Argumento
This story is reprinted from Whiz Comics #2.
One evening, a ten-year-old newspaper boy named Billy Batson is hawking newspapers on the streets of New York, when a strange shadowy man in a long coat approaches him. He beckons Billy to follow him and leads him underground into a dilapidated subway station. A driverless subway car, unlike any Billy has ever seen before, roars to the platform and the two get on board. The car speeds off deep underground, bringing them to a vast cavern, inside the Rock of Eternity. Billy disembarks, and both the subway train and the cloaked stranger mysteriously disappear. Before him, Billy sees two rows of statues lining each side of the cavern. Each statue is forged in the likeness of a horrific monster, representing the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man.
At the anterior of the cavern, he finds an old man with a flowing white beard sitting on a stone throne. Above him is a large boulder suspended from the ceiling of the cavern by a tiny, fraying thread. The old man introduces himself as Shazam, the wizard, and tells Billy that he has chosen him to be his champion against injustice. The wizard lights a brazier next to the throne, illuminating the names of six mythological elders inscribed on the wall behind it; Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. He explains that each of these elders will bestow an aspect of their power unto Billy, and all the boy has to do to acquire such power is to speak the wizard's name. Billy shouts the name "Shazam", and a bolt of mystic lightning strikes down from out of nowhere, transforming the ten-year-old boy into a powerful, muscular adult. Shazam christens his new champion Captain Marvel and salutes him.
Moments later, the thread securing the boulder above Shazam's head snaps, and the rock crashes down, killing the wizard. Shazam's spirit rises from the debris and tells Billy that his ghost will always be present inside the Rock of Eternity, should the neophyte hero ever need his guidance. Captain Marvel leaves the Rock of Eternity to begin his amazing career.
In the next morning's newspapers, Billy reads of a threat made by an anonymous maniac, who will soon be revealed as Doctor Sivana, against the entire US broadcasting system. He will use a ray to drive all radio stations off the air unless he gets fifty million dollars. On a hunch, Billy follows two suspicious men to the swanky Skytower Apartments, where he hears one complain about their "maniac scientist" boss. Billy visits Sterling Morris at Amalgamated Broadcasting, where Morris refuses to entertain any belief that a reputable building like Skytower Apartments could host a criminal enterprise. While Billy is shooed out of the office, he does convince Morris to offer him a job in exchange for catching the criminals.
Later that night, Billy, in the form of Captain Marvel, visits Sivana's apartment building, discovering the thugs talking to Sivana over the television. Captain Marvel enters the room and easily takes out the thugs, smashing the radio silencer in the process. While Sivana vows vengeance, Captain Marvel promises to bring the evil mastermind to justice, dead or alive. Billy changes back to his normal self and invites Sterling Morris to see his handiwork. Morris gives Billy the job that was promised. In his excitement, Billy almost gives away his secret identity, but stops himself before doing so.