#weird fawcett city

[windybluebelles]

More people should play around with what time the Fawcett City time bubble thing happened.

The most often ones I’ve seen are, 1960s, 1950s or 1930s.

Yeah, we love those. They’re the most canon compliant and have good comedy potential already.

Id like to propose some other years that would be funny.

Early 2000s, just early enough that the kids would have understood technology and know they don’t and they’re really annoyed.

1970s, not much different but it gives Billy the chance to meet some people’s parents and do some wild stuff.

“Oh Martha Wayne? I remember her, we smoked crack together.” (Drugs can’t effect him as Captain Marvel it’s fine guys)

1940s, I’m talking early 40s, I want them kids growing up on RATIONS.

1915ish, guys i want them to catch the Spanish Flu. Because I hate them.

Anytime before the 20th Century, it can be the literal end of the 1800s, it can be Ancient Greece. Idgaf, it would be hilarious. Cap just starts talking about the actual plague or some shit, AWSOME.

Listen, I believe that Fawcett is weird enough that we can get away with saying that it wasn’t even originally in America. Put them fuckers is Wales and have them be close friends with Merlin, have them be ancient Romans, Egyptian would be funny with the whole Black Adam shit, let them be from like the middle of fucking Asia or some shit.

Guys please it’s so funny to imagine geographers trying to explain why a random town actually just appears in Philadelphia and none of them speak English.

[cakypa120]

Part 6

[megamindsupremacy]

anyone have any resources/media recs for Fawcett city specifically? I got a comment on ao3 asking about where I got the idea to make Fawcett a timeless city from and to be honest i,,,, don't really know where it started

[wolfsbanesparks]

How come the weirdest things happen in Fawcett? Gotham is definitely cursed if they still have all those maniacs and bad crimes happening. They are the Florida of the DC universe. but Fawcett is just

Weird. Why? I like it weird, although!

In a word: Magic

Fawcett City is directly connected to the Rock of Eternity which is basically the center of the universe where all magic comes from. There are doors to other dimensions and strange magical realms. All the weird just sort of leaks out from there into the city until anthropomorphic animals and demons and wizards are just daily occurrences. When your city's superhero is a 10 year old who was given the power of 6 gods by a wizard he met on the subway, you shouldn't really expect anything less.

Another reason (in some versions) is that the whole city was frozen in time for a few decades and are playing catch up! That's bound to make things a little wonky, especially with technology! Fawcett is filled with brilliant scientists (only some of which are evil supervillains) but none of them have ever used a computer. Everyone listens to the radio even though they all have cell phones that connect to the internet. They have a nice grab bag of old school and new school tech that makes them a little odd to everyone else.

Meta-textually? Fawcett City is largely a reflection of golden age comics in all their weird and whacky glory. Around the time of the epic copyright battle that stopped the production of new Captain Marvel comics, a lot of comics started leaning into more serious/realistic storylines. So when DC started making new Captain Marvel comics they kept the fun golden age stuff which made Fawcett City a much weirder place than other places in the DC universe.

Also meta-textually, our beloved Billy is a kid! His adventures are fantastical because those are the types of adventures kids want to have. As such Fawcett City had to be a place where anything could happen.

I totally agree, I also love it when Fawcett City is a weird little place! It's part of the charm!

[gr1555]

One of my favorite fandom depictions of Fawcett was when they treated the city like Night Vale. IDK, I could always just imagine the city having that same vibe paired with over the top characters and settings as ASOUE (the visual depiction of it all).

Combine this with other heroes like Batman visiting Fawcett to try and figure out more about Captain Marvel and his family/team only for his brain to short circuit mintues after arriving from all the chaos and impossibility of everything.

Billy could have his own podcast or Radio show that's super popular even outside the city with him reporting on everything. He has an "odd things that happened this week" segment but it's all like normal stuff for everyone else but completely weird for citizens of Fawcett. The city could have a feud with both Gotham and/or Metropolis citizens.

The entire city could know about the Marvel Family identities but just delete and deny any evidence acting confused or refuse to acknowledge it whenever asked.

