Quicksilver (Marvel)
Quicksilver is a male comic superhero that features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
He was the son of Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, alias Magneto, and brother to Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. He has the ability to move at superhuman speed, up to supersonic speed, and is highly arrogant.
Quicksilver was initially part of Magneto's original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but he and his sister eventually broke from his father. He later married the Inhuman Crystal, and the pair had a child, Luna. He has belonged to several hero teams, including the Avengers, X-Factor, and the X-Men.
Origin
Pietro Maximoff
According to one account, the twins were experimented on by the High Evolutionary who disguised the pair to resemble as regular Mutants in order to hide their true nature. (Uncanny Avengers v2 #4)
Some time ago, he and his sister lived in a village in the heart of Europe. The superstitious villagers came to believe his sister's Mutant powers were a sign that she was a witch where they formed a mob that targeted the siblings. It was then that Magneto arrived where he saved the twins and declared them to be Homo Superior. He invited the pair to join the ranks of his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with Quicksilver joining to protect his sister. (X-Men v1 #4)
Avenger
Afterwards, the twins came to seek refuge with the Avengers who were a world-renowned team of super heroes. They came to be inducted as new members alongside Hawkeye where they took the place of the charter members who had taken a leave of absence. (Avengers v1 #16)
Mighty Avenger
He was later informed by the Knights of Wundagore that a corrupted Modred was looking to reassemble the scattered pages of the Darkhold. Despite Pietro's efforts, he was unable to stop the mystic from achieving his goal and the Knights of Wundagore were slain whilst Modred summoned his master Chthon. Quicksilver arrived at Mount Wundagore only to become possessed by the Elder God who used Pietro as his mortal vessel to transform the Earth with his Chaos Cascade. (Mighty Avengers v1 #22) Maximoff's soul became displaced into the now empty pages of the Darkhold that was under the care of Bova where he would communicate with her through writing on the pages. At this time, Chthon was opposed by a new team of Mighty Avengers seemingly assembled by Pietro's deceased sister Wanda. Under Hank Pym's leadership, the heroes were able to defeat Chthon and imprison him with the Darkhold thus freeing Maximoff who was returned to his body. He wanted to reunite with his sister but the Scarlet Witch disappeared with Pietro looking to find her again. (Mighty Avengers v1 #23)
During the battle, he came to learn that the Unspoken had been provoked into attacking mankind after learning of the Silent War and humanity's attacks against the Inhumans. This caused Pietro to feel responsible for his actions in stealing the Terrigen Crystals that resulted in that conflict. Despite that, he continued to fight the Unspoken but was unable to defeat the exiled monarch with it looking like the heroes were to lose to him. However, Amadeus Cho and Hercules had commandeered the Slave Engine where they used its chronal ray against the Unspoken causing him to age to the point where he was powerless. With the threat over, Quicksilver decided to take the Xerogen Crystals to Attilan where he lied by claiming that a Skrull had replaced him and was responsible for the earlier theft of the Terrigen Crystals. The Royal Family came to believe his lie and reinstated his citizenship in Attilan where he was sworn to secrecy over the existence of the Xerogen. In that time, he was reunited with his daughter Luna who knew of his lie and stated that whilst she would always love her father but she had lost respect for him. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31)
Pietro later came to Avengers Academy that had been established by Hank Pym to help train a number of young superhumans into being the next generation of heroes. Upon seeing their training, Quicksilver voiced his disagreement with Pym in that he believed hiding the truth about the children from themselves would be detrimental to their training. (Avengers Academy v1 #1)
All-New X-Factor
When his half-sister Polaris was demolishing a bar and fighting cops while drunk, Quicksilver intervened to try and stop her. She didn't believe him that he repented his actions and started to shoot at him. He managed to knock her out, but before he could apprehend her on behalf of the Avengers, she was taken into custody by a shady policeman. (X-Factor v1 #260) Concerned about her, Pietro tracked her to Serval Industries headquarters a bit later, where she had accepted a job to lead the company's superhero team adopting the name X-Factor. Claiming that he had a falling out with the Avengers, he volunteered to join the team, and Polaris accepted, with Harrison Snow's, CEO of Serval, blessing. (All-New X-Factor v1 #1)
