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Captain Marvel Jr.

Captain Marvel Jr

Real Name
Frederick Christopher "Freddy" Freeman
First Appearance
Whiz Comics #25 (December, 1941)
Creators
Ed Herron, Mac Raboy
Team Affliations
Marvel Family, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Young Justice
Aliases
CM3, Shazam Jr.
Base of Operations
Fawcett City
Powers
Magically bestowed powers of various mythological figures which include super strength, invulnerability, super-speed, flight, healing, fearlessness, wisdom/enhanced mental perception, and control of magic lightning
Skills and Abilities
Fighting Experience
Tools and Weapons
None

Captain Marvel Jr. is a superhero who is a sidekick to Captain Marvel and is currently part of the DC Universe.

Origin[]

When Captain Marvel's enemy Captain Nazi nearly murders a young boy named Freddie Freeman, Captain Marvel takes Freddie to see the wizard Shazam, who allows the boy to live by giving him similar powers to Captain Marvel.

Biography[]

Fawcett[]

Freddy Freeman was born to David and Rebecca Freeman, both of whom passed away when Freddy was still young, leaving Freddy in the care of his loving grandfather Jacob.  One day, Freddie and his grandfather Jacob were fishing in a lake when a man fell from the sky into the water.  The two investigate, unaware that the man is the powerful super-villain Captain Nazi and when he came two, he knocked Freddie into the lake and hit Jacob with an oar. Jacob died but Captain Marvel was able to rush the injured Freddy to the hospital.  When Captain Marvel learned that Freddy would not make it through the night, he decided to take him to the wizard Shazam in the hopes that he could save him.

Though Shazam said he could not save him, he told Billy that he could using the powers he granted him.  Shazam then disappeared and Billy turned back into Captain Marvel as Freddy awoke.  Just as Captain Marvel was turning into Billy Batson, Freddy exclaimed "Wow, it's Captain Marvel!", at which timed he turned into a super-human version of himself, dressed similarly to Captain Marvel.  Freddy, his life now saved, is dubbed "Captain Marvel, Jr." by Captain Marvel and is told that he cannot remain forever in his superhuman form and must continue to heal in his human form.

DC[]

According to Captain Marvel Jr.'s current DC origin story, Freddy Freeman was born and raised in a New England fishing village, living with his parents and his foster brother, Timothy Karnes. When Freddy's parents drowned in a storm, Freddy's maternal grandfather Jacob took him in, while Timothy was sent to live with various foster families. As an adult, Karnes would harness the powers of the underworld and become Sabbac, one of Captain Marvel Jr.'s enemies.

The teenage Freddy Freeman, living in Midwestern Fawcett City, was shown to be an all-star student and athlete at the Binder school in Fawcett City, and a friend of Captain Marvel's alter ego Billy Batson. One afternoon, after winning a baseball game for his school team, Freddy and his grandfather Jacob went on a fishing trip in the Fawcett Bay. At the same time, however, Captain Marvel found himself engaged in a battle with the supervillain Captain Nazi. As in the Fawcett origin, one of Marvel's punches knocks Captain Nazi into the lake near Grandpa Jacob's boat, and Freddy and his grandfather are attacked when they attempt to save the villain from the water, as Freddy thinks he is Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel intervenes and rushes both injured bystanders to a hospital. Grandpa Jacob slips into a coma after being thrown into the lake by Nazi, and Freddy is found to have a severely injured spine and a broken leg, which will prevent him from ever walking again. After a second attack from Captain Nazi, the injured Freddy is taken to the wizard Shazam by Captain Marvel and his sister Mary Marvel, who both grant the boy the power to become Captain Marvel Jr. However, Jacob dies, and Captain Marvel Jr. goes on a rampage against Captain Nazi until the other Marvels intervene. Nazi and Captain Marvel Jr. would become arch-enemies, regularly pitted against one another.Junior becomes an integral member of the Marvel Family until he draws Billy's ire by making a pass at his sister. The resulting conflict (created essentially to write Junior out of The Power of Shazam! from issue #13 on) causes Junior to leave Fawcett City and seek refuge in New York City, where he joins the Teen Titans. At this time, the character's name was briefly changed to CM3 (short for Captain Marvel Three, with Billy being CM1 and Mary CM2), a name he could identify himself with in dialogue without triggering his transformation. After some time spent with the Titans, Junior returns to Fawcett (and The Power of Shazam! comic with issue #42) and makes amends with Captain Marvel.

Another superhero team, The Outsiders, found themselves in a battle against Ishmael Gregor, who had killed Timothy Barnes and stolen his Sabbac powers. Captain Marvel Jr. arrived to help the Outsiders dispatch Sabbac, and some time later Junior would join the team for a brief period.

New 52[]

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Freddy Freeman is reintroduced in 2012's Justice League #8 as part of Billy's new foster family along Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez, Mary Bromfield, Pedro Pena, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley. Freddy is now depicted with blond hair instead of black, and has been disabled at least since early childhood. He is the good-natured "prankster" of the foster home, prone to mischief and pick-pocketing. The first of the Shazam kids placed with the Vázquez family in Philadelphia, Freddy was placed into foster care after his parents went to prison, and he has not seen them since age 10. Despite Billy's standoffishness when he is first placed with Freddy and the Vázquezes, Freddy ends up befriending his new foster brother – despite swiping his wallet when they first met. Freddy is also the first person to learn that he has the power to become Shazam.

In the finale of the series of Shazam! backups in Justice League #21, Billy shares his powers with his foster siblings. Afterwards, by saying "Shazam!", Freddy becomes an adult superhero with shoulder-length blond hair and the traditional "Captain Marvel, Jr." color of blue for his costume. He is Shazam Jr.

Trivia[]

Elvis once revealed that he is a huge fan of Marvel Junior, his hairstyle was inspired by him, the short cape, the lightning bolt symbol with the acronym TCB. And after he revealed that, the writers put Freddy on to be revealed as a huge Elvis fan. The DC comics have an alternate universe comic book called Kingdom Come where Freddy in this version when he turns into a superhero looks a lot like Elvis and is called King Marvel.

In other media[]

  • Along with the rest of the Marvel Family, Captain Marvel Jr. appeared in the TV series The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (1981–82) voiced by Barry Gordon.
  • Captain Marvel Jr. appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Malicious Mr. Mind!" voiced by John DeVito.
  • Greg Weisman (producer of the TV series Young Justice) has confirmed that Freddy Freeman was a member of the Young Justice team in between seasons 1 and 2 and was known as Lieutenant Marvel. He was set to appear in an upcoming issue of the tie-in comic in a story centered on the Marvel Family.
  • A parallel earth version of Captain Marvel Jr. named Captain Super Jr. appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) voiced by an uncredited Bruce Timm.
  • Appears in movie Shazam!
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