[batboyblog]

Personally I always like to think of Billy Batson's hometown Fawcett City, is magically cursed. It's stuck sometime between 1947 and 1953. By which I mean everyone is aware it's 2023, and they still get news from the outside and they can leave, but everyone dresses, and talks like it's 70 years ago. If you move to Fawcett City your clothes will slowly transform themselves into 1950s versions of themselves, by the end of the month big ticket things like your car will have transformed, your TV will become a radio, your computer and cell phone just gone. Now everyone is magicked to just not mind and indeed think this is all very normal in fact the whole world is magicked to not think Fawcett is anything other than "a little odd" so people move there or away etc. Though people from Fawcett (like say Billy Batson) sometimes struggle with the oddest of our modern world. Also no one can explain how emails still manage to get in and out of Fawcett even though there are no computers (or texts for that matter) but again everyone is magicked to not question it too much

[bongo-clash]

Okay scribbled this out Super Fast and my justifications for this are in the tags BUT-

Short DPXDC Prompts #658

very powerful spectral entities serve on the Ghost Kings council to advise and assist the king in his duties. Some commonly powerful entities are collectives. Usually the collective consciousness of a city, a concept, or an ideology.

Two of those collectives that serve the Ghost Kings Council is Metropolis and Gotham.

[imnotditzy]

So when Billy from “Frozen in time Fawcett” gets inducted to the Justice League I cannot imagine how hard it was for him to get used to the new technology.

Like he’s used to television sets being wider than his head, and all of a sudden he’s in a building that’s in space. He sees flat screen televisions and absolutely freaks out in the middle of the conference room.

What do you mean there’s no phone booths in Central City or anywhere? You just take the phone ‘with you?’ How does that work?

Why’s everything so small now? What do you mean Jarts are banned? Why do cars look like that?

Billy must’ve been so confused leaving Fawcett.

Everyone must think Captain’s so weird until they get to Fawcett and EVERYTHING makes sense.

[wonderjanga]

Marilyn Gets Revived

In this AU, the time bubble was formed in 62, Billy got his powers in 59, and the twin’s parents died in 58. There was also the fact that her body was found, but C.C.’s never was. So, as for how this works, I don’t particularly know. Maybe, since Fawcett is weird, the magic of the city revived her? You decide.

The point is, Marilyn Batson crawls out of her grave, Jason Todd style, and wanders the streets in the funeral dress she was buried in.

Marvel: *patrolling when he sees a woman, dirtied with bloodied hands* (from both crawling out of the grave and breaking the coffin)

Marilyn: *walking down the street, trying to get to get to Ebenezer’s house to ask what the hell is going on*

Marvel: *flies down* “Miss? Are you alright?”

Marilyn: “Oh uhm… Yes, I’m fine.” *looks up to Marvel and literally freezes when she sees her husband*

Marvel: “Are you sure? I can take you to the hospital. Your hands are bleeding heavily.” *doesn’t recognize her*

Marilyn: “C.C.?”

Marvel: “Huh?” *confused as to if she either said his dad’s name, or if she said ‘see see’*

Marilyn: “C.C. it’s me. What’s going on? Why’re you dressed like that?” *happy to see her husband even though she doesn’t know he’s not her husband*

Marvel: *computing* “Mo-” *looks around before leaning in to whisper* “You’re Marilyn Batson??” *sounds completely baffled* “Are you real?”

Marilyn: “Wha- Clarence Charles Batson, of course I’m real!”

Being called by his dad’s name made Billy’s mind blank. He didn’t really know what to do except take her to the Watchtower’s medbay because he isn’t going to take his mom to just any hospital. His mom deserves the best. And so, the JL were graced with the image of the eight foot five Cap, with a seven foot ten woman who looks like she’s been through hell and back. And yes, Marilyn is 7’10 because if Captain Marvel is a copy of C.C. Batson, he would’ve been 8’5 so he needs an almost equally as tall wife.

Marilyn: *hands bandaged* “So… What happened to archeology?”

Marvel: *awkward* “Oh right, uh… I’m not da-” *slowly looks over to see Flash and GL spying from the doorway*

Marilyn: *also looks over to them*

GL: *clears throat and walks over* “Who’s this lovely lady, hmm?”

