@mustardsticks Omg I had a pretty similar Billy Batson story idea a while back!
Ok so I thought what if Billy and Black Adam were born around the same time and Teth-Adam would sort of mentor him. Maybe he’d see that Billy had some innate magic or he’d see in him whatever wizard Shazam did to make him choose Billy as his champion in canon(s). Billy would probably have a lot of hero worship because he’s seen Teth-Adam help his community or city or maybe even people he himself knew specifically. Adam would still be Shazam’s corrupted champion so Billy would probably be stoked about learning magic at first but then become wary or even scared of Adam as he begins using more violent, evil methods. I see Billy eventually standing up to Adam as that escalates. Adam would have that whole ‘well, if u aren’t with me you’re my enemy’ mindset so it would turn into a fight. Billy wouldn’t stand a chance because Adam is at this point the champion of Shazam, while he himself is 12. Black Adam would hesitate to kill Billy because he had developed some affection for him so he’d simply.. seal him off so he wouldn’t have to deal with him. Essentially killing him without actually having to kill him.
I was thinking freezing him in eternal ice with some spell/curse (u know, Captain America style) but I actually like your stone idea a lot better (because @mustardsticks your art just sells it man 👌). It ties in with the asthetic of the stone statues of the seven deadly sins in the Rock of Eternity. Ancient relics collecting dust but able to reawaken.
Maybe this is the final push the Council of Wizards needed to see that their chosen champion had crossed the point of no return and no negotiation, so Shazam banishes Back Adam.
Millenniums later when Shazam is dying, he’s desperate. He doesn’t want to leave the Rock of Eternity and the whole of magic unguarded, especially when there’s a threat that Black Adam might return. Having found no suitable candidates out in the world, he remembers the last person he saw standing up to Black Adam. With the last of his magic he passes the powers of the gods onto Billy, effectively awakening him.
The whole reason I was thinking of this premise to begin with was because of how fun imagining a Billy born in ancient Egypt adapting to modern times is.
*He would have no roots or connections whatsoever so he imprints on the first location he arrives in after leaving the Rock of Eternity: Fawcett City!
*I have a scene stuck in my head where he first walks through a portal and tries to orientate himself, then gets scared shitless by how much has changed. He considers that maybe he ended up on another planet or a freaky alternate reality but he feel the earthly magic beneath his feet, the same as it has always been. Then I imagine him walking around in awe of the tall buildings and getting spooked by passing cars. Then, he sees one of those bus stop advertisment boards glow in the evening and steps up to see what kind of magic the future uses. Is it an illusion, a glow charm? When he tries to analyse it with his own magic it ends up blue screening or sparking up because magic and technology don’t mix.
*It’ll be even more frustrating for him to be treated as a kid, because while he was viewed as young in ancient Egypt he was also viewed as self sufficient and expected to take care of himself and work. Now all these adults are in front of him trying to tell him he’s waayyy too young to work (and where are your parents, young man? Why would you need a job to begin with? Everything okay at home?) It would be a massive culture shift for him to be expected to rely on adults when he was expected to act like one from a very young age.
*He’ll meet his siblings while living on the street. The gang teach him modern culture and norms (and a lot of pop culture references that Freddy insists on being essential to know). They probably pester him about going to school with them (getting him tangled up with social workers in the process). It takes Billy a little while to tell them his story because it’s so incredius that he can hardly believe it himself, how could they? Plus they don’t know anything about magic. Not that it matters much in a world where superheroes exist. So, before Billy fesses up the others have plenty of theories on where he came from. They range from him being a refugee from some war-torn place to him being a kidnapping victim who lived his whole life in a basement (because who doesn’t know who Superman and Wonder Woman are? They’re on the news every week! And what’s your issue with cars, man? U realise the drivers would get into more trouble than you if you were to get hit, right? ).
*Billy would probably appreciate the magic community to pieces. While it’s smaller than it was in his time, it’s still quietly booming and doing it’s own thing behind the scenes. Having no need for technology and following old traditions (or at the very least out dated fashion). Billy would feel comfortable being this ancient relic of the past being surrounded by other ancient beings or people who were so accustomed to weirdness they wouldn’t even blink.
*The modern world is a lot louder then it was, so Billy would get overwhelmed often. He takes a couple of times a week where he just goes to the Rock of Eternity to calm down and listen to nothing.
*And oooo do I have ideas for Mary. She could still be his twin sister, one he will never see again because of Black Adam. Maybe Billy will at some point find out from his connection to the past champions or Shazam’s ghost or the magical community that Shazam chose Mary to be his champion at some point in the past. The stories, legends and heroic deeds of Mary Marvel are sprinkled around the ancient world. Whenever Billy happens to stumble upon them he gets super emotional. Maybe she even wrote some highly regarded magical texts in her elderly-wisdom-years that Billy keeps rereading. Maybe Billy can feel her presence through his connection to the past champions. (A fun side can be that Diana probably grew up hearing stories of the heroine and mystical warrior Mary Marvel, the champion of magic itself, and idealised her in her youth. She probably dug up all the stories and legends she could get her hands on, probably even asked her father. She’d probably be floored that later on her teammate knew Mary Marvel personally. Captain Marvel and her bond when he asks Diana to tell him any story she knows, promising he’ll do the same in return.)
*Once he joins the Justice League he can play up the whole ancient wizard bit of his story whenever he’s teammates get suspicious of why he acts so childish. I haven’t decided if he spills the fact that he was suspended in time for majority of it or not.
*When Black Adam returns it’s going to be a very emotional fight (why did you do this to me! You separated me from everything I knew, everything I loved- ). If any of the League members are around this can shift their perspective of him since he’s always so cheerful and carefree. They could never have guessed that he was harbouring so much pain from something he passed off as no big deal to them. Plus I imagine they’d get hung up on the fact that they used to know eachother and pester Marvel about it to hear his tragic backstory.
