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This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.

This article covers information about something that exists within the DC Universe, and should not contain out-of-universe material. Please remove all out-of-universe material, or include it in a separate section at the bottom of the article. And take off that silly costume.

"Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the United Worlds"": At a large populated system of planets, Earth is a name no one recognizes. On Earth, Billy gets news of a pilot reporting a “flying disc,” then another near Chicago. To look into this, he calls SHAZAM and Captain Marvel flies off to chase

Quote1 I know what hit them! This means the whole structure of science, as they learned it, is wrong! It's as though we suddenly found out Earth is in the shape of a square doughnut, instead of a globe! Quote2
Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel Adventures #98 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1949.

Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the United Worlds"

At a large populated system of planets, Earth is a name no one recognizes. On Earth, Billy gets news of a pilot reporting a “flying disc,” then another near Chicago. To look into this, he calls SHAZAM and Captain Marvel flies off to chase after one, finding they move at somewhere north of 2,000 mph. He lands on it and sneaks inside, finding its pilot is a man with sunken eyes, fins, webbed hands and green scaled skin. He admits that his people have been observing and cruising around Earth over the course of the last few years. Captain Marvel grabs him by the throat, asking if he intends to invade, but the saucer pilot reveals he is Ilgus and he works for the Galactic Census Bureau (GCB) and that there are thousands of inhabited worlds in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. Captain Marvel asks why no contact was made yet and Ilgus says Earth is a “very warlike” planet and they’ve never moved slow enough to risk being struck. He tells the World’s Mightiest Mortal that he can’t waste time speaking and drops him out of a trapdoor and speeds off for his Central Office. Thus, Captain Marvel decides to look into this and follows the disc into the depths of space and finds a planetoid sign pointing him to the Galactic Government Offices, Headquarters of United Worlds, which Captain Marvel likens to Earth’s “United Nations.” He soon loses the ship and instead follows a blue avian ship instead to Gate 17. A Customs Official asks his planet of origin and has to look up Earth in a book revealing that Earth is the Solar System, Sector Z, Zone 88B & is listed as a “tiny, backward world. Doubtful if inhabitants are intelligent.” Captain Marvel is mildly insulted, but the Official says he can’t come in, since he’s not actually a citizen of the United Worlds, offering he can file a complaint with the Galactic Complaint Department 78 doors down. Captain Marvel runs into Ilgus on the way there, who calls him “disgusted” and “bewildered” before Captain Marvel asks about the United Worlds, which he finds is performed about exactly like the United Nations, except that they already wiped out war, crime & evil in most of the galaxy and have known only peace and prosperity. Captain Marvel offers that the UN similarity should show that Earth should be in the United Worlds, only for Ilgus to show him that Earth is a dead file, lost in a bureaucracy, rejected with a verdict of “Backward Planet… still has wars, crime and starvation… little hope of true civilization.” However, he adds that this was taken over 500 years ago and they are open to an appeal!

Soon, the United Worlds are called together at the United Worlds Council where Captain Marvel soon gets to address the Chairman. The Chairman asks if they still have wars on Earth or if they still have famine, crimes, lynchings or riots and is subsequently rejected again. Ilgus sadly has to offer that Earth is the most backwards criminal planet in the galaxy, but he appreciates that Captain Marvel is trying to help. Suddenly, a report comes in through a bell on the wall that the Honorable Torrus Lambor, President of the Galactic Union, has been stricken with typhoid, an incurable disease that no culture or science has ever found a cure for. Captain Marvel takes a quick break, flies back to Earth, borrows some chloromyecin from a hospital, returning to give it to the President, who begins to convalesce. Ilgus offers that the Council may be more lenient yet, but the Galactic HQ is soon to be struck by a meteor swarm, only for Captain Marvel to seize a red dying star and flings it into the path of the meteors, saving the Galactic HQ. For this, the Chairman offers that for his good deeds, he will grant him personally citizenship to the Galactic Union, but only if he leaves the Earth, which is not yet worthy. Captain Marvel refuses this, saying he cannot abandon the Earth and that he needs to work towards peace forever. Ilgus points out that the cure for typhoid is from Earth and everyone unanimously consents to Earth joining the United Worlds… only for Captain Marvel to decline! Stating that Earth should earn their place and waves to the Council, saying they have a goal to strive to now. Captain Marvel soon flies around New York City and speaks on how Earth needs a “general cleaning up” to put our shoulders to the wheel to just not have wars anymore and to eliminate crime and evil too and earn their place in the universe…

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the United Worlds"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Ilgus

Antagonists:

  • The Chairman of the United Worlds

Other Characters:

  • The Honorable President Torrus Lambor of the Galactic Union
    • The Galactic Union Council

Locations:

Items:

  • Chloromyecin

Vehicles:

