvel titles and paying NPP/DC damages, they retained all ownership of the characters and material. They could of gone another few rounds in the courts, but decided it wasent worth the effort since the market was in heavy decline by that time anyway. The characters sat on the shelf until the early 70s when DC licenced them from Fawcett, which eventually led to them buying them outright at the start of the 80s. Marvel created thier version to secure the name for brand reasons after a company called MF Enterprises published a character of the same name. The original Captain Marvel was well out of the picture at the time and depriving DC of the name a few years later was just a beneficial side effect.
All four of them. 0_0 The only thing substantial the character has ever led to is that Miss Marvel/Warbird/black clad drunkard lightingbolt chick gave Rouge her powers.
Ah. Thats what I missed. I thought there was more, but for the life of me, Icoulnt recall it. Thanks Rabid!
