Max Mercury
Max Mercury is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Quicksilver
He responded to a crime wave affecting the city which had culminated in the murder of a payroll clerk. This saw Quicksilver looking to investigate the matter to find the culprit with the trail leading to a local circus. (National Comics v1 #5)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Max Crandall
In 1838, he went to see his friends among the local Native American Blackfoot clan but came to find that they had been massacred. Crandall came to learn that the new fort commander believed in killing all Indians and had ordered the attack. Upon arriving, Max saw the dying shaman who urged his friend to warn the rest of the tribe of the coming ambush. Before passing away, the shaman made a symbol on Crandall's chest and evoked the god of storm and wind whereupon he said goodbye to his old friend. He then ran but could not see how he could warn the rest of the Indian tribes in time but as he moved he found himself moving faster and faster as he became empowered with incredible speed. With its power, he raced to warn the Indians and with his speed he removed all weapons before blood could be shed on either side. After that event, he made it his mission to stop further bloodshed from affecting the lands and with his powers he became the fastest man alive as people knew him as the Windrunner. For years, he kept the peace in the West and his legend grew where he grew curious about the origins of his powers. One day, he came to hear a strange beckoning leading to him moving faster and faster as he passed the speed of light whereupon he entered the Speed Force that was the source of his powers. It offered him a place within it just as it had done to other speedsters with Max finding a glorious fellowship within it. However, he had a moment of doubt and hesitation causing him to be lost through time where he fell into the year 1891. The incident affected Max for a time as he felt that his moment of fear meant that he as denied heaven leading to lose everything he had cared about in his native time. In the years that followed, he attempted to recapture the lightning but each attempt simply sent him further and further into history. During each period, he came to be known by a variety of identities and names. (Flash v2 #97)
During World War II, Quicksilver teamed with Sgt. Glory to fight the Nazis. Shortly after the war they teamed-up again, but Glory, now the vigilante Glory Shredder, and Max did not see eye-to-eye anymore. (Impulse v1 #37) Max later came to be badly injured saving Manchester, Alabama from Dr. Morlo's toxic bombs. He collapsed in front of a house and was taken in by David, a doctor, and his wife Laura. David was always away at work, and after recovering Max and Laura had an affair. When David discovered this Max was ashamed and ran towards the Speed Force, arriving in 1957. (Impulse v1 #16)
A young Max Mercury came to sense a disturbance in the speed field where he rushed to the source which was during a time when Johnny Quick was operating as a hero. He arrived just in time to save Chambers from a villainous speedster named Savitar who had gained his powers during the Cold War. The man had become a religious zealot who worshipped speed and wanted to enter into the Speed Force with him seeking answers from Johnny Quick. However, Quick's response in that he used a formula caused Savitar to declare him a blasphemer with the villainous speedster looking to murder him. The arrival of Mercury caused Savitar to flee but Max along with Johnny Quick went in pursuit of the supervillain who was operating from a makeshift temple that was made by his followers. Another battle erupted with the heroes looking to stop Savitar with Max planning a means of defeating the supervillain. This involved travelling into the speed field with Savitar in pursuit where the villain thought he could achieve his goal by reaching a speed whereby he could transition into the Speed Force. However, at that point, Max stopped causing Savitar to collide and fall into the timestream where he became lost for decades thus stopping the threat posed by him for a time. Max then came to record his encounter with the villain in a journal that was to be used by future heroes to fight Savitar whenever he emerged in the future. (The Flash v2 #109)
Max took in Impulse and they moved to Manchester, Alabama. Oracle forged papers for them giving Max the identity of Max Crandall and making Max Bart's "uncle." Impulse stumbled on a plan to destroy Technodyne's prototype hovertank, and Max helped him investigate it. (Impulse v1 #2) Mercury then told Impulse to make friends at school to get acclimated to the present. Dr. Helen Claiborne told Max she’d been waiting to meet him, an asked him out, but he told her he was busy. (Impulse v1 #3) Bart tried to play matchmaker between Max and their neighbor Helen Claiborne. Max told him to stay out of it, because it was a complicated situation. When Impulse used his friends car to tail White Lightning he soon had a squad of cops after him because he had no idea how to drive safely. Max followed him and saved him after he accidentally drove the car off a cliff. Max and Helen went to the Minhota Reservation benefit, when White Lightning struck. Max let Impulse handle the situation, and although she got away he told Impulse he at least had a half-thought out plan to capture her. (Impulse v1 #5) Impulse told Max he was sure his classmate Preston Lindsay was being abused by his father, and Max told him to get solid evidence before going to the police. Impulse kept up his surveillance and learned it was Preston's mother, not his father that was