The following contains spoilers for The New Champion of Shazam! #2, on sale now from DC Comics.

Mary Bromfield has been thrust into the position of the new champion of Shazam!, replacing her brother Billy Batson who is currently trapped in the Rock of Eternity. On top of inheriting Billy's powers and position though, Mary has also inherited his problems. Unfortunately, as she just found out, that includes a problem Billy Batson won't face for another few years yet.

Mary's life just keeps on getting interrupted, from her parents going missing to taking care of her family. When she had to switch schools because of all the trouble, she couldn't even get through her first day without being called to be a hero in The New Champion of Shazam! #2 (by Josie Campbell, Evan "Doc" Shaner, and Becca Carey). Despite giving it her all, she lost the fight and the villains got away. That wasn't the worst of it though. The worst was the TV news crew that ambushed her straight after.

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If defeat wasn't bad enough, Mary had to deal with that defeat being televised and a camera being pushed in her face. That's the sort of embarrassment that Billy Batson is used to, being a teen superhero in a superpowered adult body. For Mary though, the consequences are far worse. Unlike Billy, Mary's appearance doesn't change when she transforms. She's already an adult, so the changes aren't so drastic. That means that Mary Bromfield was just caught live on TV as a superhero.

Like Superman, Shazam! doesn't wear a mask. That's always been fine for Billy Batson though. He hasn't needed to wear glasses or change his hair because he was secretly a kid. Nobody would've suspected the truth about the character. However, once he hits adulthood it will likely be a problem. Suddenly, his face will look exactly like that of the very public hero Shazam!, even if his body isn't the exact same fit.

This was actually used against Billy in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come. Everyone believed that Lex Luthor had Shazam! as his bodyguard. However, later in the story, it was revealed that Billy was never powered up at all. Although he looked like Shazam!, that was simply because he was the same age at that point as his heroic alter ego had always appeared. He was actually under the control of Mr. Mind, and unable to break free. It acted as a good deterrent against anyone who would threaten Lex whilst also making sure one of Earth's greatest heroes didn't have the power to stop him, should he ever go rogue.

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Billy has the opportunity to begin changing his appearance before he hits adulthood, to cover his tracks when he and Shazam! eventually, do look the same. Mary doesn't have that luxury. She's an adult now and the role of Shazam!'s sole champion was thrust upon her very suddenly, just like everything else in her life recently. Therefore, she's had no time to craft any sort of Clark Kent disguise. She didn't even know that her second outing as a solo hero would find its way in front of the cameras. For someone who's always had a family of some sort to back her up, she's totally unprepared for all this.

Interestingly, the big screen version of Mary Bromfield will face a similar problem in the upcoming Shazam! sequel Shazam!: Fury of the Gods. In the first film, Grace Fulton played regular Mary Bromfield whilst Michelle Borth played her heroic alternate self. In the latest film, however, Fulton will play both roles, being the only member of the cast who doesn't change actors when they say the magic word. The character had only just turned 18 during the first film, so it seems she sees herself as an adult now to the point where her appearance isn't affected by magic

This incident is a very big deal. It'll change everything not just for Mary but for her whole family. Although it's unlikely that the public at large will make the connection between them and the Shazam! family they've seen flying about Philadelphia before, it'll still bring a lot of attention their way. That's not a good thing considering how hard things are for this family at the minute. Their parents are missing, Billy is gone and all of them are dealing with the loss of their collective powers. Now the only one who still has that power has inadvertently changed their lives forever. Things are changing rapidly for this family, and the spotlight will make those changes even more unpredictable.