  • Ilgus' Flying Saucer


Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Mystery Metal"

Billy Batson is meeting a new crackpot scientist at Station WHIZ, Prof. Sebastian, a chemist. He insists aggressively that it’s too important, then decides that it’s too powerful and that he won’t reveal it after all, baiting Billy’s journalistic curiosity. Billy asks what it is and Prof. Sebastian asks him in return how many elements there are known. Billy correctly recalls 92 elements exist, but Sebastian says he’s created a new 93rd one. When Billy questions what that means, Prof. Sebastian takes him to a second chemist, who says that he’s done as much and the man visibly swoons. Once roused again, the other chemist tells Billy that this changes everything and that the theory of matter itself could be called into doubt. Billy asks if he can see this particle, only for Sebastian to reveal that he can’t make it, but has detected it in a specified desert sand, saying he needs 1,000,000 workmen to investigate it, then offers that Captain Marvel could likely do just as well!

Soon, Billy decides that Captain Marvel should be involved and calls SHAZAM! Captain Marvel uses his Wisdom of Solomon to explain how this would be like discovering a new color and flies off to find Prof. Sebastian. He says that it took Marie Curie 14 years to discover radium, but Captain Marvel is adamant he can figure this out in 14 days if need be! First, he fills vats of acid with the sand, then lets them crystallize, flies a giant bucket of solution on top of it, then repeats this 10,000 times in a row to create a stock of this new element. Captain Marvel works throughout the night to keep stirring and pounding sand into acid and by the next day, the final concentration of Element 93 and will be dry within the hour as Captain Marvel takes a mild rest. However, Prof. Sebastian thinks to himself how this is entirely a scam, that Captain Marvel just created normal salt in a bucket for him and then drops a lump of “densified” iron into it that he’ll pretend is the new element so he can get famous, naming this 93rd element Mysterium! Captain Marvel soon flies them off to a big meeting with the Society of Scientists to announce it and everyone promptly goes crazy at the “revelation.” They begin to question that Mysterium is really an element and has Captain Marvel hold it under tests for acid, fire and beta rays, none of which can reduce it, which Sebastian says proves it’s a “true element,” but thinks on how this is just how densified iron works. He begins to sell his report on it, The Sebastian Theory of 93 to the Society of Scientists like hotcakes.

In the days following, Billy Batson reports that the theory is selling out a 14th printing of 1,000,000 copies and is also winning the Nobel Prize and he’s very rich now. Billy heads back to his office to look at the chunk of seemingly highly radioactive metal on his desk, astounded as it’s suddenly attracting paper clips and calls SHAZAM to look into this via Captain Marvel, who realizes that there are only three magnetic elements (iron, cobalt & nickel,) then figures out everything. He does a quick experiment by exposing it to an electromagnet and it expands, revealing that this is indeed just densified iron that had compressed on an atomic level. Soon enough, Prof. Sebastian is preparing to skip town with $500,000 in a collection of bank accounts under an assumed name, only for Captain Marvel to smash through his window and drop his worthless iron on the ground. The next day, a science teacher correctly instructs how there are definitely only 92 natural elements in the universe and Captain Marvel tells Prof. Sebastian in jail that he could have just patented densified iron for any easy million and would have made twice as much, but Prof. Sebastian says not to talk to him!

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel and the Mystery Metal"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • Prof. Sebastian

Other Characters:

  • A Chemist

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Loses His Memory...."

Captain Marvel has been marooned on an island and is also being chased by one of those island leopards, but manages to lose it behind a rock. We are told this is because the World’s Mightiest Mortal… has amnesia and doesn’t realize anything about who he is! The leopard leaps at him again and Captain Marvel is relieved to find he is immune to being bitten by jungle cats as well as the strength to easily throw it away. He tests his power and finds he can toe kick a boulder taller than himself in half perfectly, he can throw it into the ocean and, when slipping off a cliff, that he can fly. Once he’s mastered flight, he realizes he can just go to the city. Despite several people directly greeting him by name and mentioning him off-hand as he walks by, our hero instead figures it out from an issue of Sketch that shows he’s Captain Marvel and he stopped a crime ring. He soon discovers the local chapter of the Captain Marvel Club and presumes there’s likely a connection there. The Captain Marvel Club quickly realize both who he is and tell him to just use his magic word, implying they all know his secret identity. Under their instruction, he speaks the magic word SHAZAM and returns Billy Batson, who understands who he is and says this was likely some kind of trap!

