Page "Uncle Marvel" Paragraph 1

An old, rotund man named Dudley, Uncle Marvel did not have any real superpowers.

He found Mary Batson's good deed ledger which she kept to record her good deeds but had dropped and read it, learning her secret.

Claiming to be the uncle of Mary Batson, Mary Marvel's teenage alter-ego, from California, Dudley attempted to con his way into the Marvel Family.

The Marvels, possessing the wisdom of Solomon, saw through Dudley's machinations, but since he was, in their opinion, such a " lovable old fraud ", they allowed Dudley to join the team as their manager, Uncle Marvel, and humored his pretense of having Marvel powers.

When asked to make use of his supposed superpowers, Dudley would always complain that his " shazambago " was acting up and was interfering with his powers, though the Marvels always knew better.

In Marvel Family # 1 he defeats the rogue Marvel Black Adam by tricking him into turning back by saying Shazam wrong, causing Black Adam to correct him, but mostly he was just comic relief.

In Mary Marvel # 7, after Mary stops some thugs, he makes Mary promise not to turn into Mary Marvel until midnight, to show she is helpless without Mary Marvel.

He then sends two men to rob the office, which she stops with her own fighting skills but his own blunder allows them to escape, then kidnap her for a joke, not realizing they are real crooks and plan to hold her to ransom.

She is kidnapped from her bed, bound and gagged, and taken to Uncle, who reveals it was a joke, at which point the criminals reveal their true colors.

He removes her gag, but it is three minutes till midnight, so she cannot transform, making Uncle regret the promise he made her make.

Finally, as the criminals tell Uncle to write the ransom note, Mary sees a clock strike midnight and transforms, defeating the crooks.