I'm surprised nobody ever brought this up before . When you watched Jim Nabors' Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show or Gomer Pyle, USMC, you heard him say "Shazam !" when he was surprised . There was one episode where Sergeant Vince Carter was looking for Gomer, and somebody mentioned a marine who said "Shazam !" . That told Sergeant Carter that he was on the right track . This person asked Sergeant Carter if "Shazam !" meant anything . Sergeant Carter said "Well, it's the -- No, no, it doesn't mean anything !" . Did you know what "Shazam !" meant ?

Shazam is the name of a superhero.

There's more to it than that . In Fawcett Comics in the 1940s, an old wizard named "Shazam" gave a young boy, Billy Batson, the ability to become a super hero, Captain Marvel . When an emergency struck, Billy Batson said "Shazam !" and turned into the adult Captain Marvel . Captain Marvel had the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury . The first letters in the names of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury spell out "Shazam" . Captain Marvel's powers were very similar to Superman's powers . Fawcett Comics published the adventures of Captain Marvel for almost thirteen years . He appeared in Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures . DC Comics, the publisher of Superman, sued Fawcett Comics because they thought Captain Marvel was too much like Superman . Fawcett Comics lost, and they were unable to publish Captain Marvel's adventures without DC Comics' permission . In the 1960s, Marvel Comics glommed onto the name "Captain Marvel" for one of their characters . In 1973, DC Comics decided to bring back Captain Marvel . By then, Marvel Comics had trademarked the name "Captain Marvel" . DC Comics could still call the hero "Captain Marvel" but they couldn't come out with a comic book named Captain Marvel . They named Captain Marvel's comic book Shazam ! . When the folks at DC Comics rebooted Captain Marvel recently, they renamed Captain Marvel "Shazam" which makes as much sense as naming him "Whiz Comics" .

Wow! Thanks for history lesson. I heard of Captain Marvel but I never got the full story.