(Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #18) - Billy and Sterling Morris hosted the WHIZ quiz show the Mental Marvel Quiz, with the contestants being Freddy Freeman and rich girl Mary Bromfeld. During a commercial break Billy got a note from Sarah Primm, saying she was dying and it was urgent he go to see her. He changed into Captain Marvel to see her, and she revealed that she was his nurse when he was an infant. He had a twin sister, Mary, and when their parents died she despaired at the thought of sending them both to an orphanage, but she was also the nurse of the rich Mrs. Bromfeld, and when her infant daughter suddenly died Primm switched Mary with the dead baby so she’d be raised in luxury. When Mary was a young girl Sarah gave her half of a locket telling her that her life would change when she found the other half, not revealing that she intended to find Billy one day to give him the other half. Sarah gave him the other half of the locket and told him to find his sister. Mary won the quiz show, and Billy and Freddy pondered who his sister might be. Mary was abducted by some kidnappers, but saved by Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. Cap saw her locket, and realizing she was his sister he changed back into Billy and told her the whole story. The kidnappers revived and knocked out Billy and Freddy. Mary said the magic word Shazam, which Billy used to change into Captain Marvel, and found herself transformed into Mary Marvel. She easily dispatched the kidnappers, and the Marvels visited the ghost of Shazam. He said he’d given powers to Mary, but she drew her strength from different gods than Billy and Freddy, giving her the wisdom of Selena, the strength of Hippolyta, the stamina of Ariadne, the power of Zephyrus, the courage of Aurora and the speed of Minerva. Together they were now one big happy Marvel Family.

(Marvel Family (Fawcett) #1) - Sterling Morris got a report of an identified object from deep space approaching Earth at the speed of light, and asked Billy to cover the story. Billy visited an observatory, but the astronomers were baffled. The object turned out to be Black Adam, who’d been flying towards Earth for thousands of years. He arrived and proclaimed that he would conquer the planet. Captain Marvel and Marvel, Jr. Confronted him, but their powers were too evenly matched and they fought to a standstill before Adam decided to retreat for the moment. The Marvels changed back into Billy and Freddy to see Shazam and ask him if he knew anything about Black Adam, whose powers were so similar to theirs. Unbeknownst to them Black Adam was following them. Shazam told the boys that thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt he made Teth-Adam into Mighty Adam, his first champion. Adam’s power corrupted him, and after killing the pharaoh he declared himself ruler of Egypt. As punishment Shazam renamed him Black Adam and banished him to the furthest star in the universe, never realizing he’d be determined enough to find his way back to Earth. Shazam vanished and Black Adam tied up Freddy and Billy, gagging them so they couldn’t say the magic words that gave them power. Mary Marvel and Uncle Marvel realized the boys were missing, and made their way to Shazam’s throne room only to discover their friends trussed up. Mary fought Black Adam, while Uncle Marvel freed the boys and summoned Shazam, asking him how to defeat Black Adam. Shazam told Uncle Marvel he had to get Black Adam to say his name. Uncle Marvel told the Marvel Family that Black Adam was too powerful for them to defeat and said he should join their family. He annoyed Black Adam by mispronouncing Shazam’s name until Adam spoke the magic word, turning him back into Teth-Adam. His mortal form was 5,000 years old, and he rapidly turned into an elderly man before decaying into a skeleton. Shazam thanked the Marvel Family for destroying his worst mistake, and said he was glad he entrusted his power to good people.

(Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #80) - Sivana brooded in his lab thinking about all the times Captain Marvel foiled his evil schemes, and said he wished Captain Marvel had never been born. He had a eureka moment, deciding to travel to the past and kill Billy Batson before he became Captain Marvel, and whipped up two Time Pills. Captain Marvel, tipped off to the location of his lab, burst in, and was about to apprehend the evil scientist when he vanished into the past. As an unexpected side-effect of time travel Sivana lost his memories of the past, which were now the future. He passed Billy Batson hawking papers outside a subway station and bought one, gloating at the headline story of a phantom scientist threatening to destroy U.S. radio. Shazam bestowed the power of Captain Marvel, got a job offer from Sterling Morris of WHIZ and he foiled Sivana’s plans, with the past being unchanged. Sivana found his other Time Pill and swallowed it, returning to the present. His memories came flooding back, and he was angry he’d been unable to alter the past. Captain Marvel was still waiting for him in his lab, and hauled him off to jail.

