Quicksilver | |
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Quicksilver in a panel from Avengers vol. 3, #38 (March 2001). Art by Alan Davis. |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | The X-Men #4 (March 1964) |
Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Pietro Django Maximoff |
Species | Human Mutant / Human Mutate |
Team affiliations | Mighty Avengers Avengers Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Inhumans X-Factor |
Notable aliases | Pietro Frank |
Abilities | Superhuman speed |
Quicksilver (Pietro Django Maximoff) is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in X-Men #4 (March 1964) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby.
Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, Quicksilver has featured in four decades of Marvel continuity, starring in the self-titled series Quicksilver and as a regular team member in superhero title the Avengers. The character has also appeared in other Marvel-endorsed products such as animated films; arcade and video games; television series and merchandise such as action figures and trading cards.
Contents |
Publication history
The character first appears with his twin sister, the Scarlet Witch, as a part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the title X-Men.[1] The siblings are mutants, with Pietro possessing superhuman speed and Wanda able to control probability. The pair are recruited by their father Magneto, and after several brief appearances in the title X-Men[2] depart when Magneto and his lackey the Toad are abducted by the cosmic entity the Stranger.[3] Pietro and his sister reform and are recruited by Avenger Iron Man to join superhero team the Avengers.[4]
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".[4] The Scarlet Witch becomes close friends with Hawkeye and both become loyal members of the team until Wanda is accidentally shot on a mission against Magneto. Quicksilver then flees from the Avengers with his wounded sister.[5] The pair accompany Magneto back to his mid-Atlantic base,[6] where the character captures the X-Men[7] and Pietro skirmishes with the X-Man Cyclops.[8] After a solo appearance by Quicksilver in the title Amazing Spider-Man,[9] the twins finally realize that Magneto is the true villain. Pietro and Wanda reappear in the title X-Men and are then kidnapped along with several other mutants by the robot Sentinels, and are subsequently freed by the X-Men.[10]
The character reappears in the title Avengers,[11] and advises the team that Wanda has been kidnapped and taken to another dimension by the warlord Arkon.[12] After Wanda is rescued, Pietro and his sister rejoin the team. During one mission Quicksilver is wounded by a Sentinel[13] and in the title Fantastic Four is found by Crystal, a member of the Inhumans.[14] Crystal nurses Pietro back to health, and the pair are eventually married.[15] In the title Giant-Size Avengers Pietro and Wanda also meet Robert Frank - formerly World War II hero the Whizzer - who was present at Mount Wundagore (the birthplace of the siblings) with his wife at the time of their birth. Frank briefly joins the Avengers, believing Pietro and Wanda to be his children.[16] The Scarlet Witch also becomes romantically involved with her Avengers teammate the android Vision. Although Pietro initially disapproves, the character eventually gives his blessing to their marriage, featured in Giant-Size Avengers.[17]
Quicksilver features with the Inhumans and Fantastic Four against the villain the Sphinx in a Fantastic Four annual,[18] and the siblings' origin is explored in the title Avengers when gypsy Django Maximoff kidnaps Pietro and Wanda and returns to Mount Wundagore in the country of Transia, where they were born. After a battle with the Avengers against the Elder God Chthon, the siblings learn from Bova, one of the New Men created by the character the High Evolutionary, that they are the children of Maximoff, and not Robert Frank.[19] Quicksilver then returns to Attilan (city of the Inhumans)[20] and in the title Fantastic Four is revealed to have had a daughter (Luna) with Crystal.[21]
During the limited series title Vision and the Scarlet Witch, Magneto forces Bova to reveal the truth about his missing children, who are revealed to be Pietro and Wanda. After their mother Magda dies in childbirth, the children are given by the High Evolutionary to Django Maximoff to raise as his own. Pietro and Wanda reject Magneto when told.[22] The character makes several appearances in the second limited series Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and his marriage to Crystal is also strained when she has an affair.[23] In a West Coast Avengers annual Crystal's uncle Maximus the Mad (also brother of Inhuman king Black Bolt) uses technology to cause Quicksilver to become psychotic.[24]
Quicksilver battles the West Coast Avengers[25] and in an X-Factor annual is captured by the Inhumans and cured of his condition.[26] In an effort to repent for his actions, Pietro appears in Avengers West Coast and aids the team against Magneto and the villain Immortus, who has captured Wanda.[27] Although successful, Pietro refuses to return to Crystal and in the title X-Factor joins a revised version of the now U.S. government-sponsored superhero team.[28] The character and Crystal are reunited during the storyline Bloodties when the Avengers, X-Factor and X-Men team to stop a group of mutant terrorists who kidnap 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 Avenger the Black Knight[29] and leaves, also resigning from X-Factor.[30]
