Warning: contains spoilers for Future State: Teen Titans #2 and Future State: Shazam! #1
In a way, Shazam is more Superman than Superman. Though the former Captain Marvel’s appeal lies in his purity, that hasn’t stopped comic creators from turning Shazam into a dark anti-hero, and that seems particularly true for the dystopian Future State. Future State: Shazam! showed readers what Earth’s Mightiest Mortal would look like if he was completely separated from Billy Batson, but left it a mystery on exactly why they separated. That mystery is answered in Future State: Teen Titans #2 where it is revealed that, in order to save the world, Shazam had to condemn a Teen Titan to Hell for all eternity.
Future State: Teen Titans by writer Tim Sheridan and artist Rafa Sandoval has shown the Titans at their lowest point. After the Titans unleashed the four riders of the apocalypse on accident, the world is plunged into a post-apocalypse that results in the death of most Titans. Though the remaining Titans initially disagree about how to fix the problem they created, they eventually come together as a team to confront the four riders. Shazam and a team of other Titans use an ancient artifact to lure the four monsters into one place so Raven can bind them to herself. Together, the world’s last Titans band together for one last fight.
Though the Titans are reluctant to face the corrupted bodies of their former friends Wally West and Roundhouse which have become Famine and Pestilence respectively, they don’t pull their punches. While Raven prepares her spell, the Titans are pushed to their limit, with Red Arrow falling to Famine. Though members of the team are briefly taken over by the Four Riders, the team is saved by none other than Red X, who summons the soul of long-dead heroes, turning the tide and allowing Raven to complete the spell. Raven tells the team that she now holds the four riders inside of herself and that they are already corrupting her. Without hesitation, Shazam offers to take care of Raven. He locks her in Hell’s Rock of Eternity so that the Four Riders can never harm anyone ever again.
While this ending might seem touching at first, its consequences are explored over in Future State: Shazam! also by writer Tim Sheridan in addition to artist Eduardo Pansica. That comic shows that, in order to protect Raven from the demons of Hell, Shazam and Billy Batson had to split so Billy’s innocence could ward off all the demons hungry for the dark energy contained within Raven. This has left Shazam a husk of himself. He kills villains without remorse and even heroes, as Shazam has killed Tim Drake.
It’s telling about where comic books are at, that a pure hero like Shazam has become far darker than even Batman. As bad as it sounds, him locking Raven in Hell is actually the last noble action Shazam performed in DC’s Future State. Still, no good deed goes unpunished as the cover for Future State: Shazam! #2 appears to show the corrupted Raven capturing Billy. Comic fans can only hope Future State isn’t a sign of things to come for Shazam or the Teen Titans.
