1.
Cotonou
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Cotonou, is the largest city and economic centre of Benin. Its official population count was 761,137 inhabitants in 2006, however, the population in 1960 was only 70,000. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west, the city lies in the southeast of the country, between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Nokoué. In addition to being Benins largest city, it is the seat of government and it is home to most of the countrys government buildings and diplomatic services. The city is a port and home to an airport. Another familiar feature is the known as Zémidjans. The name Cotonou means by the river of death in the Fon language, at the beginning of the 19th century, Cotonou was a small fishing village. Though originally ruled by the Kingdom of Dahomey, in 1851 the French made a treaty with the Dahomean King Ghezo that allowed them to establish a trading post at Cotonou. During the reign of Glele, his successor, the territory was ceded to France by a treaty signed on May 19,1868, in 1883, the French navy occupied the city to prevent British conquest of the area. After Gleles death in 1889, his son Béhanzin tried, unsuccessfully, from then on, the town developed quickly to become the largest harbour in the region. Cotonou is on the strip between Lake Nokoué and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is cut in two by a canal, the lagoon of Cotonou, dug by the French in 1855, three bridges are in this area. The Oueme River flows into the Atlantic Ocean at Cotonou, the city has established transportation infrastructure including air, sea, river, and land routes that facilitate trade with its neighbors Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Togo. The erosion of the coast has noted for several decades, houssou Paul, a pilot project funded by the United Nations Environment Program revealed that in 40 years, the coast to the east of Cotonou fell by 400 meters. This erosion has led people to leave their homes along the coast. The Beninese state prohibited the pumping of sea and sand for the construction of protective dikes, under Köppens climate classification, Cotonou features a tropical wet and dry climate, alternating with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons. In December and January, the city is affected by harmattan winds, temperatures are relatively constant throughout the year, with the average high temperatures hovering around 30 °C, and average low temperatures at around 25 °C. 1979,320,3481992,536,8272002,665,1002005,690,584 Besides French, the Autonomous Port of Cotonou is one of the largest in West Africa
2.
Benin
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Benin, officially the Republic of Benin and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, the majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometers and its population in 2015 was estimated to be approximately 10.88 million. Benin is a nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment. The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and this region was referred to as the Slave Coast from as early as the 17th century due to the large number of slaves shipped to the New World during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. After slavery was abolished, France took over the country and renamed it French Dahomey, in 1960, Dahomey gained full independence from France, and had a tumultuous period with many different democratic governments, many military coups and military governments. A Marxist–Leninist state called the Peoples Republic of Benin existed between 1975 and 1990, in 1991, it was replaced by the current multi-party Republic of Benin. During the colonial period and at independence, the country was known as Dahomey, on 30 November 1975 it was renamed to Benin, after the body of water on which the country lies—the Bight of Benin—which, in turn, had been named after the Benin Empire. The country of Benin has no connection to Benin City in modern Nigeria, the form Benin is the result of a Portuguese corruption of the city of Ubinu. The new name, Benin, was chosen for its neutrality, the current country of Benin combines three areas which had different political and ethnic systems prior to French colonial control. Before 1700, there were a few important city states along the coast, the situation changed in the 1600s and early 1700s as the Kingdom of Dahomey, which was of Fon ethnicity, was founded on the Abomey plateau and began taking over areas along the coast. The Dahomey Kingdom was known for its culture and traditions, young boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers, and taught the kingdoms military customs until they were old enough to join the army. This emphasis on preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of black Sparta from European observers. The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery, by about 1750, the King of Dahomey was earning an estimated £250,000 per year by selling Africans to the European slave-traders. Court protocols, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the many battles be decapitated, decreased the number of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 102,000 people per decade in the 1780s to 24,000 per decade by the 1860s, the decline was partly due to the banning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade by Britain and other countries. This decline continued until 1885, when the last slave ship departed from the coast of the present-day Benin Republic bound for Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, the capitals name Porto-Novo is of Portuguese origin, meaning New Port
3.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
4.