Marvel: “This is Marilyn. Marilyn, that’s Green Lantern. The guy over there still lurking and stalking is Flash.”

Marilyn: *bright ahh smile* “It’s lovely to meet you. When did you become friends with my husband?”

Flash: *zooms over* “Husband?” *jaw is on the floor*

Marvel: “Mari-”

GL: *summons a metal clamp to shut Billy’s mouth* “Sooooo how long have you two been married?”

Marilyn: “Since we were nineteen. So twenty years!”

Flash: “Twenty years…?” *looks between Marilyn and Marvel* “Dude. How do you just forget to tell us that?!”

Marvel: “Uh…” *just grabs Marilyn, and dips out, dragging her to the zeta tubes*

Marilyn: “C.C. what’s wrong?”

Marvel: “Nothing at all. We just need to talk. Not here.”

Marilyn: “Okay…?”

So, Billy drags them to one of the buildings Billy and Mary live in. When Marilyn saw Mary she immediately hugged her baby.

Marilyn: “You’re so big, yet so tiny! You haven’t been eating enough have you?!” *hugging the life out of Mary*

Mary: *getting suffocated while crying*

Marilyn: “Has your father not been feeding you enough?” *glares over at Marvel*

Mary: “What? No, dad’s… dead.”

Marilyn: *slowly looks confused* “Then who…?”

Marvel: “Shazam.”

Billy: “Surprise…?”

Yeah, Marilyn spoiled your two with lots and lots and lots of motherly affection after this. The twins were just happy to have their mommy back.

Bonus:

Billy: “Shazam!”

Marilyn: *standing nearby, gets hit by stray lightning* “Huh…?”

Marilyn Batson now has a Marvel form and she gets to fight with her babies.

[aroace-madness]

Comfortable

Captain Marvel was a wonderful guy, friendly, caring, loyal to a fault and always cheery

Everyone loved him or at least respected him

The Justice League especially

So it's not a surprise when the Captain hasn't answered their calls and messages for a few days, they decided to visit him in his home city, Fawcett

Fawcett is a nice city, weird as hell and concerning at times but it had its own beauty

So in all honestly no one was shocked when a big piece of metal came hurling at the league the very second they stepped a foot in the borders of the city

Clark didn't have a chance to take off the ground before a woman in a silver helmet caught it, beside the helmet from which they could see her long Brown hair, she wore a red shirt, a blue belt, and gloves boots and a yellow bottom of a bodysuit that showed off her legs

She putted the piece of metal down on the ground and landed in front of them

“Hello, I’m Bulletgirl” the woman- Bulletgirl extended her hand for a handshake and Diana, who was the closest to her, accepted it

“Nice to meet another sister in arms, I’m Wonder Woman and this” she gestured at her friends “is the Justice League”

“Oh the Justice League, we heard so much about you” Bulletgirl smiled brightly “it's so nice to finally meet you properly, I apologise for the welcome you got but we’ve been having a bit of a problem for the last few day”

“Which includes flying pieces of metal?” Barry cocked his eyebrow, not that she could see

Bulletgirl didn't say anything, just pointed behind her

There was a gigantic robot walking through the city, it seemed to try and swat away whatever was flying around it, probably Captain

“Yeesh” that was Hal

“Yeah, Dr Sivanna started wreaking havoc in that robot a few days ago and we're trying to get him out without damaging the city and hurting people” Bulletgirl rubbed the back of her neck “we’re herding him to a less populated area and evacuating people from there to lessen the risks of anything happening”

Before anyone from the league could say anything, red blurr hitted the ground in front of them

“Ugh” the blur turned out the be a man

“Hi sweetheart” Bulletgirl waved at the man who was apparently her love “i see your ‘i can handle it’ is doing well”

“Oh yeah kick the lying one” the man managed to sit up with a grunt, he was wearing the same helmet as Bulletgirl

“I have the honor to introducing my dunce of a husband Bulletman” the woman said as she helped her husband stand up, his costume was very similar to his wifes, the only difference really were pants and a lack of gloves

