I get your concern. But I look at something like “Princess Bride” Which utilizes situations and characters that frankly are absolutely silly. Yet that film plays (beautifully) to all ages. In that film is the essence of Captain Marvel’s appeal: A wonderous fantasy for children, written and executed with a level of wit and charm that makes it irresistible to adults.

If the film is made in that sense, not trying to be smarter or hipper than the material but just trusting it, The film will work magically.

I agree completely. My apologies for not communicating clearly. My fear is that we are going to end up being served with something that my 4 year old would find silly and laugh at – while that’s all well and good, that is not what I would like to see in this film.

My reference to “serious” was more in regards to how the audience would see it. Fun, light-hearted, enjoyable, yes. Silly, campy, rediculous, no. I don’t want something so serious that it can easily be viewed as a Superman or Batman film, but I do want to see something that can be TAKEN seriously – something as a serious film and not a kid’s movie that tries to be for a mature audience but fails to make the cut. We’ve seen those too many times in the past and it brings about a silliness to it that’s more of a turn off than anything.

No, I don’t want something outrageously silly but I don’t want it to be so serious that it could be classed as a drama. As we’ve discussed, we don’t want the Giffen Marvel. The old style was workable – he’s a kid and then changes into an adult and takes on the wisdom of Soloman and acts like an adult.

Well, we’ll see. I hear now that the Rock may take on the role as either Marvel or Black Adam.

Time will tell.

What set Captain Marvel apart from his four-color contemporaries was the sense of whimsy, gentle humor and satire that informed his best stories. Now these attributes are in sadly short supply in modern films and the style of humor most commonly used (Cynical, sophmoric,and obvious) would indeed be detrimental to the character.

But a “serious” approach is not the answer. “Serious” super-hero films are hardly money in the bank. “Superman Returns” was a dissapointment by anyone’s measure, and there could hardly have been a more “serious” approach (and consequent failure) than “Hulk”.

The apdaptations that have proven most consistantly successful have followed one simple rule: Trust the material. Work with the tone and style of the most sucessful period of the character’s history. There was a reason it worked in the comics, and a talented filmaker can make those elements work on screen.

As directors and writers have moved further from the printed page, the efforts have been less impressive. Every time a director has said in an interview: “I loved the comics as a kid, but it has to be brought into modern times” It always seems to mean “I think I’m smarter than the stupid old comics. I’m going to produce a self-indulgent valentine to my own tastes with minimal similarites to the original comic.”

I have yet to see one comic film released after such a quote that I regarded as satisfactory. And the ticket sales agree. “Shazam” will, yes have to appeal to a broader audience than comic readers. Wouldn’t it then make more sense to pattern it’s style after the point in the character’s history when he was the best-selling super-hero in the world?

No, we don’t want to see the Giffen Justice Leauge Captain Marvel. That was as off-character a portrayal as the white-costumed “Super-Gandalf” DC is currently trying to foist upon a readership numb to wit and ingenuity. Neither do we want “Captain Punisher” glowering on the big screen. At it’s most basic, Captain Marvel is best played as clever satire on the super hero concept.

As a long time fan of character and growing up in the early 70s watching the old show, I’d have to agree with you on several points as well as the others’ responses and concerns. No one here can know what the finished product will amount to as enjoyability or entertainment value aside from feeding the Cap fans, so I’ll add some of my own comments just to make myself feel better in the fact that I voiced my thoughts.

My fear is that this movie is going to be too light-hearted and too “humorous” to be taken seriously. Nightmares of “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” come to mind. While I understand your concern that the flux of super-hero movies may be running thin on the movie-goers, let’s face it – that’s what people are wanting. I don’t mind seeing some humor in the Shazam movie, but I would like it to be a serious movie along the lines of the other super-hero movies of recent (Batman, Superman, X-Men, etc). When putting a light-hearted atmosphere into the movie, you’re going to get a light-hearted response from the box office and not the hard, hammer-hitting kind that these other blockbusters are getting. It seems that frequently Cap is portrayed as, for lack of better words, a big weenie. Lame. Stupid. A dumb idea. An example would be in the Justice League of the 80s where Cap was eating Oreos, drinking milk and saying things like “golly.” While I understand he’s got the mindset of a teen – he’s not 8 years old. It seems as though the writers try so hard to make it obvious that we’re dealing with a youngster in an adult’s body that they lose focus on the actual age of Billy and they degrade the character considerably by doing this. I, for one, preferred the character that, when he was Cap, he acted as an adult, just as in the original series.

In short, the original Captain Marvel did act more mature than the Cap of several publications. Not all, but a good number of them. I would just like this to be a serious movie where people walk out with a “wow, that was awesome” and no “haha, that movie was funny.” A comparison would be the present movies of Superman and Batman. I could see a movie being made that could bring these two together and it would fit whereas bringing the TV Batman from the 60s into a movie with the modern Superman movie would definitely not mesh. I’m just hoping that the Shazam film you are going to brig us does fall into the “does not mesh” category. I know that my example was extreme and I’m certain you are not going to give us the 60s Batman style, but I do hope that my example better depicts my concerns.

I’ve been a Cap fan for the better part of 30 years and I’ve waited and waited for this movie to become reality. I’m hoping we, the fans, are not disappointed by getting a light comedy film with a super-hero in it versus getting a hard core super-hero film that has some funny lines/situations.

Best of luck and here’s to hoping for the best.

I grant that it seems the obvious approach, but it really isn’t what made the character great. Captain Marvel should be less “Billy in a super body” and more of a genie that replaces Billy in time of need. Thus he’s used sparingly, and Billy is the real hero. Yes, he has Billy’s thoughts and memories, but he is also more mature in the way he expresses himself. Remember that he must present himself as a leader to the world.

One of his gifts is the wisdom of Solomon. If he has that, it dosen’t work for him to act and speak like a 14 -year old. The boy inside should only peak out in moments of extreme stress or anger.

I know your part of the job is pretty much done, and your input from here on is minimal. But if you are asked, please try to put forward that Captain Marvel should be the fantasy of what kids think a hero is. That means not saying “dumb kid” things or playing air guitaur in mid air. (A bit from a script I tried writing 25 years ago. The script didn’t really work and I realized it was because I had bits like that in there.)

I grant that it seems the obvious approach, but it really isn’t what made the character great. Captain Marvel should be less “Billy in a super body” and more of a genie that replaces Billy in time of need. yes, he has Billy’s thoughts and memories, but he is also more mature in the way he expresses himself. Remember that he must present himself as a leader to the world.

One of his gifts is the wisdom of Solomon. If he has that, it dosen’t work for him to act and speak like a 14 -year old. The boy inside should only peak out in moments of extreme stress or anger.

I know your part of the job is pretty much done, and your input from here on is minimal. But if you are asked, please try to put forward that Captain Marvel should be the fantasy of what kids think a hero is. That means not saying “dumb kid” things or playing air guitaur in mid air. (A bit from a script I tried writing 25 years ago. The script didn’t really work and I realized it was because I had bits like that in there.)