Trivia

The six letters in the word Shazam stood for the six Elders who granted Billy their powers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

Jackson Bostwick was fired from Shazam! (1974) two episodes into Season 2 and replaced with John Davey. Bostwick had sustained an injury during filming, went for medical treatment, and was advised to stay home a few days to recuperate. However, producers mistakenly accused him of holding out for a higher salary. Bostwick successfully sued Filmation, which was forced to pay his full salary for the entire series, including all of its reruns, on CBS.

Jackson Bostwick said that when he was fired from the series the producers explained to him that, since this was a kid's show, most viewers would not notice another actor replacing him in the role. Bostwick believed that most kids were smart enough to tell the difference, and he was largely proved to be correct.

Billy Batson's work in radio from the comics was only mentioned once in this series. A brief line spoken by Billy in its first episode explained that radio station WHIZ had sent him on a roving assignment to do stories about American youth, with Mentor as an advisor.

The character of Captain Marvel was originally created by Fawcett Comics in the 1940s as a rival to Superman. A successful lawsuit by Superman's owner, DC Comics, resulted in the character disappearing for more than 25 years. DC, which had by that time gained the rights to the character, relaunched him in the comics in 1973; however, during Captain Marvel's long hiatus, DC's rival Marvel Comics had launched its own unrelated character named Captain Marvel, which prevented DC and the producers of this series from using Captain Marvel as a title. As a result, the title "Shazam!" was introduced (as of 2007, "Shazam!" is still used on all DC publications featuring the original Captain Marvel). Captain Marvel was actually created in 1939. In mid-1939 an ashcan edition of a comic printed under both the names "Flash Comics" #1 and "Thrill Comics" #1 was printed purely to secure copyrights for the character, but the names that were used were already in use elsewhere. The name of the main character was changed to "Captain Marvel" and the title of the magazine was changed to "Whiz Comics". "Whiz Comics" #2, reprinting the stories from the earlier ashcan edition, was printed for distribution in late 1939 and cover dated February 1940. A copy of the ashcan edition was discovered in 1985, at which time this was considered to be the most valuable comic book in existence.