“Nice to meet you” he turned to Bulletgirl “Do you have to call me that?” Bulletman grimaced a which made his wife laugh and kiss his cheek

“Now don't be dramatic dear i've called you far worse”

“True” Bulletman shrugged and dusted his clothes off “so, you're the infamous Justice League we’ve been hearing so much about”

“That's us” Clark smiled

“You do look like a bunch of well meaning people, even that shadow guy over there” he pointed at Bruce “dressed in black, cowl, long cape, gloomy demeanor, you must be Batman”

Batman just grunted in acknowledgament

“How are things going back there?” Bulletgirl asked her husband

“Oh, Voltage and Mary are evacuating people from a neighbourhood that Captain, Mr Scarlet and Ibis are herding Sivanna to”

“That's good” She patted his shoulder and turned back to the Justice League “so what brings you to Fawcett anyways?”

“Oh” Barry perked up “we wanted to see how Cap is doing since he hasn't been answering his comms for the past few days but we see why”

“Yeah” there was a silence for a moment “sooooo, do you guys want to help us out with that?”

Everyone agreed

Clark flew over to where the machine was and created a makeshift corridor from ice

Hal started herding the robot with his projections alongside Captain Marvel who waved at him and a man in a red turban

Shayera, Bulletgirl and Bulletman were flying around the robots head to try and confuse Sivana and IT seemed to work

Sivanas machine was slowly stepped towards a big, circular housing estate while Barry was quickly evacuating the last of civilians from the dangered area

When he was finally in a right position, Diana wrapped her lasso around the robots legs, Bruce did the same with his grappling hook

Shayera, Hal and Bullegirl started pushing at the shoulders of the robot while Captain Marvel and Bulletman were pulling them

The robot lost its footing and started to lose its balance. Clark made a giant ice wall to cushion the fall

The machines upper body fell on the ice and shattered it to about a half of it's height before stopping (Barry made sure to catch and put away the pieces of ice, before any of them landed on any building)

Bulletgirl opened the hatch of the machines head and took Sivana out, holding him by the scruff of his kilt while he was kicking and screaming, flailing his arms around

“I’ll take him to the police, Mister Scarlet is already with them making sure that there aren't any any injured or god forbid casualties” Bulletgirl said as she flew away from Sivana in her hand

The rest of the two groups gathered on the ground by the robot

“That was awesome guys” Barry smiled as he joined the group

“It sure was” Bulletman nodded his hand and putted his hands on his hips, seconds before he got tackled and putted in a one arm headlock by Marvel

“You guys were great!” Captain smiled in his typical fashion as he held the Bulletman

The man didn't seem too bothered by his current situation

“Do you have to do that every time?” The man in a red turban asked, tilting his head a bit

“You know I do, Ibis” Marvel grinned at the man, Ibis apparently “you guys were great too” Captain directed his attention to them, completely shifting his attitude

Before any of the League members could say anything else they got interrupted by two blurs, red and blue, flying straight into the Captain

The man didn't budge and just caught the two into his other arm

The red blur was a girl, looked almost identical to Captain, Mary Marvel

The blue blur was a guy, Voltage

Captain didn't say anything, just dropped them as they kept laughing and cheering

“Alright Cap, I think it's time for you to let go of Bulletman” Mr Scarlet said, leaning a bit on Ibis

Marvel sticked his tongue out at Mr Scarlet and eased his arm, letting the other man slip out of his grasp

Bulletman took advantage of his freedom and slapped Captain in the arm. Captain was about to slap back when Bulletgirl landed next to them

“Alright, Sivana is taken care of” she dusted her hands off and looked at the mess

“Yeah this is going to be a bitch to clean up” Ibis sighed

“Yeah, how about you guys start and I’ll escort our guests” Bulletgirl smiled

“Yeah yeah, you do you” Voltage rolled his eyes as he was already starting the clean-up

Bulletgirl motioned to the league to follow her, and they did

“Did Captain Marvel seem, different to you guys?” Clark his friends in a shushed voice as they walked trough the streets of the city

“He did seem much more relaxed around the other guys” Barry rubbed his chin

“He also called them by their names, without all these “Misses” and “Misters” he always uses when addressing one of us” Shayera pointed out

“Hmm” Bruce hummed, thinking

They arrived at the city borders and stopped in front of Bulletgirl

“It was really nice meeting all of you and thank you for your help” she smiled at them brightly

“It was nice meeting you and your friends too” Clark smiled back

“Uhh” Hal interjected “I got a question, you see, Captain Marvel seemed much more relaxed around you guys, how did you get him to let loose?”

