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Quicksilver (Marvel Comics)

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For Quicksilver (DC Comics), see Max Mercury.
Quicksilver
Art by Roy Allen Martinez
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceUncanny X-Men #4 (vol. 1, Mar. 1964)
Created byStan Lee
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoPietro Django Maximoff
Team affiliationsAvengers
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Inhumans
X-Factor
Notable aliasesPietro Frank
AbilitiesSuperhuman speed
Formerly:
Limited time travel, creation of time-displaced duplicates
Mutate other beings through use of Terrigen Crystal

Quicksilver (Pietro Django Maximoff) is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 (vol. 1, Mar. 1964) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby.

Publication history

In 1964, Quicksilver first appears with his sister, the Scarlet Witch, as a part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #4 (vol. 1, Mar. 1964). Shortly after, both he and his sister reform and join the Avengers in Avengers #16 (vol. 1, May 1965). Quicksilver becomes a semi-regular member of the team and appears in the title across four decades.

In 1991, Quicksilver briefly joins a reorganized version of the team X-Factor. [1] In November 1997, a solo series featuring Quicksilver was launched, which was cancelled in November, 1998 after a run of thirteen issues. In 2006, Quicksilver featured in a limited series Son of M [2]

Fictional character biography

Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch's mother - Magda - takes sanctuary at Mount Wundagore in Transia, the home of the High Evolutionary, after seeing her husband Magnus use his magnetic powers for the first time. Once there, she gives birth to the twins but dies soon after. As Wundagore was no place for human infants, the High Evolutionary places them in the care of the gypsy Django Maximoff, who raises the twins as his own children. [3]

Once Pietro and Wanda reached adulthood, they discovered that they are mutants. Pietro discovers he possesses superhuman speed, while Wanda learns that she can control probability. The pair later display their powers in public, and are attacked by a superstitious mob. They are saved by their father - now the supervillain Magneto - although neither Magneto nor his children are aware of their connection. Magneto then recruits the pair for the first incarnation of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Brotherhood battles the X-Men on several occasions, although the twins become reluctant members and only remain because of their obligation to Magneto. When Magneto and his lackey the Toad are abducted by the cosmic entity the Stranger, the Brotherhood dissolves and the twins declare their debt to Magneto to have been paid. [4]

Soon after this Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are recruited by the hero Iron Man to join the team the Avengers. Together with leader Captain America and former villain Hawkeye, the four become the second generation of Avengers, and are later dubbed as "Cap's Kooky Quartet". [5] Wanda becomes close friends with Hawkeye and a loyal member of the team until accidentally shot on a mission against Magneto. Quicksilver then flees from the Avengers with his wounded sister. [6] The pair accompany Magneto back to his mid-Atlantic base, [7] watching as Magneto captures the X-Men [8] and Pietro skirmishes with the X-Man Cyclops [9] and later Spider-Man. [10] After these encounters the twins finally realise that Magneto is the true villain. Pietro and Wanda are then kidnapped along with several other mutants by the Sentinels, but are subsequently freed by the X-Men. [11]

Quicksilver later returns to the Avengers and advises them that Wanda has been kidnapped and taken to another dimension by the warlord Arkon. [12] After being rescued, Wanda - together with Pietro - rejoins the team. During one mission Quicksilver is wounded by the robot Sentinels, [13] and found by Crystal, a member of the Inhumans. [14] Crystal nurses Pietro back to health, and the pair are eventually married. [15] It is during this time that Wanda becomes romantically involved with Avengers teammate, the android Vision. Although Pietro initially disapproves, he eventually gives his blessing to their marriage. [16] The twins later meet Robert Frank, also known as World War II hero the Whizzer, who was present at Wundagore with his wife at the time of their birth.

Robert Frank briefly joins the Avengers, believing Pietro and Wanda to be his children. [17] This is later disproved when Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are abducted by Django Maximoff and taken to Wundagore, where after being released they learn the truth from Bova, the midwife who delivered them. [18]

Darker days

Quicksilver and Crystal eventually have a daughter, Luna. [19] It is at this time that Magneto discovers his relationship to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and chooses to tell them the truth. Quicksilver is repulsed and tells Magneto that he had his chance to be a father years ago [20] Quicksilver and Crystal's marriage is strained when Crystal has an affair [21] and again later by the actions of Maximus the Mad - the brother of Inhuman king Black Bolt - who uses technology to push Quicksilver into insanity and evil behavior.