Model (person)
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A model is a person with a role either to promote, display, or advertise commercial products or to serve as a visual aide for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Modelling is considered to be different from other types of public performance, although the difference between modelling and performing is not always clear, appearing in a film or a play is not generally considered to be modelling. Types of modelling include, fashion, glamour, fitness, bikini, fine art, body-part, Models are featured in a variety of media formats including, books, magazines, films, newspapers, internet and TV. Fashion models are featured in films, reality TV shows. Celebrities, including actors, singers, sports personalities and reality TV stars, modelling as a profession was first established in 1853 by Charles Frederick Worth, the father of haute couture, when he asked his wife, Marie Vernet Worth, to model the clothes he designed. The term house model was coined to describe this type of work, eventually, this became common practice for Parisian fashion houses. There were no standard physical measurement requirements for a model, with the development of fashion photography, the modelling profession expanded to photo modelling. Models remained fairly anonymous, and relatively poorly paid, until the late 1950s, one of the first well-known models was Lisa Fonssagrives, who was very popular in the 1930s. Fonssagrives appeared on over 200 Vogue covers, and her name recognition led to the importance of Vogue in shaping the careers of fashion models. In 1946, Ford Models was established by Eileen and Gerard Ford in New York, one of the most popular models during the 1940s was Jinx Falkenburg who was paid $25 per hour, a large sum at the time. During the 1940s and 1950s, Wilhelmina Cooper, Jean Patchett, Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Evelyn Tripp, Carmen DellOrefice, dorothea Church was among the first black models in the industry to gain notoriety in Paris. However, these models were unknown outside the fashion community, compared to todays models, the models of the 1950s were more voluptuous. Wilhelmina Coopers measurements were 38-24-36 whereas Chanel Imans measurements are 32-23-33, in the 1960s, the modelling world began to establish modelling agencies. Throughout Europe, secretarial services acted as models agents charging them weekly rates for their messages, for the most part, models were responsible for their own billing. In Germany, agents were not allowed to work for a percentage of a persons earnings, with the exception of a few models travelling to Paris or New York, travelling was relatively unheard of for a model. Most models only worked in one market due to different labor laws governing modelling in various countries, in the 1960s, Italy had many fashion houses and fashion magazines but was in dire need of models. Italian agencies would often coerce models to return to Italy without work visas by withholding their pay and they would also pay their models in cash, which models would have to hide from customs agents. It was not uncommon for models staying in such as La Louisiana in Paris or the Arena in Milan to have their hotel rooms raided by the police looking for their work visas
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Steven Spielberg
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Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE, OMRI is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the pioneers of the New Hollywood era. He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks Studios, in a career spanning more than four decades, Spielbergs films have spanned many themes and genres. His other films include Jurassic Park, A. I, artificial Intelligence, and War of the Worlds. Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, three of Spielbergs films—Jaws, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park—achieved box office records, originated and came to epitomize the blockbuster film. The unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $9 billion worldwide and his personal net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an Orthodox Jewish family and his mother, Leah Posner, was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine who settled in Cincinnati in the first decade of the 1900s, in 1950, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey when his father took a job with RCA. Three years later, the moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis, as a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. It isnt something I enjoy admitting, he said, but when I was seven, eight, nine years old, God forgive me. I was embarrassed by the perception of my parents Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times, Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice and bullying, In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. His first home movie was of a wreck involving his toy Lionel trains. Throughout his early teens, and after entering school, Spielberg continued to make amateur 8 mm adventure films. In 1958, he became a Boy Scout and fulfilled a requirement for the merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. Years later, Spielberg recalled to an interviewer, My dads still-camera was broken. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western, I made it and got my merit badge
7.
Gladiator (2000 film)
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Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson. It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor. The film was released in the United States on May 5,2000, the film won multiple awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Crowe and three other Oscars at the 73rd Academy Awards. It has also credited with rekindling interest in films centered around ancient Greek. In AD180, Hispano-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman army to a victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona on the northern frontier. Now weary of battle, Maximus only desires to retire to his Spanish farm estate, but Emperor Marcus Aurelius tells him that his own son and heir, Commodus, is unfit to rule and that he will appoint Maximus as regent to help save Rome from corruption. When the Emperor reveals his plan to his son, Commodus murders him in a fit of rage, Commodus announces he is the new Emperor and asks Maximus for his loyalty. When the general refuses, he is arrested by his officers and is sentenced to death at dawn, Maximus kills his captors and rides for his farm. However, he too late, and finds it destroyed and his family murdered. Maximus buries his wife and son, and then collapses from his wounds and he is found by slavers who take him to Zucchabar, a colonia in the Roman North African province of Mauretania Caesariensis, where he is sold to a lanista named Proximo. As he wins every match because of his skills and indifference to death, he gains fame. Proximo encourages Maximus to go to Rome and fight in the Colosseum and he could then use the power he commands in the arena as leverage against the Emperor. Maximus first gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum is a re-enactment of the Roman victory over Carthage at the Battle of Zama, although the gladiators are expected to be massacred, Maximus leads them to victory over the legionaries of Scipio Africanus. This prompts a surprised and delighted Commodus to enter the arena to offer his personal congratulations, when the emperors young nephew, Lucius, also joins them, Maximus decides not to kill Commodus. Instead he reveals himself and vows to have vengeance, the Praetorian Guard is ordered to attack but this angers the crowd. Under pressure to keep the mob of Rome happy, Commodus angrily relents, Maximus next fight is a victory against a large undefeated gladiator. Despite Commoduss orders to kill the loser, Maximus spares his opponents life. This defiance earns him the nickname Maximus the Merciful and more cheers of adulation, angered at this outcome, Commodus enters the arena to taunt Maximus about his familys death
8.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Walter Brennan was the first winner of award for his role in Come. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 72 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards, Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, and Claude Rains were nominated on four occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Mahershala Ali is the most recent winner in category for his role as Juan in Moonlight. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-1-55002-574-3. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees
9.
