#as much as i enjoyed uncle dudley in New Champion of Shazam i think they really missed an opportunity here

[wolfsbanesparks]

Darla needs more time in the spotlight, and this little girl shall shine! I know how a lot of people will call Captain Marvel a boy scout, so that got me thinking, what about Darla being a girl scout? She'd be so cute! She'd even go around with the speed of mercury selling as many cookies as possible (taking money from the wallets of bad guys who were mean to her, and then giving them cookies for a proper sale).

Maybe while she's on a personal mission to earn more badges, Darla stumbles upon a mystical threat, and ends up doing her own solo mission, possibly up against Arson Fiend, Captain you-know-who/rhymes-with-yatzi, or the rest of the Sivana family. This girl has so much potential to show off just how powerful she is, and I'd bet even the JL would be impressed by her (one of these days I'll write a fic of her teaming up with Batman or Wonder Woman, or even both)

Also!

I just remembered about uncle Dudley, and then I remembered, hey, Darla's last name is also Dudley. Do you think there's a chance they're related??

I completely agree! I love Darla so much! She is such a sweetheart, but we rarely get to see her be the hero of the story.

I always low-key headcanon Darla as a girl scout, so it's so easy to picture her using her powers to collect badges and selling cookies (and getting into some trouble too of course).

If you ever write about her I would be so excited to read it!

You know, I don't think anyone at DC plans on having Darla be related to uncle Dudley, but I think it'd be cool if they were. Like if he was her uncle or grandpa or whatever (they'd be part of a mixed family so they don't really look related but they are) and Darla’s parents gave her up (like in canon) and he never knew what happened to her. Or maybe he wanted to take custody of her but couldn't financially manage it or perhaps he has a record (OG uncle dudley was a con man after all, just a lovable one) and the state wouldn't let him.

I just think it would have been a cool way to highlight some of the complications of foster care and family with a character that classic fans would already know and love. (And then he could be Uncle Dudley to the whole Shazamily because they are Darla’s family which make them HIS family too)

[daydreamerdrew]

this just came to me but what do you think mary would pursue as a career?? i want her to be a social worker lol

I have a few different ideas and preferences:

Fashion Designer

Fawcett-era Mary was very fashionable, and when she was used to advertise real life clothing like dresses and such, they were sometimes presented to readers as clothes that she had designed herself. Also, Taia (Ibis' wife) was a very successful model during TPOS! and I think that there could be something neat in those two working together. Ultimately, I don't think that this is the most interesting option for her storytelling-wise. I also think that Mary has a lot of drive towards helping people so, while she can and should have hobbies, I can't see her completely dedicating her career towards something like this. But I can see her doing this in a more limited capacity alongside something else.

News Reporter/Writer

It wasn't too heavily featured, but the framing device for some of Mary's Fawcett-era comics was a good deeds journal, in which she recorded Mary Marvel's daily good deeds, which I think shows a penchant for personal/non-fiction writing. And then in the Post-Crisis canon, she was of course a spelling bee champion and in DC Showcase '96 #7 she wins second place in a state-wide essay contest for writing about adoption, a topic she of course has personal experience with.

It wasn't really shown in much detail, but later on (as in during the early 2000s) there were brief references to Mary working with Billy at Whiz Radio. And for the Pre-Crisis canon, Mary assisted with an event Billy was speaking at in Convergence: Shazam! #1

I can see this as something that Mary would be good at and would fulfill the helping people requirement. The concern here is that not only would it not be something unique to Mary within the Marvel Family, but that news reporter isn't that unique of a profession within the broader DCU. Still, there is the alternative perspective that Mary working with Billy could be something that they would both want and enjoy. (I can lowkey see the Post-Crisis Batson twins becoming a bit codependent after everything they've gone through.)

It's not my first preference, but I can see this for Pre and Post-Crisis Mary.

Non-Profits

Charity was something that was really important to Golden Age Mary. She didn't have a job like Billy or Freddy, and as the daughter of a wealthy woman she had the stability and funds to participate in activities like buying Christmas presents for orphans, leading a scout troop, volunteering to teach young children, ect. But most notable I think are the issues where she has Mrs. Bromfield fund things like a summer home out in the country for underprivileged city children or a recreation club in the city. The latter was started after some bored teenagers hanging out on the streets were taken into the criminal life. These things tended to last for one issue and I imagine for adult Pre-Crisis Mary that she would settle down with one and run it.

And for Post-Crisis Mary, I think that it would make a lot of sense for her to be affected by the knowledge of what Billy went through when he was living on streets and then supporting himself before he was adopted by the Bromfields and then, while Billy goes on to be very successful at Whiz Media, she could direct her attention to helping children like Billy. I think for this it would be fun to reimagine the Golden Age's Shazam Inc. which Uncle Dudley ran as a way for people to directly call and hire the Marvels' help and then would donate the profits to charity or to war bonds. It would be renamed Marvel Inc. so that Mary could say it and could, say, provide services for homeless and under-privileged children in Fawcett City, the kinds of services that Billy could have benefited from when he was young. The Marvel associate would be that the Marvels could do something similar to the original Shazam Inc. where they agree to use their powers for specific purposes in exchange for donations to the Shazam Inc. and that the Marvels would spend some time with the children. (I'm imaging something like what Billy did in a hospital in Shazam! Power of Hope where he told the sick children stories of his adventures and played games with them and such.)

This is my preferred outcome for Pre and Post-Crisis Mary.

Social Worker

This definitely fulfills the ‘helping people’ and ‘something that Mary would be good’ at requirements. I think it fits best for Post-New 52 Mary, who entered foster care because her parents were abusive and not because they were in some way incapacitated by like death or something, and who then spent years in a foster home where she was looking out for and somewhat managing the younger foster children.

In terms of unique-ness, I don't know of any social worker superheroes, but I do think that social worker headcanons are fairly common. But I think that Mary is genuinely well-suited for it as a character.

I like this for Post-New 52 Mary's outcome, but am not as settled on it as I am for the outcomes for the other versions of her. I'm hoping that we'll see some discussion of what this Mary wants to study/make a career out of in The New Champion of Shazam!

Assisting the Wizard Shazam

This isn't really a traditional career, and could actually be something that coincides with one of the other ideas, but I wanted to include it.

I really like how in TPOS! Mary was the one who was naturally gifted with using the Wisdom of Solomon, figured out the Wizard’s clues and read from his Historama book to awaken Ibis the Invincible, as well as the bits that we saw of her relationship with Ibis and Taia. I also think that there were missed opportunities in fleshing out Mary’s relationship with the Wizard. Still, I could see Post-Crisis Mary leaning more towards learning about magic from both the Wizard and Ibis and doing the kinds of things that the Wizard has to do in his keeper of the Rock of Eternity duties than Post-Crisis Billy, to be honest.

And I think that it makes sense that, rather than there be a big dramatic moment where the Wizard is unable to watch over the Rock of Eternity and one of the kids has to take over right then and there, that it’s a slower transition as the Wizard ages and the kids have to help him there more and more until taking it over fully.

I really like this for Post-Crisis Mary specifically. (I also really like the idea that instead of just Billy taking over the Wizard's post at the Rock of Eternity in the future that Mary and Billy do it together, which would mean that neither of them is stuck there alone for centuries but also that they would have the freedom of one of them being able to leave for periods of time while the other stays behind.)