File:Quicksilver avengers.jpg
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch discover their origin in Avengers #185 (vol. 1, Jul. 1979). Art by John Byrne.

[22] Although later cured, [23], Quicksilver is still angry with Crystal and joins the U.S. government-sponsored superhero team X-Factor. [24] During this period of estrangement, Crystal almost has an affair with the Avenger the Black Knight. [25]

Quicksilver and Crystal are finally reunited when the Avengers, X-Factor and X-Men team up to stop a group of mutant terrorists who have kidnapped their daughter Luna and are responsible for a civil war on the island nation of Genosha.

After dealing with the threat, Quicksilver learns of Crystal's relationship with the Black Knight and leaves, also resigning from X-Factor. [26] Quicksilver later takes Luna and joins the High Evolutionary, assisting him and his Knights of Wundagore in fighting off the villains Exodus and Man Beast. During the course of this war, Quicksilver uses the experimental Isotope E to augment his powers and allow him to move at greater supersonic speeds. Soon after this a future version of Pietro calling himself "Nestor" appears to him and reveals that his powers are not speed but rather temporal based. [27]

House of M

Main article: House of M

The Scarlet Witch suffers a mental breakdown over the loss of her children and starts to warp reality in order to recreate them, resulting in random attacks on the Avengers. The Avengers and Doctor Strange place her in a coma, and then turn her over to Magneto. Magneto, however, is unable to help her and several members of the Avengers and X-Men suggest killing the Scarlet Witch. A panicking Quicksilver convinces the Scarlet Witch to correct her mistakes by using her powers to turn the world into a world of peace. Wanda then warps reality into the House of M - a world where mutants are in a majority and humans are in a minority, with Magneto established as absolute ruler.

Several of the heroes eventually regain their memories, and attack Magneto who regains his own memory and realizes that Quicksilver is to blame for this disaster. Magneto then kills Quicksilver by crushing him with a Sentinel. The Scarlet Witch, however, revives her brother, and tells Magneto that he has chosen the mutants over his own children. Wanda then says "No more mutants" and changes the world back into its original form, with the result being that 90% of the mutant population is now powerless - including Quicksilver. [28]

Son of M

Main article: Son of M

Quicksilver becomes depressed, and is soon confronted by an angry Spider-Man, who has memories of the altered world in which he was married to deceased love Gwen Stacy and had a child. Quicksilver decides to jump off a building, seriously injuring himself. Crystal arrives and teleports him to the Inhumans' lunar base for medical attention, believing he has become suicidal at the loss of his powers. After treatment by an Inhuman healer, Quicksilver asks Black Bolt for permission to undergo Terrigenesis and morph into an Inhuman, being unable to live life as a normal human being. Quicksilver's request, however, is denied as he is of human blood, and Terrigenesis is reserved only for those of pure Inhuman stock to decrease the chance of a detrimental mutation.

File:SonofM-2.jpg
Quicksilver exposed to Terrigen Crystals in Son of M #2 (2006). Art by John Watson.

Quicksilver ignores the ruling and breaks into the sacred Terrigen Caves to expose himself to the Terrigen Mist. There appears to be no effect until Pietro is confronted by an older version of himself, who explains the nature of his new "time-jumping" powers, and reveals the plan to take the Terrigen Crystals back to Earth and restore the mutant population. Quicksilver manages to obtain a canister of Terrigen Crystals and with Luna and the Inhumans' pet dog Lockjaw travels to Genosha. Quicksilver then exposes surviving mutants to the mist, which restores their abilities but at dangerous levels.

