As the most dysfunctional Justice League team, the JLI was prone to excessive teasing and bullying, to the point that Shazam was forced off the team. Despite being one of the group’s most powerful members, excessive ill-treatment caused Shazam to ditch the team, marking one of the only occasions where a major hero was bullied off an official Justice League roster.
Despite his powers of enhanced wisdom and perception, Shazam is still a child in a man’s body, so it’s a dark stain on the team’s history that he didn’t feel comfortable continuing with them. The main perpetrator was the controversial hothead Guy Gardner, aka Green Lantern, however Shazam was a generally poor fit with the cynical team. In fact, while Guy Gardner made sure Shazam felt unwelcome, another hero was actually responsible for him taking his leave.
The first time the team ever teased Billy was during Justice League International #1 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire. Guy Gardner had insisted he be team leader, and when Billy objected and argued for team harmony, he was called out for trying to please everyone. Billy stuck out in this team of gruff, foul-mouthed heroes. However, Billy actually bonded with Guy Gardner after Batman’s famous punch altered his personality, making him far less objectionable. However, Shazam began to realize that the team was taking up every waking hour, and after being berated for his lack of experience by Batman, he eventually came to the conclusion that he didn’t belong with the group.
Despite being a powerful hero who can match Superman blow for blow, Shazam lacked the experience and cynical outlook to be taken seriously by his peers on the Justice League International. The lack of respect Shazam was shown was typical of the rough and ready team, but shows how a collection of take-charge adventurers would realistically have little patience for a naive ally and may even be unpleasant to work alongside. While Batman has amassed a group of vigilantes around him as a found family in Gotham, he tends to be far less trusting of superpowered heroes, and this clearly extended to Shazam. Interestingly, the Dark Knight is both right and wrong in his approach – even Shazam would ultimately agree he lacked the experience to serve on the Justice League, but Bruce Wayne’s barbs pushed him to leave rather than take instruction and work alongside an often under-powered team.
Ultimately, Captain Marvel didn’t stick around the Justice League International for that long, but he made a lasting impact during his time there. While there were many factors to his departure, Batman snapping at him was among the main reasons he started thinking of leaving. While Shazam has since worked with the Justice League on many occasions, he’s far from a core member, and this may well be because of the lack of respect he was shown when he joined the JLI.
