Captain Marvel's Character: Loyalty

Loyalty.  This is another aspect of Captain Marvel's character that draws me to him as a hero.  In this article I want to look at Captain Marvel's loyalty.

What is loyalty?  Here are a brief thought and definition that will help frame loyalty for this article.

• Loyalty is faithfulness or devotion to a group, cause, person, etc.
• "There's something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty."

An example of Captain Marvel's loyalty is displayed on the pages of Captain Marvel Adventures #79 in the story, "Captain Marvel and the Ancient Crime."  In this story, Billy Batson reads from a book of Egyptian history that the wizard Shazam had stolen gold from the pharaoh.  Billy's reaction - that story must be a lie and he vows that Captain Marvel will set the record straight!

Captain Marvel visits the author on the book of Egyptian history and questions him if he's sure about his accusations of Shazam.  Even when faced with what seems like overwhelming evidence, and despite a brief waver of doubt, Captain Marvel remains loyal to Shazam and seeks to set the record straight!

Indeed, Captain Marvel does prove Shazam's innocence in this adventure.  (I wrote a brief article on this adventure, you can read it here.)  But the main thing this story shows is his loyalty to Shazam despite what experts had to say.  Cap's loyalty isn't passive - it  spurred him to action to stand up for and clear the name of Shazam!

Captain Marvel's loyalty is just one more aspect of his character that has drawn me and countless others to him as a hero.