The consequences prove to be disastrous - several mutants die as their powers mutate beyond all control; Luna becomes addicted to the Terrigen Mist; Magneto is beaten senseless in front of Luna by an enraged Quicksilver and the canister is eventually confiscated by the US military. A desperate Black Bolt attempts to stop this and by uttering the word "war" and unleashing his ultrasonic scream signals the start of war between the Inhumans and the US Government. Quicksilver escapes and exposes himself to even greater levels of Terrigen Mist, which has the unexpected side effect of allowing Pietro to grow the Terrigen Crystals from his actual body and restore mutant abilities at will. Quicksilver now has two goals - "curing" mutants and preventing a great disaster which he glimpses on a trip into the future. [29] During the events of Civil War Pietro manages a store in "Mutant Town". [30]

After an attack on America by four Inhumans, Black Bolt seeks Quicksilver and the stolen Terrigen crystals. When Black Bolt finally confronts Quicksilver and asks him to give him the crystals, Quicksilver responds by taking his shirt off and revealing his chest which has Terrigen crystal shards jutting out from it. After seeing this Crystal tells him their marriage is annulled under Inhuman law. [31]

Quicksilver, acting with the help of Rictor, uses the crystals in his body to restore the powers of depowered mutants by touching them. The effect proves to be disastrous for Elijah Cross and other members of the group X-Cell, and as a result Rictor destroys the crystals embedded in Quicksilver's body. [32] Pietro then rescues his nemesis Layla Miller from drowning, with the intent of murdering her himself. Layla manages to escape by taking advantage of Quicksilver's growing insanity and his slight hesitation before killing her. [33] Later jailed for vagrancy, Pietro has a series of hallucinations involving Scarlet Witch, Magneto, Crystal, Luna, and Layla Miller, with the eventual result of him regaining his superspeed. Escaping jail, Quicksilver rescues an innocent and rediscovers his desire to be a hero. [34]

Powers and abilities

Quicksilver is a mutant capable of moving and thinking at superhuman speeds. Quicksilver was originally capable of running at the speed of sound (770 miles per hour), but exposure to the High Evolutionary's Isotope E made it possible for him to run at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 5 (3,801 miles per hour). Quicksilver also resists the effects of friction, reduced oxygen and some impact upon his body, appearing to exhibit some limited level of superhuman durability and endurance. [35] He has used his speed to run up building walls, create cyclone-strength winds, and cross bodies of water.[36] Quicksilver briefly lost his mutant powers when his sister alters reality, [37] but later regains them courtesy of the Terrigen Mists.

The Terrigan Mists at one point also allowed Quicksilver the ability to displace himself out of mainstream time and space and a "jump" into the future. Quicksilver could summon several time-displaced duplicates of himself and appear to teleport by jumping into the future and then returning to the present at a new location. [38] Several weeks of exposure to the Terrigen Crystals granted him the ability to empower former mutants with extreme versions of their superhuman abilities. It is unknown as to whether the effect is permanent, but the results are apparently unpredictable, even fatal in the cases of Elijah Cross and Unus the Untouchable. [39] The crystals are subsequently forced from his body by the mutant Rictor, [40] leaving him without these abilities. Quicksilver recently regained his mutant powers after having a series of hallucinations.

Other versions

1602

In Marvel 1602, Quicksilver appears as Petros, the assistant (and secretly, son) of the High Inquisitor of the Spanish Catholic Church, Enrique (the 1602 version of Magneto). [41]

Age of Apocalypse

File:Ultimate Wanda & Pietro.jpg
Ultimate Quicksilver with Wanda on the cover of Ultimates #8 (2003)

In the Age of Apocalypse universe, in which Professor Xavier is dead and Magneto leads the X-Men, Pietro is a founding and influential member of the team.

Marvel Zombies

In the Earth-2149 universe, Quicksilver becomes infected after being bitten by Mystique, who takes on the form of his sister. This results in the rapid spread of the zombie virus, as Quicksilver is able to infect hundreds in a short amount of time. [42]

Mutant X

An alternate timeline in which Quicksilver is a member of a team of X-Men led by Magneto. [43]

