Character biography
Pietro Maximoff was the son of the mutant called Magneto and the gypsy named Magda. Just prior to Pietro's birth, Magda fled from Magneto, terrified of the bizarre powers he suddenly manifested and his intentions of world domination. Seeking refuge in the scientific citadel of Wundagore in the Balkan Mountains of the tiny European nation of Transia, Magda was taken in by Bova, a humanoid cow evolved by the genetic engineer called the High Evolutionary. Magda gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, with Bova as her midwife, and named them Wanda and Pietro. Still afraid that her husband might find her and learn of the children, Magda left Bova a note explaining her fears and walked into the frozen mountain wilderness to perish.
Feeling that it was not right to raise two seemingly normal babies amid the evolved animal-men of Wundagore, Bova was relieved when, several nights later, an American couple, Robert and Madeline Frank, also came to Wundagore seeking assistance. The Franks were former super heroes active during World War II known as the Whizzer and Miss America; Madeline was now pregnant and about to give birth. Bova intended to give the couple the days-old twins to raise along with their own newborn. Unfortunately, the couple's child was stillborn and Madeline died from complications in giving birth. Bova presented Robert Frank with the twins, claiming they were his own natural children, in the hope that it would assuage his grief. Instead, Frank fled from Wundagore upon hearing of his wife's death, nearly insane with grief. (Years later, the children would come to believe for a time that Frank was their natural father). Bova then presented the twins to her master, the High Evolutionary, who agreed to find foster human parents for them. He chose Django and Marya Maximoff, a gypsy couple camped nearby who had lost their own twin children, Ana and Mateo, during World War II. The Maximoffs accepted the strange gifts from the High Evolutionary and cared for the children as if they were their own. (Years later, the aging Django would mistakenly believe that Wanda and Pietro were his natural children Ana and Mateo). As adolescents, Wanda and Pietro discovered that they had unusual superhuman abilities. When Django began to steal food to feed his starving family, enraged villagers attacked the gypsy camp. Using his phenomenal speed, Pietro fled from the camp with his sister. The circumstances of their separation from their family were so traumatic that not until well into adulthood could they remember anything but the barest details of their childhood. For the next few years Wanda and Pietro wandered central Europe, living off the land.
One day, Wanda accidentally caused a house to burst into flame through her hex powers, which she could not yet control. Superstitious townspeople began chasing her, thinking she was a witch. Despite Pietro's attempt to defend her, they were soon overpowered and were about to become victims of mob violence when Magneto came to their rescue. Unaware that he was their natural father, Magneto pressed them into service in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, costumed them, and named them the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. For months they served Magneto out of a sense of obligation and fear of his reprisal. As members of the Brotherhood, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch aided Magneto in his terrorist campaigns against humanity and helped him combat the original members of the X-Men. Magneto did not realize Wanda and Pietro were his children, nor did they know he was their father.
When Magneto was defeated by the overwhelming powers of the alien Stranger, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch quit the Brotherhood; the Stranger transported Magneto away from Earth, and the Maximoff twins returned to Transia.
Pietro and Wanda sought refuge from The Avengers, a world-renowned team of super heroes. They were inducted along with Hawkeye to take the place of the charter members, who wished to take a leave of absence. This foursome was nicknamed "Cap's Kooky Quartet". At first it was looked upon as less capable than the previous roster, but defeating Kang the Conqueror, Doctor Doom, and other threats quickly proved their worth. Although the hot-tempered Quicksilver and Hawkeye often both rebelled against his orders, Avengers leader Captain America molded them into valuable team members.
Humanity's suspicion of mutants still rankled Quicksilver, and he briefly rejoined Magneto after the latter returned to Earth, compelling his sister to come with him. Months after the X-Men and Avengers defeated Magneto, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch resumed their membership in the Avengers.
Seriously injured during the Avengers' battle against the Sentinels, Quicksilver was taken to medical care by Crystal, a member of the royal family of the hidden race of Inhumans. Months passed before Quicksilver was well enough to contact his companions to tell them what had happened to him. During that time Quicksilver became romantically involved with Crystal, and the two married after a brief courtship. The wedding, held in the Inhumans' refuge of Attilan, then located in the Himalayan Mountains, was attended by the Inhumans, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four.
Not long after the birth of his and Crystal's first child, Luna, Quicksilver learned the truth about his parentage. Magneto had stumbled upon Bova and learned from her that Magda and Pietro were his children.
