#and that has crushed Kon as he tries meeting that impossible standard only to keep getting isolated or phased out of necessity

[im-not-buying-it-ether]

To @thefantasmarex and other Cap adopts Kon AU enjoyers

I just thought something, Captain Marvel isn’t an inherited title. In the OG comics and still in a lot of later ones it’s specifically a chosen one thing, we know that with Billy, but his entire family is honorary members and titles passed between close friends and family specifically to share the power. Not pass it on.

Billy has 3 potential candidates for succession depending on canons; The original being BillBat from the 30th century, Power of Shazam’s CeCe Beck from the 90th century, and Tanist of the 853rd century in the DC 1,000,000 comics.

(Pictures and more below the cut)

Only one is actually related to Billy, and that’s BillBat of earth, his distant descendant. CeCe is from Bindermann and Tanist is from Mercury, both having stumbled into the RoE some how and have no prior relation.

No one in the current Marvel family as they know it is supposed to usurp Billy or replace him, he’s supposed to take the Wizards mantle fully later on in life and wait until his successor is old enough to inherit his power. Billy has to live to see that day, weather it’s 1,000 or 7,000 or 83,000 years into the future, he has to make it to pass the torch to the next being Pure of Heart and Strong of Spirit.

There is no replacing Marvel in the modern day, no keeping his name alive till the next guy needed, Conner has no expected inheritance or standards if he’s taken in as a member of the Marvel family. He can be whatever he wants as long as he’s a good person, he could wear his symbol and call himself Junior or another Lieutenant Marvel but he doesn’t have to.

There has to be a Superman once Clark’s gone, he’s too much of a symbol to fade, he means too much. But in a way Marvel doesn’t, and it’s not something bad or sad in context.

Being Captain Marvel is always shown as a thankless and isolating job, but one that has to be done to keep ancient evils at bay and the balance of Magic in order. That’s why Billy takes the job as Wizard only when Shazam dies, magic needs a warden but he doesn’t want that job right away, when he takes it he chooses Freddy as a champion to be Captain Marvel but they aren’t Shazam, he is. That’s what separates the Wizards champion, which is what Billy is, from the gods champions that his family is.

Conner has no expectation in his family, not because he isn’t good enough or because of a flaw in his upbringing, but because of a highly selective criteria for a job no one really wants.