Bulletgirl stared at Hal for a few moments

“Is he overly polite with you, is always respectful and seems like he would rather die than be mean to any of you?”

The League was left dumbfounded for a few seconds

“Uhh yeah” Barry nodded “how did you know?”

“Because he was the exact same way with us when he started out as a hero of Fawcett” Bulletgirl explained

“There is no way that's true” Hal shook his head

“Oh but it is, it took him about five years to finally let loose, you gotta give him some time. How long has he worked with you?”

“About a year and a half now” Diana answered

“Oh yeah, it’s much too soon for him” Bulletgirl laughed

“Maybe he does need time to get comfortable” Diana rubbed the back of her neck “how long have you been working together”

“Oh we’ve been fighting together since 1960”

“1960!?” Barrys eyes bulged out, same as the rest of the League really

“What do you mean 1960?” Clark asked in shock, he wasn't even on earth in 1960, he doubted that he was even in plans during that time

“Not to sound rude or anything but how old are you?” Hal asked

“Oh i’m 35” she answered, as if she’s not frying the justice leagues brains

“Wait, wait, wait” Shayera shook her head “ if you've been working with Cap since 1960, then how are you still 35?”

“That's because of the Suspendium” Bulletgirl said as if it explained anything. She must have noticed their confusion since she started talking again “Dr Sivana used a chemical he created, Suspendium, to trap Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Voltage in a force Field that would keep them suspended animation, something went wrong and instead of just capturing the three, the entire city got surrounded by the time bubble, as we call it, with Sivana in it. Captain managed to pop the bubble two years ago”

“Two years ago was when there were first sighting of Captain Marvel” Bruce pointed out

“Yes, the second the bubble popped, Captain started flying around the world”

“Wait” Clark shook his head “how come we never heard of something like that ever happening?”

“Oh” Bulletgirl rubbed the back of her neck “apparently everything and everyone that was trapped in the time bubble was completely erased from the maps and history books and only came back when the bubble was popped”

“That doesn't make any sense” Bruce sighed as he rubbed his temples

“Nothing makes sense, bat boy” Bulletgirl shrugged “now, as much as it's nice standing here and talking I really should help with cleaning” She said as she took of from the ground and bid them adieu

“God this is so weird” Barry sighed

“You're telling me?” Clark slumped a bit

“I think it's best if we don't think about it too much” Diana patted her friends shoulders

As they came back to the Watchtower they all agreed not to think too much about the whole Suspendium situation, it would only lead to a headache

They do like Captains friends tho, they seem nice and are good heroes

@puppetwoman17 @shazam-secret-santa

I hope you like it :D

[im-not-buying-it-ether]

Some other idea cause this is gold

Apparently the company who built my house used wood from a dryads tree so now she’s haunting me

Some asshole at my work cheered when Capt Nazi landed a blow on Captain Marvel and he got instantly fired (deserved)

I won the lottery but then was struck with the sudden urge to be kind and gave the ticket to some blond kid

I saw Dionysus sloppy drunk in a fountain

I’m working on a movie and one of the camera men is a robot

I was bagging a ladies groceries and her face kept changing non stop, like full on shapeshifter type stuff

I caught a leprechaun and it offered a wish for me to let it go, now I have a new car

Someone animated the dinosaur bones at the museum and now the whole block is feeding it treats

someone needs to make “only in fawcett” a thing. It’s kind of like “only in Gotham” but instead of talking about Robin casually stealing your cat and returning them neutered it’s about how you just saw a mob of angry people with pitchforks and torches talking about how Captain Marvel did something terrible (again. It always turns out to beby that sivannah guy or whatever framing him but everyone falls for it every time, including you.) and your not quite sure how the heck they plan to harm the indestructible man and you have nothing better to do so you grab a nearby pitchfork and join in.