The character also features in a self-titled limited series, with Quicksilver taking daughter Luna and travelling to Mt. Wundergore, aiding the High Evolutionary and his Knights of Wundagore against villains Exodus and the Man Beast. Quicksilver uses the experimental Isotope E to augment his powers, allowing him to move at greater supersonic speeds. A future version of Pietro called "Nestor" appears and reveals that his powers are not speed but rather temporal based.[31] Quicksilver also rejoins a reformed Avengers in the third volume of the series[32] and features briefly in the second volume of Heroes For Hire.[33]
Descent and Rebirth
Quicksilver features in the limited series Magneto Rex, and with half-sister Polaris spy on their father Magneto, who is now the ruler of Genosha. Quicksilver is banished when he rallies the Avengers against the villain.[34] The character makes sporadic appearances in Avengers and the mutant titles Mutant X; X-Factor and X-Men until featuring in the limited series X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, in a battle with the despot Apocalypse.[35]
House of M
Quicksilver plays a pivotal role in the limited series House of M, convincing his now mentally unstable sister Wanda to use her abilities to warp reality and create a world where mutants are in a majority and humans are the minority - with Magneto established as absolute ruler. Many of Earth's heroes regain their memories and battle Magneto, who also remembers and realizes that Pietro is to blame for this mistake. Magneto kills Quicksilver (crushing his body with a robot Sentinel), although the character is resurrected and the normal reality restored when the Scarlet Witch witnesses this, telling Magneto he cares more for mutants than his own children. In retaliation the Scarlet Witch has also depowered 98% of the mutant population, which by accident includes Quicksilver.[36]
Son of M
The story continues in the limited series Son of M, with Quicksilver, desperate to regain his powers, exposing himself to the Terrigen Mist (the source of the Inhumans' mutations and abilities) and inserts Terrigen crystals into his body - all without permission from Black Bolt. The character, courtesy of Terrigen crystals, gains new "time jumping" powers and kidnaps Luna. Quicksilver discovers the crystals can restore mutant abilities, but have an extreme effect on non-Inhuman physiology, causing several deaths.[37] Quicksilver and Crystal meet again in the direct sequel, limited series Silent War, when Black Bolt demands the return of the crystals. When Crystal sees how the character has mutated, she declares their marriage annulled according to Inhuman law.[38]
In the title X-Factor the crystals are removed from Quicksilver's body by another mutant, leaving him powerless once again.[39] Destitute and jailed for vagrancy in the one-shot X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead, the character has a series of hallucinations and inexplicably regains his super speed. Escaping jail, Quicksilver rescues an innocent and rediscovers his desire to be a hero.[40]
Mighty Avengers
Quicksilver appears in the title Mighty Avengers and is used as a pawn by Elder God Chthon, with the character's spirit trapped in the arcane tome called the Darkhold. The Avengers defeat Chthon, and Quicksilver's consciousness is "downloaded" into the body of the android the Vision, before being restored to his own body.[41] Quicksilver joins the team after learning that it is Wanda (Asgardian god Loki in disguise) who brought the team together.[42] After the events of the Secret Invasion storyline[43] the character is publicly exonerated of former crimes, with an unknown Skrull being blamed (although Henry Pym, Maximoff's daughter Luna, and Avengers butler Jarvis are aware of the lie). Quicksilver also resumes wearing his original green costume.[44] Quicksilver loses the respect of daughter Luna when he lies to the Inhumans and claims that many of his past actions were actually perpetrated by a Skrull impostor.[45]
Powers and abilities
Quicksilver is a mutant capable of moving and thinking at superhuman speeds. Originally capable of running at the speed of sound; exposure to the High Evolutionary's Isotope E made it possible for the character to run at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 5 and resist the effects of friction, reduced oxygen, and kinetic impact while moving at super-speeds. The character's speed allows him to perform feats such as create cyclone-strength winds; run up walls and cross bodies of water.
Quicksilver loses his powers of speed when his sister alters reality, but gains new powers courtesy of the Inhumans' Terrigen Mist. The mist gives Quicksilver the ability to displace himself out of mainstream time and space and "jump" into the future. The character can 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. By voluntarily embedding fragments of the Terrigen Crystals into his own body, the character could empower former mutants with extreme versions of their superhuman abilities. The effect, however, was usually fatal. The crystals are subsequently forced from the character's body by the mutant Rictor, leaving him without these abilities. Quicksilver inexplicably regains his mutant superspeed powers after having a series of hallucinations.
Other versions
Several alternate universe versions of the character exist.
The Ultimate Marvel imprint title Ultimates features a version of the character warped by constant abuse from his fatherMagneto. The character is faster than the Earth-616 version, stating that as a teenager he was already capable of reaching speeds of Mach 10.[46] After he and his sister, the Scarlet Witch, defect from their father's Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy, they join the superhero team the Ultimates.