Ultimate Quicksilver

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Quicksilver was a member of Magneto's Brotherhood who, together with his sister, the Scarlet Witch, goes on to join the Ultimates. This version of Quicksilver has undergone continuous emotional abuse by Magneto. The lack of any parental love & affection from Magneto drives Pietro and Wanda into a seemingly incestuous relationship with each other, and they ultimately abandon their father and his dream, to join the Ultimates. The true nature of the relationship between the siblings is eventually realized by the rest of the Ultimates, and Wanda is mysteriously killed a short time later while on a date with Pietro. Quicksilver tentatively rejoins the Brotherood, then leaves the Ultimates to find his sister's killer. [44]

The Ultimate version of Quicksilver is also faster than the Earth-616 version and states that as a teenager he was already capable of reaching speeds of Mach 10. [45]

In other media

Television


Film

  • In X2: X-Men United, the name "Maximoff" appears on a computer screen in a list of mutant names.

Video games

Toys

  • Hasbro and Toy Biz released Quicksilver action figures, while Bowen Studios released two busts of the character.

Other characters by the same name

During the Golden Age of comic books Quality Comics published stories regarding a super-speedster named Quicksilver in National Comics. The character was later revived by DC Comics and renamed Max Mercury.

References

  1. ^ X-Factor #71 - 94 (Oct. 1991 - Sep. 1993)
  2. ^ Son of M #1 - 6 (Feb. - July)
  3. ^ Recounted in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 - 12 (1985 - 1986)
  4. ^ Uncanny X-Men #11 (vol. 1, May 1965)
  5. ^ Avengers #16 (vol. 1, May 1965)
  6. ^ Avengers #49 (vol. 1, Feb. 1968)
  7. ^ Uncanny X-Men #43 (vol. 1, Apr. 1968)
  8. ^ Uncanny X-Men #44 (vol. 1, May 1968)
  9. ^ Uncanny X-Men #45 (vol. 1, Jun. 1968)
  10. ^ Spider-Man #71 (vol. 1, Apr. 1969
  11. ^ Uncanny X-Men #59 - 60(vol. 1, Aug - Sep. 1969)
  12. ^ Avengers #75 - 76 (vol. 1, Apr. - May 1970)
  13. ^ Avengers #102 (Aug. 1972)
  14. ^ Fantastic Four #118 (vol. 1, Jan. 1972)
  15. ^ Fantastic Four #150 (vol. 1, Sep. 1974)
  16. ^ Giant-Size Avengers #4 (1975)
  17. ^ The Whizzer joins unofficially as of Giant-Size Avengers #1 (1974)
  18. ^ Avengers #185 - 187 (vol. 1, Jul - Sep. 1979)
  19. ^ Fantastic Four #240 (vol. 1, Mar. 1982)
  20. ^ Vision and the Scarlet Witch #6 (1986)
  21. ^ Quicksilver discovers this in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #10 (1986)
  22. ^ First seen in "corrupted" mode in West Coast Avengers Annual #1 (1986)
  23. ^ X-Factor Annual #2 (1987)
  24. ^ X-Factor #71
  25. ^ Crystal rejoins the team and meets the Black Knight in Avengers vol. 1, #343
  26. ^ Bloodties -"Avengers vol. 1 #368; X-Men #26; West Coast Avengers #101; Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #307 and Avengers vol. 1, #369 (1993)
  27. ^ Quicksilver #12
  28. ^ House of M #1 - 8 (2005 - 2006)
  29. ^ Son of M #1 - 6 (2005 - 2006)
  30. ^ Civil War #1 - 7 (2006 - 2007)
  31. ^ Silent War #1 - 2 (2007)
  32. ^ X-Factor #20 (2007)
  33. ^ X-Factor #23 (2007)
  34. ^ X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead #1 (2008)
  35. ^ X-Factor: The Quick and The Dead #1
  36. ^ Ascendance" Magneto Rex #1 (1999)
  37. ^ Decimation: House of M: The Day After (2005)
  38. ^ Son of M #3 (2006)
  39. ^ Son of M #6 (2006)
  40. ^ X-Factor #20
  41. ^ Marvel 1602 #1 - 8 (2003)
  42. ^ Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #1 - 4 (2004 - 2005)
  43. ^ Mutant X #1 - 32 (Oct.98 - Jun 01)
  44. ^ Ultimates 3 #1 (2007)
  45. ^ Ultimates 2 #12 (2006)
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