Captain Marvel Jr.

Freddy Freeman was a young newsboy gravely injured by the villainous Captain Nazi. Billy Batson brought him before the wizard Shazam, who granted Freddy the power to transform into the superhero Captain Marvel Jr. by speaking the name "Captain Marvel."

Few Golden Age heroes made as striking an entrance as Captain Marvel Jr., who burst onto the scene in Master Comics #27 in 1942, brought to life by the legendary Mac Raboy, whose dynamic, cinematic artwork gave the character an immediacy that leapt off the page. A Fawcett Comics original, he's part of one of the most beloved families in comic book history, regularly sharing adventures with Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Billy and Mary Batson — the heart of that classic Fawcett universe. With five key issues to his name, his own eponymous series, appearances in World's Finest Comics, and a catalog presence stretching an extraordinary eight decades from 1942 all the way to 2024, Captain Marvel Jr. is a genuine Golden Age treasure with staying power that very few characters can match. If you're exploring the roots of the superhero genre, this is absolutely a character worth knowing.