Savitar (DC)

Savitar is a male comic supervillain that features in DC Comics.

Biography

A Cold War pilot for a third-world nation, the man who would become known as Savitar was to test a supersonic fighter jet. As he reached top speed, his plane was struck by what appeared to be lightning, and he went down in hostile territory. Discovering he could defeat the enemy by moving at super-speed, he became obsessed with speed, naming himself after Savitr the Hindu "god of motion", and dedicating his life to unlocking its secrets. As Savitar studied, he discovered new powers that no other living speedster has mastered. He can protect himself in a null-inertia force field, give speed and kinetic energy to objects or people, even those in a rest state, he could also heal his own injuries almost instantly.

Savitar’s obsession gained followers, and he became the leader of a cult. In search of more knowledge, he sought out the only super-speed hero operating at the time: Johnny Quick. This encounter became a battle, the tide of which was turned with the arrival of Max Mercury, who led Savitar toward the Speed Force, but caused him to bounce off.

Savitar reappeared decades later to find that his cult had grown in his absence, awaiting his return. He recruited former Blue Trinity member Lady Flash (Christina Alexandrova), and discovered a way to use her speed to divert all energy from the Speed Force to his own army of ninjas. He then sought to eliminate the competition: Flash (Wally West), Impulse, Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick), Johnny Quick, Jesse Quick, XS, and especially Max Mercury.

Fortunately, Wally’s direct line to the Speed Force prevented Savitar from stealing his speed, and a coalition of just about every speedster (except for Red Trinity), foiled his plans. Hell-bent on at least destroying Flash’s world in retribution, he led the Flash on a worldwide race of destruction, until Flash chose to give Savitar what he wanted: union with the Speed Force. His earlier encounter had shown him that the others who had arrived before would deal with Savitar as they saw fit.

After the resurrection of Barry Allen, Savitar managed to escape from the Speed Force. However, he was run down by Barry Allen who touched him whereupon he disintegrated and left only a pile of bones behind. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #1) It was later revealed that this incident was due to Professor Zoom as he had altered Barry Allen's powers creating a reverse Speed Force. As such, this shift led gave Allen the power to kill any Speed Force user with a single touch though this was seemingly undone following Zoom's defeat. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #4)

Overview

Powers and abilities

Savitar can move at super speed, and is able to lend or steal speed from moving objects. He has accelerated healing due to increased metabolism and can generate a null inertia force field.

Notes

• Savitar was created by Mark Waid and Oscar Jimenez where he made his first appearance in Flash v2 #108 (December, 1995).

In other media

Television

Savitar in The Flash.

• In The Flash, Savitar appeared as an antagonist in the third season of the 2014 live-action television series where he was played by actor Andre Tricoteux and voiced by actor Tobin Bell. He was a large metallic covered being referred to as the god of speed who ruled the Speed Force who was able to reach incredible speeds to the point that he was only visible to a speedster. The intense static charge built by his body required him to be within a suit of armor that contained the charge. He was revealed to actually be a time-remnant of Barry Allen who created him to help defeat Savitar. Though all the time-remnants were killed, the lone survivor was spared but was shunned by the original and his friends. In time, this caused him to slowly go insane and in his intense pain he decided to become a god-like speedster. Thus, he sought to become Savitar where he travelled back in time and seek to kill Iris West in order to ensure his own birth. By travelling through time, he instigated the myth of himself being the first speedster and created a cult that desired to free himself from being trapped in the Speed Force. Following the Flashpoint, he chose a disciple who took the identity of Alchemy that was giving powers to various individuals that were Metahumans in the alternate timeline. This was part of a plot to ensure a future that Savitar had shown them where he stated to Alchemy that he wanted to be free from his imprisonment. He was freed after he tricked Wally West into taking his place and he began to orchestrate his own rise. During this time, he enlisted Caitlin Frost's loyalty after she became Killer Frost where he promised her to be her true self. At this time, Barry Allen concluded that Savitar was a time-remnant of himself and confronted him with his alternate self emerging from the armor. He revealed his origins and that he could operate the armor without being inside of it.

Video games

• In Injustice 2, Savitar was referenced in gear items named after him that were available for the Flash in the fighting video game.

Appearances

• The Flash v2:
• The Flash: Rebirth v1: #1 (April 2009)

External Links

• DC Database Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.