(Captain Marvel Adventures (Fawcett) #137) - Billy Batson showed up at work, thrilled with his job when Sterling Morris announced he was cutting his salary as well as the salaries of everyone at WHIZ so he could keep all the money for himself. Billy was bummed and stopped at Doc Quartz’ for a soda, but Doc said he hated his customers and kicked him out. The dejected Billy visited Dexter Knox, to find the boy genius sleeping instead of working on science experiments. King Kull, the Beastman, was lobbing sin bombs around Fawcett City, unleashing the Seven Deadly Sins in the hearts of mankind. Billy changed into Captain Marvel. Kull shoved him out of the way, fleeing back to his hideout underground in Evil Olympus. Marvel consulted Shazam, who told him the Seven Deadly sins were evil gods he’d long ago turned into stone and kept at the rock of Eternity. King Kull used a life-ray to bring them back to live, and the Sins were the ones producing the sin bombs. Kull started dropping sin bombs from a helicopter, and Billy was at WHIZ when he was hit. Full of hatred he almost attacked his boss before fighting off the effects of hatred and changing into Captain Marvel. Marvel confronted Kull in Evil Olympus, defeating him and using his life-ray to turn the Sins back into stone statues.

(Shazam! I #1) - <1953> The mayor of Fawcett City threw a celebration at city hall to honor the Marvel Family, with a number of their friends and fans in attendance, including Sterling Morris. The wicked Sivana Family chose that moment to strike from Sivana's spaceship, hitting the crowd with a vortex transporter paralyzer ray, drawing them into space, and encasing them in a globe of suspendium, a compound that would put them in suspended animation. Sivana, Junior slapped his dad on the back for a job well done, causing Sivana to lose control of his spaceship and crashing into the suspendium, trapping the villains with their victims. The globe orbited the sun for decades until the heat of the sun began to melt the suspendium, freeing the Marvel Family. They realized the suspendium was being pulled into the sun's orbit, and had to act fast to save the lives of everyone inside the globe. The Sivana Family revived and flew their spaceship to safety while the Marvel Family pushed the globe back to Earth before smashing it, freeing their friends and returning to Fawcett. Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr. went into space to search for the Sivanas, while Captain Marvel checked out one of Sivana's old mountain hideouts. He found the Sivana Family working on a death projector, which Sivana fired up, hoping it would destroy most of Earth's population, making him ruler of the world. Marvel smashed their machine and took the Sivanas to jail, but they all shared a laugh over how happy they were to be a live and out of suspended animation.

(Shazam! I #3) - In an attempt to adjust to modern times Billy bought a new outfit and went to a teen hop dance and concert, but still felt incredibly out of place. He reasoned that he didn't fir in because he was actually 20 years older than the kids around him because of being in suspended animation, so he visited Shazam at the Rock of Etyernity, asking him to make him into an adult. Shazam agreed, and had him grasp a magic hourglass to make the boy into a man, but warned that interfering with the timestream could have unintended side effects. Billy went to visit WHIZ when he saw Sterling Morris arguing with a wizard named Shagg Naste who was furious that the station refused to give him his own show. Freddy Freeman walked by and Nasty turned him to stone, threatening to do the same to Sterling if he didn't give in to his demands. Billy changed into Captain Marvel, who was now a boy the same age as Billy was before Shazam aged him. Nasty cast a spell on him that wrecked havoc with his ability to fly, and Marvel ended up crashing into the WHIZ building. He turned back into the adult Billy and confronted Nasty, whose magic had no effect on adults, and ran him off after forcing him to turn Freddy back to normal. Neither Sterling nor Freddie recognized him, and he went back to see Shazam to turn him back to his proper age.

(Shazam! I #3) - Billy met the famous inventor, Dr. Thomas Kilowatt, known as the Wizard of Phonograph Hill, and Kilowatt told Billy he had a big announcement, asking him if he could get him a timeslot on WHIZ TV. Billy brought Kilowatt to Sterling Morris, who was thrilled to have Kilowatt appear on his network. Kilowatt announced to a rapt audience that he had created the most wondrous invention since the wheel, but refused to say what it was lest it fall into evil hands. Billy walked Kilowatt home, but a number of foreign spies had been present for Kilowatt's presentation, and all of them wanted to learn more about his invention. Billy turned into Captain Marvel and fought off some Asian spies, but when he turned back to Billy he and Kilowatt were knocked out, bound and gagged by Middle Eastern spies. The spies were ambushed by Russian agents, but Billy and Kilowatt were soon abducted by British agents, and then French spies. The French spies removed their gags, allowing Billy to turn into Captain Marvel and free Kilowatt. A U.S. government agent appeared, telling Dr. Killowatt it was his duty as a patriot to reveal his invention to the government, and he agreed. At Phonograph Hill Kilowatt demonstrated his anti-gravity machine, and after turning it on for only a moment his lab and all of Phonograph Hill floated off into the air. Captain Marvel used the strength of Hercules to return Phonograph Hill to the ground, and the U.S. agent said Kilowatt's invention was interesting but of no value tpo the U.S. government.