[lady-ace]

(inspired by Puppetmaster13u's Cryptid AU, please check it out, it's amazing)

(formating inspired by Wonderjanga since i'm extremely new to Tumblr and tought it looked neat)

Inside Fawcett city, creatures of any kind were welcomed and seen as normal. An walking, talking, crocodile? Yeah, that's just Peter. A minotaur sharing a lemonade with an vampire? That's just Jeff and Jasmine.

Captain Marvel, the city's hero, though, seemed human. (or Kryptonian.. but there are records of kryptonite being thrown at him and him being fine if not confused)

Now, imagine if Billy (and thus, Captain Marvel) were cryptids who use magic to make an illusion to fool others into thinking he's more human-like, in an effort to appear less threatening, scary or weird.

His cape? That's his wings. When up in the air, the illusion magic makes them look like they're floating, but they're actually beating to make sure Marvel stays up in the air. When not in use, they fold in his back to appear more like well.. an cape.

When he joins the Justice league, he's oblivious to the gossip mill his teammates created.

Hal: “Dude, i'm telling you, he's not human.”

Barry: “What else could he be, then? Like, it's a given he's at least some type of meta, but what exactly? Kryptonian? An regular human with powers that can rival superman's?”

Diana: (a bit distracted, not paying full attention to the gossip) “My guess would be that he has some connection to the greek gods. He does mention them often. Maybe he's an demi-god himself?”

Hal: (shocked) “You CANNOT just drop that into the conversation and not elaborate.”

//

Oliver: (a bit annoyed) “Batman, could you please tell Robin to keep his pets out of the watchtower? There are feathers everywhere!”

Bruce: “Hmm? I can't see how Robin could have sneaked into the watchtower any kind of bird without me knowing. Could you show me one of the feathers so i could ask him about it?”

(Oliver gets up, a big, white and golden feather in hands, and gives it to Batman)

Bruce: (looking the feather over, thinking how this is too big to have been from one of Damian's chickens or parakeets) “...”

(Marvel, who happened to be passing by, sees the feathers all scattered about, with Batman with one in hand, immediatly gets embarrased about how he forgot the illusion spell breaks when he transforms back into Billy, and thus leaves the feathers behind) “Hey.. sorry, those are mine. I'll clean them up.”

Oliver: “What do you m-”

(Both Oliver and Bruce look over, Oliver obviously very confused)

Oliver: “You own a bird and let it loose on the watchtower?”

Marvel: “Oh, no, no, those are mine. Like.. mine mine.”

(Billy breaks the spell, the illusion going off instantly)

Oliver: "OH! oh, i see what you mean.”

//

Hal: “So, he's an.. bird-like humanoid and uses an spell to look like what we're used to seeing him as?”

Oliver: “From what i saw, yeah, pretty much.”

Barry: “...i owe Cyborg 10 dollars.”

Hal: (sighing) “Same.”

[wolfsbanesparks]

Oh shit, are the JL gonna be like, prepared to deal with his rogues???? RIP Fawcett

Prepared? Not at all. They don't know nearly as much about Fawcett as they think they do and that includes a lack of knowledge on the city's rogues. The fact that Cap isn't the type to talk up his villains has definitely left them with the impression that most of his rogues aren't that difficult to deal with.

Can they handle it? With a learning curve, probably. If Fawcett is in danger then they will step up to save the day, but it will be a bit messy.

[discocandles]

i feel like billy flashbangs anyone in roughly a half a mile radius of him when transforming. or maybe its more like when you see the sky light up and start counting until you hear the thunder. "oh so captain marvel was about 2 miles away this time."

You know, you’d think people would eventually put together the random lightning strikes and Shazam’s sudden appearances.

[is-this-even-relatable]

DC PROMPT #1:

So you know how Billy’s last name is Batson? Well think in terms of Norse naming schemes and it’s Bat son.