He thanks the Captain Marvel Club for their help and explains what had happened: Captain Marvel visited “Mr. Mento” a famed hypnotist, who wants to test his powers against the World’s Mightiest Mortal, reminding us of the edict that hypnosis only works by consent, while Captain Marvel is sat in a chair with a spinning construction of mirrors that make him black out. Billy points out he doesn’t know what happened after that and goes off to find Mr. Mento. We soon find Mr. Mento was hired by goons to try to get rid of Captain Marvel and likes to talk about it out loud to them with his window open while Billy walks by about how he just hypnotized Captain Marvel into agreeing not to remember and he calls SHAZAM to let Captain Marvel talk this out with them. Mr. Mento tries to insist he’s still capable of his control and Captain Marvel reveals that now that he knows what he’s up to, the hypnosis won’t work and punches him into his controls, destroying his machine and punching out his gang. Billy signs off telling us they were arrested and Mr. Mento sure wishes he could forget it all!

Appearing in Captain Marvel: "Captain Marvel Loses His Memory...."

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:


Antagonists:

  • Mr. Mento
  • A Leopard

Other Characters:

  • The Captain Marvel Club

Locations:

Items:

  • Mr. Mento's Hypnosis Machine

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Capt. Kid: "The Clean-Up Man"

Captain Kid and Betty Mae are cleaning up a giant pile of papers in her father’s basement in order for her to get her month’s spending money further if they run off to go see a movie like they wanted to. Captain Kid says the movie they want to see is only in town for another two days, so he rolls up his sleeves to get some work done, though Betty Mae points out if were complaining less, he’d be getting more work done faster. Some hours later, they’ve put all the papers, three red boxes and a large colorful vase together and Captain Kid goes to call the Junkman to pick it up. Betty Mae worries that her father was the one who was going to do that, but Captain Kid is adamant that she shouldn’t be a “ninny” and that her father will be impressed that they took care of the extra work. Soon, Mr. Clancy the Junkman (who resembles the same tramp from Captain Marvel Adventures# 96) arrives and they load the stuff on his wagon. He offers them a paltry $10, but Captain Kid says he’d rather throw it out for free than take that little, so Mr. Clancy offers him $15 instead, while Captain Kid winks directly at the fourth wall. Betty Mae lightly commends his shrewd business acumen as Mr. Fuller, her father, shows up and reveals that the vase wasn’t junk and is worth a whopping $300 and toe-kicks Captain Kid out on his rear to retrieve it, threatening he’ll put him on the junk pile if he doesn’t! Later, Mr. Clancy tells him that he already sold it to Johnson’s Auction Parlor. Meanwhile, Mr. Fuller is out doing errands and grumbling internally how has to get groceries and finds the vase in the window of Johnson’s Auction Parlor, soon to be auctioned! However, the bidding starts with Captain Kid also bidding on it, not realizing he’s driving the price up and it is soon sold to him for $300, saying to send the bill to Mr. Fuller. Mr. Fuller shoves his way through the crowd and grabs him by the shoulder, saying he’d rather pay the original bid, since Captain Kid doesn’t actually represent him, but Johnson and two large goons working for him “insist” that he pay up as “Nobody makes mistakes in here!” After being out $300 for his $300 vase, Mr. Fuller tells Mr. Johnson that he doesn’t need it wrapped… saying he intends to set it down “right here!!” before he smashes it on Captain Kid’s head!

Appearing in Capt. Kid: "The Clean-Up Man"

Featured Characters:

  • Captain Kid

Supporting Characters:

  • Betty Mae Fuller

Antagonists:

  • Mr. Johnson
  • Mr. Fuller

Other Characters:


Locations:

  • Earth-S
    • Podunk
      • Mr. Fuller's House
      • Mr. Clancy's Junk Yard
      • Johnson's Auction Parlor

Items:

  • A $300 Vase (Destroyed)

Vehicles:



Synopsis for Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawky Tawny: "Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny's Persecution Complex"

Mr. Tawky Tawny is at his job at the Natural History Museum, showing off a stuffed gorilla as a shifty man in a red suit and blue hat thinks on how he wants Mr. Tawny’s job and feels that an “animal” having a job that swell just “isn’t right.” We are informed this is Chester Chudney, a former zoo keeper, as a puts on a large fake beard to try to get him fired, approaching and asking if his tail gets in the way of his job, then mocks that it is funny to humans because it’s so long and furry, upsetting Mr. Tawny lightly. Later, Chudney returns disguised as a blonde woman in a blue dress and shouts “Oh, my goodness! I’m tripping!” as he pretends to trip very softly on his tail, which Mr. Tawny mildly apologizes for. Later still, he arrives wearing a fake nose and funny teeth to just directly laugh at him for having one, saying he should hide it under his clothes or chop it off. Mr. Tawny goes home feeling apprehensive and self-conscious about his tail, only to find at large pile of letters from “fans” that are entirely about his tail as we see outside that Chudney just sent them all himself, hoping to just make Mr. Tawny have a nervous breakdown so he can steal his job. Overnight, Mr. Tawny has a dream about his tail being incredibly long and pointing fingers mocking him for it. A week later, Billy Batson visits the civilized tiger and asks what’s wrong, since he looks terrible. Mr. Tawny admits that he has insomnia and he can’t make it to work tomorrow, prompting him to call SHAZAM to have Captain Marvel look into this. The World’s Mightiest Mortal soon tells him insomnia is a normal human thing to feel and tries to get him sleepy with some exhaustive running and physically rocking his bed and singing him lullabies for a few hours, but when he goes to leave, Mr. Tawny says it didn’t work. Captain Marvel asks if something is bothering him, but Mr. Tawny meekly says he doesn’t know, embarrassed to mention his seemingly-bothersome tail.

