Since his creation in 1939 by C. C. Beck and Bill Parker, the character’s original artist and writer, for Fawcett Comics, and later the famous DC Comics. Billy Batson/Shazam has played an interesting role throughout the pages of comic books but has also resonated profoundly within the heart and minds of fans throughout the years. Originally named Captain Marvel, the character’s name would be changed to Shazam in 1972, after Marvel Comics trademarked the name for one of their characters and would officially stay that way even into the launch of DC’s New 52 line of stories.
Consequently, as his origin stories entail, Shazam’s name is an acronym, representing the six gods who grant him his powers, Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, and help elevate him to one of DC’s most notable heavy hitters when it comes to powers and abilities, no matter how odd or different they may seem; the beauty of Billy Batson/Shazam is the fact that he always seems to make them work for him in even the most daring situations.
10 Clairvoyance
As stated earlier, Shazam obtains a portion of his powers from the Judeo-Christian King Solomon, more specifically the wisdom of Solomon providing him with several different abilities.
One ability, in particular, highlighted on many occasions in DC comics is Shazam’s Clairvoyance, which he uses as a means to not only become hyper-aware of his circumstances, usually in the heat of battle, allowing Shazam to turn the disadvantages of any particular situation into an advantage usually aiding in his success.
9 Hypnosis
In addition to this, Shazam also has the ability through his will power as well as magic to hypnotize individuals. Interestingly, though the comics are not specific on the length of time this hypnosis can last on a person, however as seen on a few occasions this ability does have its limits and can be broken, more specifically when used on individuals with great willpower, like a Green Lantern for example.
8 Omni-lingual
Furthermore, because of the powers granted by King Solomon, Billy Batson in his Shazam persona also is Omni-lingual which allows him to speak every language on planet Earth, including ancient and dead languages. In addition to this Shazam also can understand languages of various alien races, throughout the DC universe.
7 God-Like Strength
Shazam receives his God-like strength, from Hercules, the Roman aspect of the Greek demigod Heracles. As seen in the myths Hercules was the son of Zeus and the mortal Princess Alcmene and possessed otherworldly strength. Furthermore, invoking the powers of the Ancient Greek demigod, Shazam has been seen on many occasions to equal the strength of Superman himself, who is considered one of DC’s heaviest hitters. Furthermore, while superhuman strength would not be considered weird as a superpower, what is crazy about Shazam’s level of strength is when he became the Keeper of the Rock Of Eternity being dubbed Lord Marvel, he transcended to one of the strongest beings in the Universe.
6 God-Like Stamina
In addition to this Shazam also possesses the supernatural stamina of a Greek Titan, more specifically Atlas, the Titan that, as a punishment for leading the Titans during their battle with the Olympian gods, to hold up the sky for eternity.
Furthermore, Shazam possesses extraordinary self-sustenance abilities that allow him to go for long periods without needing food, sleep, and in some extreme cases, air.
5 Magic Resistance
What makes Shazam so incredibly powerful and even elevates him above Superman in this aspect, is his ability to resist magic. Imbued with the powers of the King of the Greek Gods, Zeus, Shazam’s magic resistance not only provides him with invulnerability and endurance but also heightens these abilities to God-like. That being said there are limits to this Magical Resistance, Shazam is only weakened by high forms of magic.
4 Inter-Dimensionally
In addition to this, the abilities of Zeus and the magic he posses, allow Shazam to travel inter-dimensionally, however, this ability is only limited to Shazam traveling to his base of operations, The Rock of Eternity.
3 Spell Source
Finally, what is also interesting about Shazam’s powers is the fact that he can shear his abilities with those he chooses, acting as a spell source of sorts. To explain, Bill Batson/Shazam acts as the source of all his siblings' powers, acting as the anchor to the Shazam Family.
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2 Optimism
Another very unusual ability possessed by Shazam, which would not typically be considered a power is his superhuman levels of optimism in any given situation. To explain deeper, with the Courage of Achilles as well as the Wisdom of Solomon, Batson exudes a level of optimism that has become a trademark of his character throughout the years.
It should also be stated that this ability is only boosted by Billy Batson, a 12-year-old boy, with the child-like innocence to accompany these god-like powers.
1 God-Like Speed
Finally, Shazam poses superhuman speed, which he was blessed with by the Roman god of speed Mercury. Furthermore, while most fans know that Shazam is fast enough to keep up with characters like Superman in flight, some would argue that he is one of the fastest beings in the DC universe even passing the Flash himself, the idea behind this theory being that Shazam uses the combined powers of Mercury and Zeus to bolster his speed.
In addition to this, it is also important to highlight that unlike speedsters, who receive their powers from a dimension known as the Speedforce, Shazam directly gains his speed by channeling and invoking the powers of the God of Speed, who is faster than the Flash himself. While these are only theories, it would not be the first time fans have seen Shazam utilize multiple aspects of his power's abilities at the same time.