beating him. (Impulse v1 #6) The villain Gridlock created citywide gridlock in Manchester by draining the kinetic energy from every automobile. Max could have stopped him, but he gave Impulse the task of coming up with a plan to defeat the villain. Impulse was successful, and Max was pleased that he overcame an intellectual challenge. (Impulse v1 #7) It was then that Max tested Impulse by having him run an obstacle course while Max threw weapons at him, and Impulse failed by walking into a hunting trap. Max warned Impulse that he made himself a target by taunting his enemies at superspeed, and wanted to see improvements, because he'd need Impulse's help soon. Max probed the Speed Force, and sensed the presence of Savitar, so he left Impulse. (Impulse v1 #8) Mercury was briefly captured by Savitar's avatars but escaped and defeated them. (Impulse v1 #9) Max recovered from his injuries in the hospital and was visited by Jay Garrick, Linda Park, XS, Iris Allen and Johnny Quick. Savitar's avatars attacked, but the speedsters powers returned thanks to the actions of Flash and Jesse Quick. They defeated the avatars, and joined by Impulse, went to confront Savitar. (Impulse v1 #10)
Max and the speedsters destroyed Savitar's avatars and destroyed his castle, but Johnny Quick lost his life during the confrontation. Savitar vowed to go after the speedster's loved ones. (Impulse v1 #11) Mercury helped Helen around the house and she told him she wanted to see more of him. Bart asked Max if he could strike out on his own, assuming his tutelage under Max was finished with the defeat of Savitar. Max told him he wasn't finished training yet. (Impulse v1 #11) He warned Bart to keep a low profile at school because he'd become the most popular boy at school after playing a concert at the last school dance. (Impulse v1 #13) Later on, he told Impulse his next task was to attend church and give serious thought to his faith. Max saved Helen from her abusive ex-husband and admitted that she was his daughter. (Impulse v1 #15) Max initially ran rather than talk with Helen, and while Bart was comforting her he accidentally gave away his and Max's secret identities. Max wasn't upset with Bart, and explained how he came to father Helen in 1948. He'd only recently tried to contact Laura, and learned she was deceased, but that she was survived by Helen. Max admitted he'd moved to Manchester to start a relationship with her. She was initially shocked and outraged, but forgave Max. (Impulse v1 #16) Max and Impulse later attended Zatanna's magic show, where she asked Bart to be her assistant for the night despite Mercury's objections. Impulse ruined her act, and Zatanna got fed-up and cast a spell that made Impulse disappear. He landed in the extradimensional land of Kroz, and Zatanna, regretting her hasty act, followed him. They returned home after overthrowing Wizard Kroz. (Impulse v1 #17) He then went to a mountain lodge in Pine Barren Resorts to think about his future as Impulse's mentor. His trip ended early when he fell into poison ivy. (Impulse v1 #18) Max demanded Impulse not stay up late and learn the patience to lie still and go to sleep like a normal person. After hours of insomnia Impulse managed to get some sleep, but only for a few minutes. (Impulse v1 #19)
Bart joined his school's baseball team, and Max was in attendance at their game and had to keep reminding him not to use his powers. After Bart mustered the willpower to pay attention to the game long enough to bat in the winning runs. Bart had enough of sports and decided he was done with baseball, much to Max's relief. (Impulse v1 #20) The Legion of Super-Heroes visited Max's house to see if Impulse could help them return to the 30th Century. Max was worried about their cover being blown with an entire team of superheroes around. Impulse and the LSH left the house, but Impulse ended up being unable to help them. (Impulse v1 #21) Max and Iris planned Impulse's surprise birthday party, but they needed a way to keep him away from the house. Max fooled Impulse into thinking he was being blackmailed by some shady characters, and Impulse ran to NYC and Las Vegas to follow Max and the hoodlums, all actually a disguised Flash. By the time Impulse returned home he was greeted by Max's party. (Impulse v1 #22)
Impulse showed Max his new look, a shaved head, and Max reminded him people might piece together that Bart Allen and Impulse were now both bald. He bought a wig and made Bart wear it while in civilian identity. (Impulse v1 #36) Professor Morlo broke out of jail to ask for Max's help. Glory Shredder had threatened to kill his family, so Max and Impulse saved the Transparent Weapon and Evil Eye from the vigilante. They defeated Glory, but he managed to flee rather than be captured. (Impulse v1 #37) Max and Impulse spent day and night piling up sandbags to save Manchester from a flood. Their efforts, and that of the town were proving fruitless so they tried coming up with a plan. Max called in Manchester's supervillain community to save the town despite Impulse's objections. Impulse only saw black and white and didn't trust the villains. Max told him everyone had decency inside them, and that sometimes people couldn't deal with what life threw at them and turned bad. Impulse asked why he'd never turned to evil in his long life, and Max hinted that he had. The villains did try, but couldn't stop the flood, and in the end it was Chunk who saved the town by absorbing the water and sending it to another dimension. (Impulse v1 #38) Max knew Manchester needed to dispose of the toxic waste Gerald Dunsany buried in Cook Park, but that the cost would bankrupt the town. He teamed with the Trickster, and concocted a story to tell Gerald about Dr. Herkimer Rasmussen, who invented a formula to turn any metal into gold. Trickster told him the World Bank feared this would undermine the economy and had the batches of the formula Rasmussen made classified as toxic waste and sent to Dunsany's company to dispose of it. Max posed as Rasmussen to further the con, and they played Gerald and his father Edward against each other until Gerald dug up all the toxic waste he had dumped in Manchester to find the formula. Edward stole the barrels of waste from his son, and Max and Trickster were pleased with themselves for pulling off their con. (Impulse v1 #39)