To assuage things, Captain Marvel flies him out to see Dr. Probey, a “psychiatrist” who has him lay down on a chaise longe and talk about things, leading to him revealing his anxiety about his tail. He says he should just stop hating his tail because people are attacking him about it, since it could lead to a persecution complex. Captain Marvel asks if he’s supposed to hide his tail, but Dr. Probey offers instead a picture of a different man, Prof. Larkin, a scientist who is famous despite having large ears, leaving him with the advice of just stop thinking about his tail. Going home, Mr. Tawny starts trying to get some sleep (though it’s already daylight now) and Captain Marvel heads off to report that he’s taking a mental health day to the National History Museum. Seeing someone round the corner, he just assumes it’s someone who should be there, like a milkman or garbage collector. Unfortunately, it’s Chudney again, who sneaks in through Mr. Tawny’s window and “reminds” him about his tail by just declaring he’s from the Anti Tail Society and that “they’ve” decided to he must have it cut off with a meat cleaver. Luckily, Captain Marvel flies in and disarms him, then shakes him down, learning the whole story of things. Despite this, he finds that Mr. Tawny ran out a window and didn’t hear the confession due to shock as Mr. Tawny has discarded his pajamas and now has a full blown persecution complex, thinking a dog catcher is coming after him & a man who just had his gun repaired is going to shoot him before hiding in the Natural History Museum, begging to no one and everyone at once to be left alone as he hides in the shadows of the closed Museum. Chudney then decides that he’ll instead get revenge by burning down the Natural History Museum, since Mr. Tawny in his panicked state left the front door open. After lighting the fire though, Chudney trips and falls over an ankle-high partition around a fully functional concealed pitfall in the African Room. Mr. Tawny, hearing his shouts for help is cured by his instincts to help people, using his tail to drag him out of the deep pit. Finding fire all around, he tries to leap over a rafter. Due to his helpful tail, he is able to clear the jump and get Chudney on to it where he’ll be slightly safer, but ends up falling towards the fire himself! Captain Marvel flies in, having tried to follow him through town, and catches Mr. Tawny, then puts out the fire quickly. Chudney, a changed man now, realizes what he’s done was wrong and that he’s willing to confess everything! Later, Captain Marvel asks if his tail is still shameful if he saved a human life and Mr. Tawny is proud of it once more. The next day, Mr. Tawny announces before his tour that he does have a tail and isn’t ashamed of it… only for the onlookers to note they didn’t realize he even had one! Billy assures him that his tail isn’t really conspicuous any and signs off by saying that we shouldn’t let small things get to us all, make mountains out of molehills or assume that they’re being “picked on.”

Appearing in Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawky Tawny: "Captain Marvel and Mr. Tawny's Persecution Complex"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Chester Chudney

Other Characters:

  • Dr. Probey

Locations:

Items:

  • Picture of Prof. Larkin

Vehicles:


Notes

  • Despite the cover, Captain Marvel doesn't punch meteors to pieces to save the United Worlds, instead pushing around a Red Giant star to disintegrate them
  • Despite being referred to as a "psychiatrist," Dr. Probey offers only general therapy and does not prescribe any medicine to Mr. Tawky Tawny
  • Chloromyecin is a presumed brand name for Chloramphenicol, a powerful broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat meningitis, plague, cholera, conjunctivitis and typhoid.
  • Betty Mae is finally given a full name in this issue, since her father is called "Mr. Fuller"
  • Mr. Clancy returns and is given a name and occupation, having appeared before in Captain Marvel Adventures# 96

Trivia

  • This issue reveals that the Captain Marvel Club (a group of young children who are fans of Captain Marvel that have chapters across America) all know Captain Marvel's secret identity
  • The list of elements in this issue references "Illinium," an element that was later discovered to have not been the 61st element (Now known as Promethium) and refers to "Lutetium" by its former name of "Lutecium," which changed some years prior. On the normal Earth, the 93rd element was discovered a year or so prior as "Neptunium" and there are currently discovered at least 118 elements so far. These may not be the case on Earth-S.


See Also


Links and References

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