The history of the "Captain Marvel" character name and/or trademark, as related to comics, spans multiple decades and at least three different publishers. The first comic book character named "Captain Marvel," introduced in late 1939 and today known as DC Comics' "Shazam!", was the flagship character of Fawcett Comics. Fawcett was sued in 1941 by DC, who alleged this Captain Marvel was a copyright infringement of Superman, successfully driving Fawcett's character out of print by 1953. When Fawcett's trademark on "Captain Marvel" fell into limbo after over a decade of disuse, MF Enterprises attempted to introduce their own "Captain Marvel" in 1966. Marvel Comics, in response, introduced their own "Captain Marvel" (Mar-Vell) and successfully sued MF behind their use of "Marvel" in their publication's title, which Marvel Comics had trademarked. When DC decided to revive Fawcett's "Captain Marvel" themselves in 1972, they learned (via a 1974 cease-and-desist from Marvel) they could not use "Captain Marvel" in the comic book's title due to Marvel's trademark. DC instead marketed their character under the name "Shazam!" - the name of their "Captain Marvel's" mentor and the magic word the character uses to access his powers. In order for Marvel to retain their trademark, they were required to publish "Captain Marvel" comic books. Not being a popular, money-making character, Marvel fulfilled this requirement by publishing a series of one-off comic books over a series of years. In 2012, Carol Danvers, the former "Ms. Marvel" and the lead character of this film, acquired the "Captain Marvel" mantle at Marvel, while DC decided to rename their character "Shazam!" at this time. Ironically, a "Shazam!" feature film from New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., and DC Entertainment was released to theaters a month after Marvel Studios' "Captain Marvel" film.

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