Shazam has always had an interesting and complicated history for its publication. Even his name had to be changed in order to keep the comic running. It may have been easier for the company to just drop the comic and focus on a new hero.
But Shazam had a lot of things going on for him that a lot of comic lovers would eagerly await the next issue of the comic. One of the things people loved about his comics is all the strange and powerful villains. So, who are some of these villains who kept the fans craving more?
15. Famine
He wasn’t known as Famine initially. According to Comic Vine, Famine was originally just an ordinary crocodile man from Punkus. Dr. Sivanna then took him from the Nile River and genetically altered him to become the Fourth Horseman, Yurdd the Unknown, a.k.a. Famine.
He eventually managed to escape the facility, not knowing much about himself. After six months of living by himself, he returns to the Sivana estate and meets Osiris. The hero then gives him the name Sobek, the name of an Egyptian deity. Sobek then puts on a façade of being weak and cowardly, even becoming a sort of mascot to the Marvel Family.
Eventually, Sobek’s nature as Famine starts to surface, and he eventually is the one who ultimately kills Osiris. He managed to trick the hero into giving up his powers, which allowed Sobek to devour him without trouble.
14. Madame Libertine
A villain that no one has seen in recent Shazam comics. According to her character profile in Write Ups, her real identity is Katrina Krieger, and she is the granddaughter of Captain Nazi’s brother. Her grandfather Wolf and herself emigrated to the US after the war, where they both took care of a suspended animation capsule hosting Captain Nazi. Katrina was her grandfather’s assistant, and he convinced her that Nazis had been correct and the person they were taking care of was a King Arthur-life figure.
It is assumed that Katrina created Madame Libertine using the leftover Captain Nazi technologies. She used her new identity to steal rare supplies that were necessary to keep the capsule running. However, she also caused some deaths during her errand runs.
13. Sivana Family
Aside from Dr. Sivana, most of his family is also out to get Shazam. According to their Wikia page, the Sivana Family was created with the purpose of countering the Marvel Family. The family is led by Dr. Sivana, who is their father. They aid him in his attempt to defeat Shazam and his extended family.
Unlike the rest of the family, Beauty Sivana gave up her life of crime to become a social worker in Fawcett City. She is also occasionally aiding Shazam.
12. Arson Fiend
Shazam has a lot of evildoers with a lot of weird backgrounds. Take Arson Fiend, for example. George Tweedle was hoping to make his way in the world as a salesman, and he’s been trying to sell fire insurance to his customers. However, being a salesman didn’t come easy for Tweedle. So, wanting to be good at his job, he decided to be more forceful with his sales tactics.
The man eventually started threatening his customers to buy the insurance off him, those who bought insurance off him were spared, but those who didn’t have their homes and businesses burned to ashes. Tweedle apparently was a knowledgeable chemist who created a potion that would give him metahuman capabilities alongside fire powers.
11. Chain Lightning
She first came out as a one-shot villain in a comic called the World’s Finest Comics back in 1981. She’s a formidable foe because her abilities allow her to dispel electricity in the form of lightning bolts. This causes the Marvels to revert back to their regular human forms if she manages to hit them.
This apparently wasn’t the last time fans got to see her. She returned to series in the Power of Shazam! in 1990. She was reintroduced as a teenage girl who has a multiple personality disorder.
10. Mister Atom
This giant radioactive robot was the creation of Dr. Charles Langley. While Dr. Langley was creating Mister Atom, he charged the bot with radioactive energy. Unfortunately, this move ended the doctor’s life. However, Mister Atom had an extremely deadly mind of his own, believing that he should rule the world.
On his mission to conquer the world, he is challenged by Shazam, unable to fully destroy the robot; Shazam then locks Mister Atom in an underground lead-lined cell where he vows to get his revenge. Since his first appearance, Mister Atom appears and disappears throughout the series due to several other villains wanting to use his power to defeat Shazam.
9. King Kull
King Kull was an enemy that has existed during prehistoric times. He was literally a king of a race called Submen, sometimes referred to as Beast-Men. This race resembles cavemen but is more technologically advanced than them. King Kull and his people were eventually overthrown during a revolt.
He managed to survive the result by being locked in a state of suspended animation and awakened sometime during the 20th century. He decided to dominate the new world with his strength and technology. He was eventually defeated by Shazam. However, this isn’t the last time Shazam will have to face King Kull again.
8. Sabina
Sabina is the daughter of a demon necromancer named Marius De La Croix and the sorceress Rebecca “Becca” De La Croix. Her parents used to be members of the Merlin Council but had since fled to attempt to live a normal life. Unfortunately, the Council managed to track them down when Sabina was about 6-7 years old. Sabina had to bear witness to her parents’ death at the hands of the Council. She was later hidden and taken in by a friend of her mother.
When she hit her teen years, Sabina had revealed that she had an affinity for magic when she accidentally summoned a death charm that killed a student. The Council eventually found her and identified her as a Fury, a type of warrior who possesses immense magical capabilities. They decided to recruit Sabina as an enforcer.
Later down the line, she tried to compete with Billy’s champion: Freddy Freeman, for the powers of Shazam. Her efforts were not completely fruitless as she managed to claim at least half of the powers of Shazam herself. However, before she could reach the final God of Magic, Zeus, Freedy fought Sabina and threatened to throw the both of them down an open portal that demons come from.