He would later leave the team after Lorna found out that he was serving as a spy. (All-New X-Factor v1 #20)
Uncanny Avenger
Soon after the World War Hate, Quicksilver joined forces with Magneto to stop the Scarlet Witch, who had been affected by a spell gone wrong which turned her moral compass upside down, from murdering Doctor Doom. Wanda cast a spell to affect those with blood ties to her, and even though it affected Pietro, it di not affect Magneto, revealing that they actually were not Magnus' children. (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS v1 #7) With the help of the spirit of Doctor Voodoo's brother Daniel, Wanda was possessed so a reinversion spell could be cast, which successfully brought back to normal almost everybody affected by the inversion spell, including Wanda. In the wake of the conflict, Quicksilver joined the Avengers Unity Division. (Avengers & X-Men: AXIS v1 #9) Wanda and Pietro returned to the Wundagore Mountain to find out their true parentage, and they were brought to the reformed Counter-Earth, which the High Evolutionary used to test and try to create his perfect New Men. (Uncanny Avengers v2 #1)
House of X
When Pietro found out his sister was dead and Magneto was believed to have done it, he ran to Krakoa to confront the man he once believed was his father. When he got there Magneto called him his son and he angrily beat him unconscious before breaking down in tears and being comforted by fellow speedster Northstar. Later after calming down he shared a drink at the Green Lagoon with his and Wanda's former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants teammates Toad and Mastermind. (X-Men: the Trial of Magneto v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He came to take the name of Quicksilver after being a costumed superpowered being. (X-Men v1 #4)
His own sister would comment that Pietro was a textbook sociopath which causes him to ruin his relationships through manipulation and force. (Scarlet Witch v2 #9)
Powers and abilities
One account claimed that he was not in fact Mutants but engineered to appear as one. (Uncanny Avengers v2 #4)
His power was the ability to travel at superspeed. (X-Men v1 #4)
By leaping only mere seconds in time, he learned to create an indefinite number of 'temporal dupes' that could be controlled with a certain amount of coordination. (Son of M v1 #6)
Notes
- Quicksilver was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in X-Men v1 #4 (March, 1964).
- In Comics Interview v1 #105 (1992), Peter David said on Quicksilver's characterisation, "Have you ever stood in the post office behind a woman with 20 packages who wants to know every single way she can send them to Africa? It drives you nuts! You think to yourself, "Why do I have to put up with this? These people are so slow, they're costing me time, and it's so damned irritating. I wish I didn't have to put up with this." Now—imagine that the entire world was like that... except for you. ... to Quicksilver, as he said in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man many, many moons ago, the rest of the world is moving in slow motion. That must really, really get on your nerves. Quicksilver lives in a world filled with people who don't know how to use cash machines, and want to know all the ways to send packages to Africa, and can never get your order right in a Burger King unless you repeat it several times. That would tend to make you feel very superior to everyone and very impatient with everyone."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In X-Men, Quicksilver appeared in multiple episodes in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Adrian Egan.
- In X-Men: Evolution, Quicksilver appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Richard Ian Cox.
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, Quicksilver appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Mark Hildreth.
- In WandaVision, Pietro Maximoff appeared in the setting of the 2021 live-action television mini-series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Evan Peters.
Films
- In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Quicksilver appeared in the setting of the 2015 live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
- In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Peter Maximoff appeared in the 2014 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Evan Peters.
Video games
- In X-Men: Destiny, Quicksilver appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Sunil Malhotra.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Quicksilver appeared as a playable character in the setting of the Facebook video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Quicksilver appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- X-Men v1: (1964)
- Avengers v1:
- Mighty Avengers v1:
- Avengers Academy:
- All-New X-Factor v1:
- Uncanny Avengers v2:
