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What if during the post crisis era, Cap took residence in Metropolis instead of Superman?

With this being a non scientist, evil businessman version who relied on weakness exploitation, would Lex even be a threat?

Prep and such remains the same, as this is a scenerio.

Dunno for sure, but thank you for referring to Billy as CAPTAIN MARVEL and not "Shazam".

Captain Marvel is, in his own comics, the "Superman". He was the strongest, the fastest, the most invulnerable, he was the main boyscout that people believed in the most out of all other superheroes. If people had their chips down, and had to pick the one hero to save them against an insurmountable threat, Captain Marvel was chosen even over Superman. But when DC took over Fawcett, Billy was relegated to a B list hero who's best feat is matching Superman in armwrestling. Wonder Woman since Post Crisis has way better feats in all areas than Captain Marvel, the man is literally a joke to the Man of Steel.

However, the OP's question implies that, instead of dealing with Dr Sivana Cap is dealing with Luthor. Dr Sivana and Lex Luthor are both equally intelligent, the greatest brains on Earth, but Sivana is a sick, twisted, and demented troll who constantly holds the entire earth ransom with doomsday devices. Luthor is not as wicked, and in some cases is a force of good, his ego and obsession/envy of earth's mightiest mortal is what mainly drives him to be a villain.

So the battle within Captain Marvel is different. If Billy was in Metropolis first instead of Superman, Luthor naturally would envy and obsess over him. But the ways he goes about fighting him, and him fighting Cap is completely different from Superman. Supes relies on his intelligence combined with his senses and abilities in order to not be bamboozled by Lex. Captain Marvel is not a Kryptonian, he has the Wisdom of Solomon which is flat out superior to "faster than supercomputer intelligence". Another thing is that the power of Zeus makes it so that Captain Marvel is, not just invulnerable, but immortal. He can't die, unless Zeus says he dies. The only way for Luthor to do anything meaningful to Cap is to:
1. Turn & keep him into Billy (requires finding out his secret identity)
2. Blackmail (the typical Sivana way)
3. Create a Superman+ level brick
4. Gain the powers of Shazam
5. Trap him somehow

Very good and accurate rundown of all characters involved.

Originally posted by cdtm
What if during the post crisis era, Cap took residence in Metropolis instead of Superman?

With this being a non scientist, evil businessman version who relied on weakness exploitation, would Lex even be a threat?

Prep and such remains the same, as this is a scenerio. How late into post-crisis are we talking? Because in 2006's Superman/Shazam: First Thunder, Sivana actually goes to Luthor for assistance in destroying Captain Marvel. Lex gives Sivana a metahuman tracker for hire that very quickly and covertly discovers that the normally invulnerable Captain Marvel is actually just the transformed state of an otherwise ordinary eleven year old boy in Billy Batson. Sivana botches the attempt on Billy's life (albeit not without collateral damage), but would Luthor?

Luther is a far superior strategist to Sivana. and yes, Even Post Crisis was a supergenius.

I'll have to reread that story, but if Luthor wanted to kill Superman, he would have done it long ago. Fact is, he's an egomaniac, so when he defeats the Man of Steel, he keeps him alive to show the world and prove to Superman who's superior. The same thing goes in this scenario, Luthor wouldn't want to necessarily kill Captain Marvel, he would want to humiliate him