Guardians of the Galaxy (film)
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Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio del Toro, in Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill forms an uneasy alliance with a group of extraterrestrial misfits who are fleeing after stealing a powerful artifact. Perlman began working on the screenplay in 2009, Gunn was hired to write and direct the film that September. In February 2013, Pratt was hired to play Peter Quill / Star-Lord, principal photography began in July 2013 at Shepperton Studios, England, with filming continuing in London before wrapping up in October 2013. Post-production was finished on July 7,2014, the film premiered in Hollywood on July 21,2014. It was released in theaters on August 1,2014 in the United States in the 3D, the film garnered praise for its humor, action, soundtrack, visual effects, direction, musical score, and acting. A sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, is scheduled to be released on May 5,2017, in 1988, following his mothers death, a young Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of space pirates led by Yondu Udonta. Twenty-six years later on the planet Morag, Quill steals an orb but is attacked by Korath, although Quill escapes with the orb, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the orb. When Quill attempts to sell the orb on Xandar, capital of the Nova Empire, Gamora ambushes him, a fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters, the genetically and cybernetically modified raccoon Rocket, and the tree-like humanoid Groot. Nova Corps officers capture the four, detaining them in the Kyln, a powerful inmate there, Drax, attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan, who killed his family. Quill convinces Drax that Gamora can bring Ronan to him, though Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, learning that Gamora has a buyer for the orb, Quill, Rocket, Groot, and Drax work with her to escape the Kyln in Quills ship, the Milano. Ronan meets with Gamoras adoptive father, Thanos, to discuss her betrayal, Quills group flee to Knowhere, a remote criminal outpost in space built in the giant severed head of a Celestial. A drunken Drax summons Ronan while the rest of the group meet Gamoras contact, Tivan opens the orb, revealing an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Tivans tormented assistant grabs the Stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs Tivans archive, Ronan arrives and easily defeats Drax, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronans followers and Gamoras adoptive sister Nebula. Nebula destroys Gamoras ship, leaving her floating in space, Quill contacts Yondu before following Gamora into space, giving her his helmet to survive, Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondus ship to rescue them, Quills group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they cannot let him use the Infinity Stone to destroy the galaxy. On Ronans flagship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the Stone in his warhammer and he contacts Thanos, threatening to kill him after first destroying Xandar, hateful of her adoptive father, Nebula allies with Ronan
10.
