This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.
Captain Marvel Adventures #91 is an issue of the series Captain Marvel Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1948.
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the War Between the Planets!"
Broadcast is soon to start at Station WHIZ, but there's a mysterious failure where no static is coming through. When written down, it seems to be a message for Captain Marvel, reading “Please help. Only you can avert disaster to our whole planetary system….” Billy realizes something celestial is going on and heads upstairs to the roof of the ABC Building to call SHAZAM and summon Captain Marvel. He soon flies out to Le Roy Observatory to find there have been strange celestial explosions near two planets in a “distant constellation” which Captain Marvel soon takes a look at, finding that there seem to be giant artillery cannons blasting hard enough to wreck both planets! He takes off to the skies for hours until he arrives at “the White Planet” that we find is populated by men with helmets like Ultraman, flared yellow shoulders and green bodysuits. One of their scientists recognizes that this isn't a missile from “the Red Planet” just as Captain Marvel is with one of these sidereal atomic blasts, which only makes him angry enough to punch out the one who fired it. The scientist from before steps forward and tells our hero that he is Henry 786, a citizen who wishes to stop this interplanetary war. He reveals that due to the presence of Captain Marvel as a form of planetary deterrent, the conquerors soon came to their planet due to them being weaker than Earth. The two planets allied to drive back the invaders together, but with the war over, there is Cold War between the planets, worried about the dangers of their opposing side's weaponry. Captain Marvel realizes that they soon fell to suspicion of each other that has since exploded into war over a singular incident. Henry 786 points out that they haven't exactly tried being diplomatic at all and that he's now wanted for supposed “espionage,” since his anti-war attitudes are being (purposefully or otherwise) misread by the government of the White Planet. Three similarly dressed guards enter and order that he is due to be arrested and imprisoned, knocking him out with a rifle-butt to the head. One of them finds out the hard way that Captain Marvel is not so easily dealt with when he's punched into a wall, then smashes another alien in the chest to insist that no one arrest Henry 786.
Despite this, Henry 786 tells Captain Marvel that such a sentence is more important than his safety, since it would mean that they have otherwise approved their most powerful weapon: The Planetary Destroyer, which will (ostensibly) wipe out the Red Planet entirely. Later, Captain Marvel speaks to the White Council, who seem to only serve to distract him by letting him speak before they set off the weapon anyways. Intent on stopping it, Captain Marvel flies up after it, unscrews the detonating cap on it. By forcibly moving it to a median point in space between the gravitational pull of the two warring planets, it's slowed on its course and will now only harmlessly orbit the planet as a new satellite! Captain Marvel soon flies to the Red Planet, finding they too have made a Planetary Destroyer and tries to speak with the Red Council, revealing the salient fact that the proximity of these planets means if managed to destroy the other one, it would cause a catastrophic rain of fiery meteors that would kill everyone from the attacking planet. The Red Council asks how they are supposed to keep the White Planet from attacking them, but Captain Marvel merely insists that he has a plan and that they could always just become allies again. Noting that the Planetary Destroyer itself is still available, he whispers his planet to him…
Soon, Captain Marvel begins to collect meteors, smashing them into a larger chunk of space rock. He flies down to the White Planet and flies past the guards preparing to execute Henry 786, checking into each of them in a row before the firing squad can do their duty. He insists they must stop as they're in real danger due to a giant asteroid coming that will destroy them all! He points out that it is too late for even him to save them, only for the asteroid to suddenly explode before Captain Marvel explains the Red Planet used a shell to stop the asteroid from destroying them all, proving they can be allies again! The White Council are struck emotionally by how wrong they've been and Captain Marvel soon leaves, hearing that Henry 786 has been elected as Chief of the White Council, thanking him for his help. Back on Earth, Billy signs off saying that they technically both won the war and that peace and friendship are a prize worth winning!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the War Between the Planets!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Henry 786
Antagonists:
- The Red Council of the Red Planet
- The White Council of the White Planet
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- The White Planet
- The Red Planet
Items:
- The Planetary Destroyers
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the Chameleon Stone!"
In exotic India, an old man in a turban tells street children a story by drawing in a tiny sandbox, speaking of a stone stranger than anyone has seen before, drawing an elliptical shape with a shape like a lizard on it. We are shown the home of Cranshaw Jeffers, famed archaeologist. At his home, he shows off to his rival Ravar, a supposedly magic stone he found in the tomb of a Babylonian Wizard, the “Chameleon Stone.” Ravar smokes but doesn't change expression, indicating he is evil as Jeffers explains to him that the legends say if you touch it and wish upon it, it will turn into anything its owner desires. Ravar, mockingly, touches it and wishes it were a diamond… changing it into one! Ravar angrily turns on Jeffers, telling him he doesn't deserve it since he didn't even try to test it once, then shoots him in the back when he goes to call the police.