I want a fic where people think Billy is Batman’s son.

Batman knows who Captain Marvel is, and sometimes Billy has a tough day. Sometimes Batman comes to help out in Fawcett City and happens to run into scrawny kid Billy. So he helps/offers emotional or physical support.

And Billy is a little shit, and also magical as fuck so he’s got Weird-Vibes (TM)

People see this strange, obviously not normal child. People see Batman, the cryptid, whom shadows cling to and is quieter than the night he dwells in.

Yeah that black haired kid is obviously some magical spawn of batman.

And then they learn his name is Billy Batson? Yeah, that’s definitely Batman’s son, didn’t know Batman was norse though?

[deesea-ao3]

Fun Lore Ideas for Fawcett City

I've been sitting on these concepts for ages and need to get them out of my system. For my current WIP, it was important that I have a strong concept for what kind of city Fawcett was going to be. While the plot isn't technically taking place in Fawcett, a huge amount of my lore interpretations/characterisations rely on there being a solid original setting to draw from. Also, it's super fun to extrapolate history and economy for a fictional magic city to try and make it feel as plausible as possible.

Now, to start with, I had to establish where the city would actually be located. Fawcett is typically represented and/or thought of as being in the Midwest, so I was able to whittle down my options even more. I couldn't have it too close to Central City, Keystone City, or Smallville since I wanted Fawcett to retain its isolated feel. It'd be harder for it to get away with being magic if it was a stones throw from speedster stomping grounds, for instance. In the end, I looked up old maps of America DC Comics had officially released for inspiration. What I got were these:

The first didn't have Fawcett at all, and the second had it placed near the border of Wisconsin. The latter was serviceable for my purposes. However, I wanted something more to draw from. I wanted to make Fawcett feel like an actual city with history before I slapped on the magic superhero. It technically was just an ordinary city until Shazam placed a portal there after all.

My second go of looking for inspiration was much more fruitful. I looked at a few fan-made maps and eventually stumbled upon this one in a reddit forum:

Upon closer inspection, I realised something.

That's fucking Chicago.

The idea that then formed was brilliant, my best one maybe ever. If I don't want to write a 2K+ document detailing an organic history of fictional Fawcett City, coupled with local industry and culture to boot, I can just STEAL a real one!

The existence of IRL Chicago is not necessary for my story, and its absence would be barely noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. Functionally, it wouldn't even be gone. Its location and major historical events would still have occurred, just under a different name. It not only saves me tons of labour as a writer, it's also fucking hilarious.

The heart of ALL of magic lies in an abdoned subway station in downtown Chicago Fawcett, the Windy city that houses pagan subcultures, talking animals, cursed objects and people who still think it's 1945.

Southern Lake Michigan has freshwater mermaids. The flat lands of the city proper are surrounded by bluffs as old as the ice age, which thrum with prehistoric magic. The sunset is always pink, and moonbeams are brighter somehow here. In the river that flows through art-nouveau styled skyscrapers swim fish with rainbow scales. The people are happy and chatty and full of little secrets, kept close and safe for rainy days. The woman who dresses in leaves and sleeps on park benches is liable to be simply human, but the jolly old milkman who visits you every morning is fae through and through. Weird is normal and normal is weird.

All while in Chicago, Illinois, one of the most populous, wealthy cities in America since the 1870s. The mechanic who enchanted your car to not break down anymore was raised by regular steel mill workers. The politician who dreams of addressing the city's entrenched class divides is stuck doing paperwork to establish legal protections for the local gnome population's tree houses. When it snows in winter, Yetis clear driveways and salt the sidewalks. No one talks about it much because what is noteworthy about public servants doing their jobs? So what if they're Yetis? You got a problem with that?

Fawcett blows Gotham out the goddamn water for weirdness, but because they're so nonchalant and humble about it, Gothamites walk around smugly assured of their tolerance for insanity, unaware of the bigger fish, which is the average Fawcett citizen. When tourists come to visit, the very genre of reality changes the second they step foot within city lines.

Fawcett solos, tbh. DC writers are weaksauce for not seeing the vision that is mystic Chicago city, home to all of magic.