Carol Danvers
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Carol Danvers is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel in Ms. Marvel #1 after a fusion of alien Kree and human genes gives her superhuman powers, debuting in the Silver Age of comics, the character was featured in a self-titled series in the late 1970s before becoming associated with superhero teams the Avengers and the X-Men. Due to her history in Marvel Comics, Carol Danvers has been highly regarded. Marvel Studios announced a film featuring the character, titled Captain Marvel and starring Brie Larson. In a later story, Danvers is caught in the explosion of a Kree device, although Captain Marvel manages to save her life, Danvers sustains serious injuries. Danvers resurfaces with superhuman abilities and becomes the hero Ms. Marvel in a series in January 1977, at first written by Gerry Conway. Ms. Marvel had a series of appearances in The Avengers, with additional appearances with the Defenders, Spider-Man, the Thing. In one of these stories, the mutant terrorist Mystique kills Michael Barnett, at the time of the publication of Ms. Marvel #1 in 1977, the title was self-consciously socially progressive for its time. This was reflected in the use of the word Ms. then associated with the feminist movement, in The Avengers #200, Ms. Marvel is kidnapped by a character named Marcus and taken to an alternate dimension, where she is brainwashed, seduced, and impregnated. Comic book historian Carol A. Strickland criticized the storyline in an essay titled The Rape of Ms. Marvel, as former writer of the solo title, Chris Claremont also commented on the inappropriateness of the storyline. Claremont effectively undid the Marcus story in Avengers Annual #10, Danvers memories are restored by Professor X, and an angry confrontation with the Avengers concerning their failure to realize Marcus had brainwashed her follows. Claremont continued to develop the character in the title Uncanny X-Men, Danvers enters the Pentagon and, while wiping the governments files on the X-Men, also deletes all records of herself in a symbolic break with her life as Ms. Marvel. During an adventure in space with the X-Men, Danvers is changed courtesy of experimentation by the race the Brood into a newly empowered character called Binary. Drawing on the power of a phenomenon called a white hole. As Binary, the character has a number of encounters with the X-Men, New Mutants, Claremont expanded on the incident with the character Rogue by having the Carol Danvers persona manifest itself within Rogues mind, sometimes overpowering Rogues personality. This happens to Rogue on several occasions, which results an uneasy armistice between the personalities within Rogues mind, after Rogue passes through the ancient supernatural gateway called the Siege Perilous, the Ms. Marvel persona is separated from her as an independent entity. Within the same issue, the Ms. Marvel persona is killed by Magneto, the character continued to make sporadic appearances, and two additional issues planned for the original title—prevented by cancellation—were printed in a quarterly anthology series. The same year the character was used extensively in the storyline Operation Galactic Storm
11.
Captain Marvel (DC Comics)
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Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker created the character in 1939, Captain Marvel first appeared in Whiz Comics #2, published by Fawcett Comics. Based on book sales, the character was the most popular superhero of the 1940s, Fawcett expanded the franchise to include other Marvels, primarily Marvel Family associates Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. who can harness Billys powers as well. Captain Marvel was also the first comic book superhero to be adapted into film, Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953, partly because of a copyright infringement suit from DC Comics, alleging that Captain Marvel was a copy of Superman. In 1972, DC licensed the Marvel Family characters from Fawcett, by 1991, DC had acquired all rights to the characters. DC has since integrated Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into their DC Universe and has attempted to revive the property several times, DC later officially renamed the character Shazam when relaunching its comic book properties in 2011. In addition, since 1972, the character has featured in two television series adaptations, one live action and one animated, by Filmation, and an upcoming Warner Bros. Feature film scheduled for release in 2019 as part of the DC Extended Universe, Captain Marvel was ranked as the 55th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine. IGN also ranked Captain Marvel as the 50th greatest comic book hero of all time, UGO Networks ranked him as one of the top heroes of entertainment, saying, At his best, Shazam has always been Superman with a sense of crazy, goofy fun. Fawcett Comics executive director Ralph Daigh decided it would be best to combine the team of six into one hero who would embody all six powers, Parker responded by creating a character he called Captain Thunder. Staff artist Charles Clarence C. C. Beck was recruited to design and illustrate Parkers story, rendering it in a direct, somewhat cartoony style that became his trademark. When Bill Parker and I went to work on Fawcett’s first comic book in late 1939, we both saw how poorly written and illustrated the superhero comic books were, Beck told an interviewer. The first issue of the book, printed as both Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1, had a low-print run in the fall of 1939 as an ashcan copy created for advertising. Shortly after its printing, however, Fawcett found it could not trademark Captain Thunder, Flash Comics, or Thrill Comics, because all three names were already in use. Consequently, the book was renamed Whiz Comics, and Fawcett artist Pete Costanza suggested changing Captain Thunders name to Captain Marvelous, the word balloons in the story were re-lettered to label the hero of the main story as Captain Marvel. Whiz Comics #2 was published in late 1939, inspiration for Captain Marvel came from a number of sources. His visual appearance was modeled after that of Fred MacMurray, a popular American actor of the period, Fawcett Publications founder, Wilford H. Fawcett, was nicknamed Captain Billy, which inspired the name Billy Batson as well as Marvels title. Fawcetts earliest magazine was titled Captain Billys Whiz Bang, which inspired the title Whiz Comics, in addition, Fawcett took several of the elements that had made Superman the first popular comic book superhero and incorporated them into Captain Marvel
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