Luckily, Billy Batson was outside walking and hears the gunshot, calling SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel. He flies in in time to hear Jeffers accusing Ravar with his dying breath and flies after him to stop him. Ravar, thinking quickly, wishes the Chameleon Stone to change into a blinding light, changing it into a floodlight that even the Stamina of Atlas takes some umbrage to, then wishes it into a car to drive away. Captain Marvel uses the Wisdom of Solomon to recognize that it is now a sixteen-cylinder motor with an open top, since he could hear Ravar laughing well and likely also expensive. He flies off to do so as we find Ravar taking his car to a parking lot and having it parked to hide it better as we find it also has a telltale lizard mark on its side. While he's parking it, the attendant thinks on how it's the second strongest car he's felt, since he's been in the war. He wistfully wishes that he were back in his little fighter plane and the Chameleon Stone obliges, but is still found to be highly dangerous to maneuver in in the middle of New York City. Captain Marvel manages to catch it by the tail and land it on a ceiling, assuming that he's “had his fun now.” The lot attendant swears innocence that the car just turned into a plane, only for Ravar to listen in and head up to the roof, taking off again, then wishing the Stone into a parachute to escape into the countryside. He soon wishes the Stone into an entire mansion and declares he's richer than any Sultan now!
Later, at Station WHIZ, Billy gets word in that a mansion literally just appeared out of nowhere in the San Drako Mountains and calls SHAZAM to have Captain Marvel investigate (and to get there faster!) Meanwhile though, Ravar soon finds that his mansion doesn't actually have anything in it. In his madness, he decides to wish the Stone into being a Stone again, so he can break it into pieces to make smaller stones that he assumes will have the same equal power. Captain Marvel soon hears a terrified shriek and Ravar dead on the ground with a lizard mark burned on to his forehead, but otherwise died of fright! He assumes that the answer is that destroying the Chameleon Stone released a powerful amount of imprisoned energy or force that slew him, but wonders what it all means. The old Indian man tells the street children that no wise man knows the key to this riddle, then quotes Hamlet to let us know that “there are stranger things in heaven and earth than are known to our understanding!”
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the Chameleon Stone!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Cranshaw Jeffers
Antagonists:
- Mr. Ravar
Other Characters:
- A Valet Attendant
- An Elderly Indian Man
- Several Indian Children
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- The San Drako Mountains
- India
- New York City
Items:
- The Chameleon Stone
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel Fights Man's Worst Enemy!"
Billy reports at Station WHIZ on the unhelpful news that sometimes people just goes missing by the dozens every year & are never found again. The story then begins about Billy finding Mr. Morris in despair that he cannot afford the mortgage to the ABC Building due to his capital being “all tied up” & that this will spell the end for Station WHIZ! Billy insists he forget about it for now & try get a good night's sleep & that they can surely fix it tomorrow, but Mr. Morris isn't so inspired. The next morning, Billy comes to work to find Mr. Morris isn't in his office, calls his house & finds from Jeeves that he didn't come home last night & finds a particularly small advert with few details about a remote South Seas island existing somewhere & having nothing of interest other than an ideal that “people never work” there. Billy assumes as much as is the case & he left there in desperation without telling him & calls SHAZAM to have Captain Marvel look into this.
We are soon shown that Mr. Morris did exactly that in a small red private plane & finds two men in tattered clothes who decide to teach him the ways of island time, which seems to involve plentiful fruit & a moderately comfortable ground. Captain Marvel soon lands there & insists Mr. Morris return, insisting he's a coward for giving up & must return, but Mr. Morris insists he won't, since running Station WHIZ only led to constant worry for him! One of the islanders tries to just bludgeon him with a club, which yields predictable results & earns him a punch to the jaw. Mr. Morris insists he's only pushing them around to get what he wants & asks if he intends to just fly him back too, but Captain Marvel soon realizes he's fighting Man's Worst Enemy… Himself! The islander mildly offers to introduce Mr. Morris to the rest of the island & Captain Marvel figures that the mystery of disappearing men is… that men who were in trouble merely left their lives behind & came to places like here! He begins to relax on the island, thinking for a moment about how nice it is, but catches himself, deciding that he won't allow Mr. Morris to “live a life of lazy sloth!” Captain Marvel walks across the island, finding these men spend their time wastefully, finding a man who hasn't opened his eyes in 20 years, a man with a 20 year old beard, a man with hair as long as 1926 & a former welterweight who enjoys eating his fill now. Captain Marvel openly judges them as lacking self-respect, saying they're becoming animalistic brutes without a “spark of manhood” & pleads with them to return to civilization, only for them to tell him to basically get lost & throw less ripe fruit at him. Captain Marvel soon uses some charcoal and a rock to try to inspire Mr. Morris by just showing him a highly rude drawing he made of him, showing that he won't care about his looks or contributing to society, which is enough to convince him to return… after breaking the stone on the ground. Captain Marvel then starts his “daring plan” of headbutting the entire island hard enough that the entire island sinks itself, directly forcing Mr. Morris to condescendingly “teach” them how to use simple tools again enough that they can make a big raft. Once they're actively chased out of the place they want to live, Captain Marvel somehow insists that they'll be different & offers them plainly that if they can survive an earthquake on an island, they could take anything that the modern world has to challenge them, which they apparently find convincing, especially when a freighter comes along to actually take them back to society. Captain Marvel flies Mr. Morris back to New York City, where he just has a mild conversation with the bank president & immediately finds out that they're more than willing to extend him credit for his mortgage & he was running from nothing. Billy signs off from this by saying it's silly to run away from your problems & better to just face them square in the eye!