Billy Batson was active as a superhero known as Captain Marvel, until the world had changed around him to the point where he stopped calling on the name of Shazam.
Somewhere along the line as he grew into adulthood, Billy became a servant to Lex Luthor, becoming brainwashed through torture into believing that all superheroes were monsters and that he also had a monster within himself. Bruce Wayne, who temporarily aligned himself with Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front to discover his plans concerning the Justice League and the meta-human prison, the 'Gulag', tried to reason with Billy when he also discovered Luthor's torture methods. Instead of listening, Billy fled and called on Shazam to become Captain Marvel, using the lightning power to break open the Gulag and to cause a massive metahuman war that threatened to engulf the Earth.
The United Nations sent the Blackhawk Squadron to drop nuclear bombs that would destroy most of the metahumans. Superman fought Marvel, suffering relentless pummeling by Captain Marvel's lightning bolts until he manoeuvred Marvel into being struck by one of them, changing him back to Billy Batson. Superman told him about the bombs, and Billy transformed back into Captain Marvel and outraced Superman to reach the bomb first, calling upon Shazam's lightning power to ignite the bomb before it struck the earth, sacrificing himself in the process.