(Shazam! I #4) - April 1st rolled around, and Billy Batson was depressed because he hadn't celebrated his birthday in decades, and after being gone from Fawcett so long he thought nobody remembered it was his birthday. Billy returned home, where all his friends, including Sterling Morris threw him a surprise birthday party.

(Shazam! I #5) - Sterling Morris sent Billy Batson out to go door to door to collect old newspapers and books for the new Station WHIZ recycling center, but everyone Billy visited thought he was looking for money and slammed their doors on him. Billy decided to ask Sunny Sparkle to tag along with him, since no one ever turned down a chance to do a favor for the world's nicest guy. Sunny was happy to help, and dragged his obnoxious cousin Rowdy along, who constantly complained. Billy's cart was soon full of recyclables, and Sunny noticed an old book called "The How-To-Do-Everything Handbook." The book was blank except for the index and page numbers, but once they identified something they wanted to do, in this case stopping the torrential downpour raining down on them, words started to appear. Billy and Sunny read the words aloud, and the rain stopped. Billy recognized that they definitely had a magic tome on their hands, but once they met Morris at the recycling center Rowdy decided to snag the book for himself, and he cast a spell to make himself the world's toughest guy. Sterling Morris was riding a forklift for fun, but it tipped over and Billy turned into Captain Marvel to save him. Rowdy reacted faster, grabbing the forklift with one hand and uprighting it. Rowdy then started mouthing off to Morris, and Marvel decided to put him in his place and take his powers away. He challenged Rowdy to tear up a phone book, and after the brat did so Marvel grabbed the magic handbook and ripped it up. Rowdy started hitting Marvel, but his superstrength was gone, and he knocked himself out giving Marvel a headbutt. Marvel handed the woozy Rowdy over to Sunny telling him to take his cousin home because he'd had more than enough of his presence.

(Shazam! I #6) - Sterling Morris congratulated Billy on a great noon newscast, and secretary Joan Jameson informed him that a fan of his show was waiting for him. A bearded watchmaker presented Billy with a personalized wristwatch. Billy went back to his office to admire his present, while the watchmaker left WHIZ and took off his disguise. The watchmaker was actually Sivana, who gloated that Billy and Captain Marvel never could see through his disguises. The wristwatch was made of suspendium, and programmed to respond to Billy saying Shazam! by freezing time for him for two minutes. Billy heard a report of the South Street Bridge collapsing, and when he tried to turn into Captain Marvel the suspendium watch went into effect,. Billy was unaware of the time lapse, but by the time he got to South Street the bridge was already down. Sivana was following him, and when time froze as Captain Marvel turned back to Billy he bragged that two minutes without Marvel's interference was all the time he needed to become the rightful ruler of the world, his stepping stone to becoming the ruler of the universe. Billy returned to WHIZ, and saw that according to the lobby clock his watch was two minutes slow, so he corrected the time. A maintenance worker later entered the lobby and fixed the clock, realizing it was two minutes fast. Sterling told Billy to turn on the TV, because Sivana had hijacked all television broadcast signals. Broadcasting from his hideout Sivana showed off his universal will-paralyzer, and said he'd set it off in two minutes. Since he had time before Captain Marvel to stop him, he decided to read off a list of everything he planned to do as ruler of the world. Billy said the magic word, and the suspendium watch, no longer set to the correct time, blew up. Captain Marvel found Sivana's hideout within seconds, and destroyed his universal will-paralyzer. Sivana cursed his luck, and after a light sock to Sivana's jaw Captain Marvel took the mad scientist to prison.