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel Fights Man's Worst Enemy!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Unnamed South Seas Layabouts
Other Characters:
- A Bank President
Locations:
- Earth-S
- New York City
- The South Seas
Items:
Vehicles:
- Mr. Morris' Private Plane
- A Hastily-Constructed Raft
- A Freighter
Synopsis for "A Shining Example"
Captain Kid is at home and intends to visit Betty Mae, but finds his shoes aren't polished. He finds he's out of his own and complains to his father, then thinks how his mother said good old lard can make your shoes shine bright! He tries this and runs out to meet Betty Mae, being followed by a cat that has seemingly mistaken him for food. He ends up chased to Betty Mae's house, slamming the door, only for it to dash in through a window, upsetting Betty Mae, who just wants to go to the movies! Captain Kid goes to pick up the cat, gets scratched hard in the Achilles tendon, tries throwing a ball at it and fails, as it ricochets off the wall and into him. He tries to remove the offending ball from the equation by throwing it outside, but a kid outside assumes that it fell out of her window naturally and “helpfully” throws it back in. Captain Kid tries to feed the cat a small platter of milk, while holding a bat behind his back, only for the ball to hit him in the head, spilling the milk before the cat runs out of the window. Captain Kid exhaustedly points out he did get rid of the cat before she got back, as he said he would… but she defiantly says that he's not dressed anywhere near well enough now to be seen with!
Appearing in "A Shining Example"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Kid
Supporting Characters:
- Betty Mae
- Captain Kid's Father
Antagonists:
- Lard Cat
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Captain Kid's House
- Betty Mae's House
Items:
- Lard
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the Mightiest Sea-Mortal!"
Legends speak of the aquatic giants that once ruled the Earth: Titans and their leader Merman. When the “Shazam Gods,” led by Zeus, drove them from Mt. Olympus with thunderbolts, Merman retreated to the oceans. While trying to throw one more thunderbolt, Merman managed to catch it in his hands, claiming that he will take it to remember how to peaceful to keep things. We find below the waters that Merman still rules. A peon tells him that the oxygen crop has been going poorly, so King Merman orders any creature that messes with them be killed. We find above in the surface world, Billy is witnessing the research of one Prof. Dookle, who is testing out a new bathysphere. Dropping into the ocean, the bathysphere lands in a glade of oxygen plants, prompting the Titans to angrily react when he uses an arm on the bathysphere to clear away the oxygenating brush. They tear loose the mooring cable and he cries for help into the loudspeaker to Billy, who calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel. They fly down to find the cable torn by a beast of incredible power and the bathysphere being dragged by Titans. He manages to punch one over, but the second picks up a squid that inks Captain Marvel in the face and they run off. Captain Marvel is amazed by their canoe-sized footprints and follows them to their sealed cave, but reasons he can't break in or it will destroy their air-breathing environment.
Within, Prof. Dookle is brought before Merman who asks his plea. Prof. Dookle says he didn't mean to and didn't know it was wrong, but King Merman states that ignorance of the law is no excuse and sentences him to hasty death, only for Captain Marvel to appear and states that he's innocent and he's taking this case on appeal! King Merman is furious that his judgment be questioned, so Captain Marvel punches him in the solar plexus, prompting him to grab Zeus' Thunderbolt, which he knows will worryingly return Billy there. He throws it and it does. Billy, stunned by having done so, is slapped by King Merman into unconsciousness and wakes up with Prof. Dookle in a bed of “strangler” seaweed, managing to call SHAZAM once more to summon Captain Marvel, who flies Prof. Dookle free of the seaweed and back to the throne room to punch King Merman in the eye and demands a real explanation. Hearing what's been said, Captain Marvel offers he can just solve their oxygen problem & later, he dumps a supply of oxygen-filled tanks into the Kingdom of the Titans. Thus, we soon find Captain Marvel signing off as he interviews Prof. Dookle about his gift of a strange plant from King Merman himself, a new species of Oxygen Plant!
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the Mightiest Sea-Mortal!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Dookle
Antagonists:
- King Merman of the Titans
Other Characters:
- Zeus
- A Squid
Locations:
- Earth-S
- The Undersea City of the Titans
Items:
- A Lost Thunderbolt
- The Oxygen Plants
Vehicles:
- Professor Dookle's Bathysphere
Trivia
- Despite the cover, Captain Marvel does not punch Ravar in the face to make him drop the Chameleon Stone. He instead never stops him personally, but he is undone by his own actions
See Also