In the limited series Marvel Zombies the Earth-2149 Earth is contaminated with a virus that turns victims into flesh-eating zombies, with Quicksilver is infected when bitten by a "zombified" Mystique (who at the time was impersonating his sister Wanda). This results in the rapid spread of the zombie virus, as Quicksilver is able to infect hundreds around the world in a short amount of time.[47] The character reappears in the limited series Marvel Zombies 3, revealed to be working for a "zombified" Wilson Fisk. Quicksilver is eventually lured into a trap by the Earth-616 Machine Man and subsequently destroyed.[48]
In the one-shot X-Men Noir, Peter Magnus is a former college track star, and works in the Homicide Department of the NYPD with his father: Eric Magnus, Chief Detective and the leader of The Brotherhood.[49]
Limited series Marvel 1602 depicts Quicksilver as Petros, the assistant (and secretly, son) of the High Inquisitor of the Spanish Catholic Church, Enrique.[50]
In other media
Quicksilver features in several animated television series, including the Captain America segment of The Marvel Superheroes (1966); X-Men: The Animated Series voiced by Paul Haddad (1992–1997); X-Men: Evolution voiced by Richard Ian Cox (2000–2003); Wolverine and the X-Men voiced by Mark Hildreth (2008–2009) and The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Scott Menville (2009).
Quicksilver appears in several video games, including a cameo appearance in Captain America and the Avengers (1991); X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005) and features in the PSP, PS2 and Wii versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009).
Quicksilver appeared in Hasbro's second wave of Marvel Legends action figures; and Bowen Studios have released two busts of the character.
Footnotes
- ^ X-Men #4 (March 1964)
- ^ X-Men #5 (May 1964); #6 (July 1964); #7 (Sep. 1964)
- ^ X-Men #11 (May 1965)
- ^ a b Avengers #16 (May 1965)
- ^ Avengers #47 - 49 (Dec. 1968 - Feb. 1969)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #43 (April 1968)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #44 (May 1968)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men #45 (June 1968)
- ^ Spider-Man #71 (April 1969)
- ^ X-Men #59 - 60 (Aug. - Sept. 1969)
- ^ Avengers #75 (April 1970)
- ^ Avengers #75 - 76 (April - May 1970)
- ^ Avengers #104 (Oct. 1972)
- ^ Fantastic Four #131 (Feb. 1973)
- ^ Fantastic Four #150 (Sep. 1974)
- ^ Giant-Size Avengers #1 (1974)
- ^ Giant-Size Avengers #4 (1975)
- ^ Fantastic Four Annual #12 (1977)
- ^ Avengers #185 – 187 (Jul.–Sept. 1979)
- ^ Avengers #188 (Oct. 1979)
- ^ Fantastic Four #240 (March 1982)
- ^ Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 - 4 (Nov. 1982 - Feb. 1983)
- ^ Vision and the Scarlet Witch vol. 2, #1 - 12 (Oct. 1985 - Sep. 1986)
- ^ West Coast Avengers Annual #1 (1986)
- ^ West Coast Avengers #33 - 36 (July - Sep. 1988)
- ^ X-Factor Annual #2 (Jan. 1987)
- ^ Avengers West Coast #56 - 57 (Mar. - Apr. 1990); 60 - 62 (Aug. - Oct. 1990)
- ^ X-Factor #71 - #94 (Oct. 1991 - Sep. 1993)
- ^ Avengers #343 (Jan. 1992)
- ^ Bloodties - Avengers #368 (Nov. 1993); X-Men vol. 2, #26 (Nov. 1993); Avengers West Coast #101 (Dec. 1993); Uncanny X-Men #307 (Dec. 1993) & Avengers #369 (Dec. 1993)
- ^ Quicksilver #1 - 12 (Nov. 1997 - Nov. 1998)
- ^ Avengers #1 (Feb. 1998)
- ^ Heroes For Hire vol. 2, #16 (Oct. 1998) & Annual #1 (1998)
- ^ Magneto Rex #1 (April 1999); #2 - 3 (June - July 1999)
- ^ X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #1 - 5 (May 2005) & #6 (June 2005)
- ^ House of M #1 - 2 (Aug. 2005); #3 - 4 (Sep. 2005); #5 - 6 (Oct. 2005); #7 (Nov. 2005); #8 (Dec. 2005)
- ^ Son of M #1 - 6 (Feb. - July 2006) & X-Factor #20 (June 2007)
- ^ Silent War #1 - 6 (March - Aug. 2007)
- ^ X-Factor #20 (June 2007)
- ^ X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead #1 (July 2008)
- ^ Mighty Avengers #21 - 23 (Jan. - March 2009)
- ^ Mighty Avengers #24 (April 2009)
- ^ Secret Invasion #1 - 8 (June 2008 - Jan. 2009)
- ^ Mighty Avengers #25 (July 2009)
- ^ Mighty Avengers #31 (Jan. 2010)
- ^ Ultimates #1 - 13(March 2002 - April 2004); Ultimates 2 #1 - 13 (Feb. 2005 - Feb. 2007)
- ^ Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness #1 - 5 (May - Sep. 2007)
- ^ Marvel Zombies 3 #1 - 4 (Dec. 2008 - March 2009)
- ^ X-Men Noir #1 (Dec. 2008)
- ^ Marvel 1602 #1 - 8 (Nov. 2003 - June 2004)
External links
- Quicksilver at Marvel.com
- Ultimate Quicksilver at Marvel.com
- Uncanny X-Men.net Spotlight on Quicksilver
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