DC Database
Register
Advertisement

"Captain Marvel's Double Trouble": Sivana gives a cheap hood plastic surgery so he can impersonate Captain Marvel, and kidnap the princess of a country he wouldn't mind conquering. Meanwhile, the real Captain Marvel has to duck the police because of his kidnapping charge.

Quote1 Now, you green plum, have you anything to say before I strike? Quote2
Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel Adventures #5 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1941.

Synopsis for "Captain Marvel's Double Trouble"

Sivana gives a cheap hood plastic surgery so he can impersonate Captain Marvel, and kidnap the princess of a country he wouldn't mind conquering. Meanwhile, the real Captain Marvel has to duck the police because of his kidnapping charge.

Appearing in "Captain Marvel's Double Trouble"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Dr. Sivana
  • Maxim the Midget
  • Bummy Bond, Captain Marvel impersonator

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:




Synopsis for "The King of the Crater"

A powerful volcanic eruption suddenly strikes in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Sterling Morris assigns Billy to investigate, and when he's flying through the magma geysers as Captain Marvel, sees a perfectly-cut stone block fly out of one. This convinces the World's Mightiest Mortal the eruptions are no coincidence, but after he changes back to Billy he's taken captive by the villain responsible.

This "King of the Crater" explains how he's discovered a geothermal vent that he can use to create volcanic eruptions anywhere he likes throughout the mountain range, and plans to make it his own personal fiefdom. When his henchmen throw Billy down the shaft, however, he's able to transform and wrecks the villain's machinery. After the King throws himself down his own drill shaft to his doom to escape justice, Marvel seizes his drill and uses it to divert the lava of the next eruption into a canyon where it won't do any damage.

Appearing in "The King of the Crater"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for "Captain Marvel Solves the Swamp Mystery"

Radio reporter Billy Batson visits a very rural community on the edge of a large swamp, to cover a story. The swamp is expanding, and ruining farm land, despite the efforts of some government engineers, and also, a mysterious "swamp devil" is rumored to be terrorizing the local people, some of whom seem to be extremely superstitious. The first people he talks to are Pappy and Mammy Sims, at their farmhouse; they fear that the devil can hear even a whispered mention of his name, and very shortly, the caped green lizardlike Swamp Devil does indeed show up at their farmhouse door, to interrupt Billy's interview. Captain Marvel gets called in and punches him way out into the swamp, into which the terrible creature escapes.

The next morning, Billy interviews the government engineer, who pooh-poohs the "swamp devil" as being just a crazy superstition, but admits that the swamp has been expanding and he hasn't so far been able to stop it. Meanwhile Pappy Sims rallies up a hunting party (himself plus 3 guys) to deal with this Swamp Devil once and for all. They encounter a cloud of hypnotic gas, and the Swamp Devil shows up and orders them to follow him, which they do. Billy arrives shortly later, and is almost overcome by the gas, but turns into Captain Marvel, who can resist it; Cap finds and disables the gas-spraying machine, then rescues the hunters from being drowned by the Swamp Devil, who escapes again into the swamp. Cap then explores the swamp, and finds a dam where there shouldn't be one, and a beaver-house-style hideout, and also gets attacked by the knife-wielding Swamp Devil. That fight is only one punch long, and the dam is quickly broken, which begins the process of draining the swamp.

The chief engineer of the swamp-drainage project, Mr. Woggs, turns out to be behind all the mischief. He was flooding the farmland in order to come back later and buy it all up cheaply. The clinching piece of evidence was that the eyepieces in the Swamp Devil's head gear were ground to the same prescription as Woggs' glasses, as Captain Marvel could tell just from looking at them.

Appearing in "Captain Marvel Solves the Swamp Mystery"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Pappy Sims
  • Mammy Sims

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • backwoods folk

Locations:

Items:

  • Swamp Devil's hypnotism gas, "the Odor of Forgetfulness"

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Kid: "Introducing Captain Kid"

A big hungry angry bear comes to Swatville, and all the citizens panic, flee, and hide. The bear almost eats Betty Mae but she escapes and climbs up a tall tree. Captain Kid observes this through his telescope, then he speeds to the scene, from town, in exactly two seconds, working hand-over-hand along a telephone wire. Captain Kid ends up defeating the bear by falling out of the tree and onto its head, konking it out. He hitches the unconscious bear with a rope and drags it out of the town.

Appearing in Captain Kid: "Introducing Captain Kid"

Featured Characters:

  • Captain Kid (First appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Betty Mae (First appearance)

Antagonists:


Other Characters:


Locations:

  • Swatville

Items:


Vehicles:



Synopsis for "Sivana's Strange Chemical Potion"

Dr. Sivana creates a formula that turns the henchman who drinks it into a completely different man with no memory of his previous identity (along with another one that turns him back to who he was before). The World's Wickedest Scientist plans to use this formula to finally rid himself of Captain Marvel. He does his by going to Station WHIZ in disguise and pretending to be a soda vendor, who gives Billy Batson a spiked drink that turns him into another boy. Immediately he seizes command of the mic, declaring that he's in charge now with no Captain Marvel to get in his way, and soon leads an army of gangsters with the hero never showing up to impede them.

The scheme falls apart when the amnesiac Billy comes upon a group of other boys playing Captain Marvel, who compel him to play along and yell "Shazam!" When he does, it summons his lightning and turns him into the World's Mightiest Mortal like always. He finds all the local policemen, turned into ineffectual pantywaists by Sivana's formula. After fighting past a few henchmen, Marvel finds a storehouse with the antidote to turn them back to normal. Leading an army of police to tear apart the villain's hideout, Marvel soon captures Sivana, and forces him to drink his own formula, turning him into a respectable man.

Appearing in "Sivana's Strange Chemical Potion"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:

  • "Dope" potion
  • "Anti Dope" potion

Vehicles:


Notes

  • This issue is reprinted in The Shazam! Archives Vol. 4.
  • The Swamp Devil is rumored to be able to hear when his name is mentioned, even miles away, and this rumor turns out, in a caption, to be true. How he does this is not explained.
  • "Sivana's Strange Chemical Potion" is declared to be the "final story of the mad scientist, Sivana," but Sivana returns in Whiz Comics #26, dovetailing with this story.



See Also


Links and References

Advertisement