Freddie’s heroism to sacrifice himself to protect Zeus convinced the god to emerge and grant Freddy full powers of Shazam. Sabina eventually gets knocked into the portal, and fans have never heard of her since.
7. Ibac
His normal self is named Stanley “Stinky” Printwhistle, a small-time crook who attempted to blow up a bridge but was caught in the said explosion. He was eventually saved by Lucifer, who offers the crook a chance to become a champion of evil. Lucifer told him that he just had to do was exchange his mortal soul for power. Stinky accepts and soon transforms the villain fans now know as Ibac.
Stinky just has to say “IBAC” to transform into his supervillain form and then “IBAC” again when he wants to revert back. Ibac draws his power from four evil and terrifying men who have walked the face of the earth: Ivan the Terrible gives Ibac his Terror, Cesare Borgia for Cunning, Attila the Hun, Fierceness, and finally Caligula for his Cruelty.
6. Sabbac
Not to be confused with Ibac despite having similarities with the other villain. Sabbac is the alter ego of Timothy Karnes and one of the enemies of Shazam. Similar to how Ibac was designed as the dark opposite of Captain Marvel, Sabbac is also the opposite of the Marvels. The dark forces of Hell give Karnes powers to rival Shazam. Like, Shazam, who needs to say his name to access his power, Sabbac also has to say “Sabbac” to activate his.
Perhaps, Sabbac is the more accurate dark opposite to Shazam. Sabbac also draws his power from six different beings; only these beings are evil ones from Hell. The demons that power Sabbac are: Satan, Aym, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Crateis.
5. Lady Blaze
It seems this list is starting to get more and more villains drawing power from demons and Hell. This time we have an actual demon in the ranks. Blaze is actually a demoness who disguises herself as the Metropolis nightclub owner, Angelica Blaze, so she can steal souls without suspicion. She has been working behind the scenes for a long time in the DC universe. Apparently, she has been involved in creating Superman villains Silver Banshee and Skyhook.
Aside from having to face Shazam, Blaze also had to fight off Superman, who followed her to free the souls of Jimmy Olsen and Jerry White. While she lost the soul of Jimmy, she successfully kept the soul of Jerry.
This time in Fawcett City, she appears again, where she now has a new disguise as a mob boss. It was revealed she and her brother Satanus are only half-demon, and their father’s identity is the wizard Shazam. It turns out that it was also Blaze who corrupted Black Adam.
4. Captain Nazi
Captain Nazi was mentioned before due to one of his relatives being part of this list, but he’s actually far more dangerous than her. Captain Nazi is a genetically altered human being created by his scientist father. His father had hoped to make the perfect specimen to fight for Adolf Hitler during World War 2.
In the 1995 series, Nazi was said to be actively battling World War 2 heroes. However, he placed himself in suspended animation so that he could emerge at a later time and revive Third Reich. His brother and granddaughter were tasked to keep his body safe until the time was right for him to be awoken. He later gets resurrected in The Power of Shazam! #5.
Later, he is seen fighting Shazam and the Marvel Family, who successfully defeats and detains Captain Nazi. He is then sent to Europe to answer for all of his crimes since World War 2. However, he manages to escape and joins the Secret Society of Super-Villains.
3. Mister Mind
Who would have thought one of the more fearsome villains in the DC universe would be a worm? However, Mister Mind is no ordinary worm. The creators made sure he was a foe who would give Shazam a lot of problems in the future. He was initially depicted as a cartoonish-looking worm who possesses an intelligence that surpasses that of a human being. He had limited telepathy and could create nearly-indestructible silk at an amazing speed.
Due to his limited telepathy, he uses a talk box that is hung around his neck to communicate. The worm claims to be from an alien planet with others who look just like him. However, he claims to be superior to them due to his intelligence.
His current version changes a bit of his background and capabilities. Mister Mind is a worm hailing from the planet Venus. He has more threatening powers such as mind control, telepathy, and mental image projection. He often comes up in Shazam and other DC comics looking for a host or attempting to clone himself.
2. Doctor Sivana
Doctor Sivana seems to be mentioned a lot, and he has a lot of history with all the other villains in Shazam. The doctor is one of Shazam’s archenemies and is one of the richest men in Fawcett City. He is often seen using his inventions and the other villains he meets to defeat Shazam and the rest of the Marvel Family.
His obsession with defeating the Marvel Family also caused him to use his own family against them by convincing them to fight for him. Doctor Sivana also appears in the New Outsider comics, where he helps the Fearsome Five.
1. Black Adam
He was initially supposed to inherit Shazam’s powers. Black Adam lived in Ancient Egypt as the young prince Teth-Adam. When the wizard Shazam decided to give him his powers, his daughter Blaze made a deal with the ancient god Set to give him a different type of power.
When Teth-Adam would say Shazam, he would inherit the powers of the six Egyptian gods instead. Eventually, he served Egypt due to his powers and was forced to be away from his family. At a certain point, he could not save his family from death.
Shazam, the wizard, later believed that Adam was corrupted due to Blaze, so he depowered Adam’s body and buried it in the tomb of Rameses II. Theo later discovers the body in the modern era and awakens Black Adam’s power due to him being Black Adam’s reincarnation.