He was among a number of heroes invited to the Justice League Watchtower on the Moon when the Justice League had expanded their ranks to recruit more members. Max had been invited by the Flash and whilst honoured he felt that he had his hands full looking after Impulse and declined to join the team. However, he told them that if they ever needed help then they could call on his aid whereupon he left the League's headquarters. (JLA v1 #5)
During the battle with Superboy-Prime, the Flash attempted to force the mad Kryptonian into the Speed Force where he received aid from fallen speedsters like Barry Allen, Johnny Quick and Max Mercury. Max told the new Kid Flash Bart Allen to now be afraid as Superboy-Prime was briefly dragged into the Speed Force. (Infinite Crisis v1 #4)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. It was revealed that the Speed Force protected Max Mercury and Jesse Quick from the changes in reality but they remained trapped within it. However, when Eobard Thawne possessed the Flash's body, the essences of Max and Jesse came to approached Barry within his mind where they sought to help him learn to restore control over his own form. (The Flash v1 #759)
With his body restored, he joined the Flash Family as they battled the Legion of Zoom. In the midst of the fight, he asked Bart to protect him whilst he meditated in order to summon forth other heroic speedsters from across time and the Multiverse. Together, they all worked to create a massive speed storm to reset the internals vibrations of the Legion of Zoom thus sending them the villains all back to their respective places in the timeline. (The Flash v1 #761)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Upon gaining his powers, he came to be known as Ahwehota (He Who Runs Beyond the Wind) or as the Windrunner. When he was trapped in different time periods, he came to be known by different names in each era with these including Blue Streak, Quicksilver and Max Mercury. (Flash v2 #97)
One account claimed that he had once performed acrobatics but gave the life up to become a crime fighter. (National Comics v1 #28)
Due to his penchant for laughing, he was once regarded as the laughing Robin Hood. (National Comics v1 #5)
As the oldest of the speedsters, he was regarded as the zen guru of speed. (Flash v2 #97)
Powers and abilities
As a speedster, Max's powers were drawn from an extradimensional energy field known as the Speed Force. It was an energy source that he tapped into to generate his incredible speed. (Flash v2 #97) With his incredible speed, he was able to race to destinations quickly far faster than an ordinary man and could dodge gunfire. (National Comics v1 #5)
Max can sense when another Speed Force conduit is troubled, and can be drawn to the location of that speedster. (The Flash Secret Files and Origins v1 #2010)
Mercury practiced a form of meditation called 'hypermediation', which allows him to detect various aspects that are inside the Speed Force, such as a voice or a visual. (The Flash v2 #140)
Notes
- Max Mercury was created by Jack Cole and Chuck Mazoujian where he made his first appearance in National Comics v1 #5 (November, 1940).
Alternate Versions
- In Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost v1 #3 (2011), an alternate version of the character named Maxwell Crandall appeared in the altered timeline of the Flashpoint.
- In DCeased: Hope at World's End v1 #3 (2020), an alternate version of Max Mercury appeared in the DCeased reality that was an unknown world in the Multiverse. Max Mercury was a speedster hero who lived in Manchester and took the young hero Impulse under his care. Wally West after learning how the Anti-Life virus had been spreading, rushed to Max's home to get help in saving residents of Keystone and destroyed all the screens in the house, so Max and Bart wouldn't be infected. The three were joined by Jesse Quick as he explained what was happening. Later, the four speedsters helped in saving many people around the United States and Wally decided to evacuate Keystone residents to a parallel Earth. Max told Bart and him to use the Tandem Cosmic Treadmill in the Flash Museum to open a rift, as they were faster. Bart however eventually fell while running for many minutes and crashed outside, but was saved by Max from the horde of the Anti-Living. Max then prevented Wally from falling too and used his speed to successfully transport them to another universe. The Flash Family however soon discovered that Max had been infected while trying to save Bart and he told them they had no time. Bart pleaded to Max, but he insisted to Wally that he be killed before bidding goodbye to Bart. The other three however figured out another way to ensure Max wouldn't infect others, by infusing him with part of their speed. As he ran, he disappeared into the Speed Force where he would never be infected.
Appearances
- National Comics v1: (1940)
- The Flash v2:
- Impulse v1:
- JLA v1:
- Infinite Crisis v1:
- The Flash v1: (2020)
External Links
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