(Shazam! I #7) - New tenants moved into the house Billy Batson rented a room in, and Ma Potter told Billy they kept to themselves. The renter were Mr. Grump and his boss, who despised Captain Marvel because he'd broken up his gang. He considered Marvel such bad luck that he forbade Grump from speaking his name, and Grump balked his boss knocked him out. Ma Potter overheard the end of their conversation, and when the boss told her his friend had a fainting spell she became convinced that saying "Captain Marvel" really was a jinx. She told Pa Potter, who thought she was being superstitious. On his walk to the store he passed Freddy Freeman, who was listening to Billy's WHIZ broadcast about a crack in the Rockaway Dam, and Freddy said the magic words Captain Marvel to turn into Captain Marvel Jr. and save the dam. All Pa saw was the boy say "Captain Marvel," get struck by lightning and disappear, so he was now convinced Ma was right. He ran into Doc Quartz at the drugstore, and told him about what he saw. Doc started gossiping, and as the story kept getting retold and exaggerated people started believing that saying Captain Marvel's name would cause doomsday. Sterling Morris caught wind of the gossip and told Billy he could no longer say "Captain Marvel" on air. Even Billy was wary about saying his own name, suspicious that Sivana put a jinx on him. As Captain Marvel he visited Sivana in jail, and Sivana assured him he wasn't currently plotting against him. Even Sivana refused to say Marvel's name, telling Marvel that he wanted to rule the universe, not destroy it. Marvel returned home, and overheard the boss living next door fencing an expensive cane "capped in marvel"ous silverwork. The world didn't end, so Marvel realized the new superstition was baseless. He apprehended the boss, and scoffed at himself for having believed the rumor the boss inadvertently started. The boss was headed to jail, so he was still convinced the name "Captain Marvel" was a jinx.

(Shazam! I #9) - Sterling Morris approached Billy in a panic because the actor who played the Wizard on the Bonzo Show, a program featuring a rambunctious chimpanzee, had called in sick. Sterling wanted him to fill in, and Billy put on the wizard’s jeweled turban, but Sterling thought he wasn’t putting his heart into the role. Sterling read some lines in a fearsome voice, causing Bonzo to panic and start tearing up the studio. Billy said Shazam, but the lightning bolt hit Bonzo, giving him the powers of Captain Marvel. Billy said the magic word two more times, only for the lightning bolt to give Sterling and Trixie, Bonzo’s co-star, Captain Marvel powers. Bonzo grabbed Billy’s turban, burst through the studio wall and flew off, and Sterling decided to catch him, but realized flying wasn’t for him because he was afraid of heights. Billy was finally able to transform into Captain Marvel, realizing the jewel on the turbin was reflecting the magic lightning. He chased after Bonzo to no avail, so he went to a restaurant and Bonzo followed, even giving up his turban to the hat-check woman. Marvel put on the turban and said Shazam, turning Bonzo back into a normal chimp, before repeating the procedure with Sterling and Trixie.

(Shazam! I #11) - Billy Batson and Cissie Sommerly went on a date at Doc Quartz’ drug store and after finishing off his colossal burgers Doc gave them his latest concoction, super-energized gelatin, as a free desert. Billy and cissie found that as much as they ate the gelatin kept replenishing itself, and started filling up the drug store. Doc Quartz realized he’d made a miscalculation when he made the gelatin, he energized it too much and it was growing like yeast. He implored them to help him eat it before the entire city was covered in gelatin. Billy changed into Captain Marvel to eat more, but even his mighty appetite was no match for the gelatin, so he gathered passer-bys and people in stores to chip in. Sterling Morris helped out, and said he couldn’t eat another bite, but praised the gelatin’s melt in your mouth texture. Marvel realized that the gelatin didn’t expand in their stomachs after being melted, and stoked every furnace in Fawcett City to cause a heat wave that melted the gelatin. Doc Quartz praised Marvel for averting a disaster, and asked him to try out his man-sized World’s Mightiest Hero Sandwich, but Marvel had enough of eating for the day.

(Shazam! I #11) - Billy Batson, Mary and Freddy attended Sterling Morris’ Christmas Eve party along with all of their friends, including Beautia Sivana, Joan Jameson, the Potters, Sunny Sparkle, Mr. Tawky-Tawny and Uncle Dudley. The Sivana Family groused in their lab about how much they hated Christmas, and Sivana activated his Cosmic Clock, speeding up time so Christmas day would only last 10 minutes. The Marvel Family went into action when they noticed time was speeding up around them, and they saved Santa Claus, who was having trouble controlling his sped up reindeer. Santa told them the Sivana Family were trying to ruin Christmas, so the Marvels flew to the Sivanas’ lab and made short work of them. Combining their strength the Marvels stopped the Cosmic clock and pushed its’ hands backwards so Christmas day could proceed at a normal rate. The Marvels visited the Sivanas in jail, and said they found an appropriate Christmas present, the first the Sivanas had ever gotten, for the family that proclaimed themselves the rightful rulers of the universe. The present turned out to be a book entitled The Universe, and the Marvels returned to Morris’ party to celebrate the holiday with their friends.