Freddy is an almost pretty boy who is oblivious to how his looks affects most girls. He is a slim-built, slightly muscled boy, and almost elfin in appearance, with long, shaggy blue-black hair and deep blue eyes. Before the villainous Nazi crippled him for life, Freddy was a true Renaissance kid: a natural athlete, scholar and musician who plays both piano and guitar, and budding author. , but he’s far from perfect. He can be a bit of a daredevil when he’s Junior, handling both villains and almost impossible situations with a poise and enthusiasm that would make many adults envious. The youngster has the remarkable ability of keeping the facts of a situation clear without tailoring them to his own perspective, and keeps a daily record of his adventures in a journal.
When we meet him in # 2, Freddy and his grandparents, Nathaniel and Elizabeth, had just moved to New York City from Portland, Maine, trying to get him away from some trouble. He’s been an orphan since the age of 7, the sole survivor of the freak storm that killed his parents. When he finds out about Billy’s situation with Ebenezer Batson, Freddy looks after his best friend like a brother, even asking his grandparents to take him in while waiting for his bid for emancipation to go through.
Like Captain Marvel, Freddy always tries to do what’s right; so much so, at one point some of the kids at school start calling him “Captain Marvel Junior” because of this and for his idolization of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. An intelligent, thoughtful and charming boy, he is proud to call Captain Marvel his hero and Billy and Mary Batson his best friends. In fact, if he weren’t so pure of heart, Freddy would have made a great con artist. Freddy is the type of boy who would defend another kid from being bullied because he’s been on the receiving end of it himself, or make the time to read to a sick kid in the hospital.
While Freddy has many friends, both his own age and older, there are only five adults in his life whom he views as role-models: his paternal grandparents, who take him in after his parents drown; His landlady, Mrs. Wagner, who treats Freddy like her own son, even cooking for the boy and letting him live in his apartment for nothing; Billy and Mary’s lovable Uncle Dudley, the one adult he truly feels free to unburden himself on, and Captain Marvel, because he always defends the weak and abused and strives to do what’s right rather than what’s expedient.
Though he’s normally an even-tempered boy, Freddy is also the most emotionally volatile of the kids. He can show an intensity of emotion that some consider frightening, literally going from near-hysterical laughter to blind rage in a split second. His hatred of Captain Nazi is nearly fanatical. After his grandfather is murdered, he becomes sullen and angry about the incident and expresses his grief by lashing out. He doesn’t blame Captain Marvel for what happened, but even the World’s Mightiest Mortal will feel the sting of Freddy’s anger. When he finally lets himself grieve, it’s a quiet event, and he will realize that his friends will always be there for him, no matter what. However, Captain Nazi and his henchmen will not be so lucky.
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