Confronting Quicksilver and his sister in Attilan with this revelation, Magneto apparently hoped to sway his children to rejoin his crusade against humanity. But Quicksilver denounced Magneto for his callous treatment of them when they were members of his Brotherhood, and refused to believe he had changed his ways. A man of action, Quicksilver volunteered his services to the head of the Inhumans' small militia and became an officer. During the period of his service, however, the Inhumans had no call for military activity. Quicksilver's neglect of his wife led Crystal to become involved with another man. Learning of her infidelity, Quicksilver refused to forgive her and fled Attilan, vowing vengeance on her and all those he perceived as having wronged him. Unknown to anyone, however, Crystal's malevolent cousin Maximus was manipulating Quicksilver's mind, fanning Quicksilver's anger at Crystal into a rage directed against his former colleagues in the Avengers. Quicksilver framed the Avengers for treason, thereby turning the federal government against them until they cleared their names. Quicksilver also led the members of the android version of the criminal organization Zodiac against the Avengers, fought the Fantastic Four, and joined forces with various Soviet-era Communist operatives against the Avengers' West Coast division.
Eventually Maximus' control over Quicksilver's mind lapsed and Pietro ended his criminal ways. The Inhumans' monarch Black Bolt commanded that the reluctant Quicksilver reconcile with Crystal. Their initial attempts failed. Quicksilver unofficially joined the Avengers' West Coast branch for a time. Eventually Crystal took Luna to Earth and joined the Avengers, and Quicksilver shortly afterwards became a special operative of the United States government as part of its new, Havok-led version of X-Factor.
Quicksilver and Crystal again attempted a reconciliation, and this time they were successful. Quicksilver left X-Factor and again became affiliated with his wife's team, the Avengers. However, their happiness was short-lived, because Crystal seemingly perished in the Avengers' battle against Onslaught. In actuality she, along with many other members of the Avengers, had been transported to an alternate reality. During her absence, the High Evolutionary asked Quicksilver to become the leader of a small band of his Knights of Wundagore, animals that the geneticist had endowed with human intelligence and humanoid forms. Quicksilver accepted and for a time led the Knights in battles against injustice. Quicksilver and Crystal were happily reunited after she and the other missing Avengers finally returned to their native Earth.
During the events of House Of M after Layla Miller had used her powers to make numerous heroes see that the reality was false they all believe that it was Magneto's doing. Upon arriving at Genosha they found out that it was Quicksilver who persuaded the Scarlet Witch into changing the reality. Magneto killed Pietro in a rage after discovering what his son had done in his name. Wanda subsequently revived her brother, and out of spite reduced the world's powered mutant population to a mere fraction of its former size.
Quicksilver is one of the mutants who have lost their powers. As a result, Pietro fell into a deep depression over his loss of powers and betrayal of mutant-kind.
When an angry Spider-Man confronted Quicksilver (angry with the fact that he still has memories of being married to Gwen Stacy and having a child together from the House of M reality), Quicksilver jumped off a roof, seriously injuring himself and possibly breaking his spine. Crystal, whom Quicksilver had tried to contact earlier, teleported in to find her ex-husband lying hurt, and attacked Spider-Man, until Quicksilver told her that he had jumped off the roof. Crystal teleported him to the Inhumans for medical attention, believing he had become suicidal upon the loss of his powers and unaware of his true connection to the events.
After treatment by an Inhuman healer, Quicksilver woke up and was reunited with his daughter Luna. Deciding that he could not stand life as a human, Pietro asked Black Bolt for permission to undergo Terrigenesis. Quicksilver's request was denied since he was of human blood, and Terrigenesis was reserved only for those of pure Inhuman stock to decrease the chance of a detrimental mutation.
Luna introduced Quicksilver to a "communicator" who told Pietro much about the process of Terrigenesis, leading to Quicksilver breaking into the sacred Terrigen Caves and knocking out a guard so he could dive into the misty waters inside. Quicksilver returned to his room, thinking that the exposure had no effect on him, only to be greeted by an older looking Quicksilver.
The older Quicksilver explained the nature of his new powers, and of the plan that came to pass. Quicksilver began working with his older selves to set forward a plan to take the Terrigen Crystals back to Earth and restore the mutant population. He set about gaining Luna's loyalties, and promised to bring her to Earth with him, as well as learn of Lockjaw's loyalties to Luna. Eventually, Quicksilver managed to get a container full of Terrigen Crystals to the past, and used Lockjaw to take him and Luna back to his apartment in New York.
Luna instructed Lockjaw not to let Crystal find them before he headed back to the Inhumans. Quicksilver explained the basis of his plan concerning the Terrigen Crystals, and told her he was going to give back her birthright and exposed her to his Terrigen Mist, giving her the ability to "see" souls and emotions. After gaining some funds by jumping to the future and using winning lottery numbers, he then traveled to Genosha and convinced Callisto to sample some of the Terrigen Mist herself, which promptly restored her heightened senses to the ultimate degree. Quicksilver told Callisto to gather up the remaining depowered mutants so that he could restore their powers. Callisto went to find other depowered mutants, and it began to rain, which caused her intense pain, as each rain drop felt like a hot burning needle. Each sense was amped to levels not able for her to withstand, such as feeling her fingernails grow or listening to millions of insects underneath the ground. However, Magneto came across her, and confronted her about who had done this to her, and he was told that it was his son's doing.
Nevertheless Quicksilver continued his "mission", re-powering the rest of Genosha's mutants. Confronted by Magneto, who verbally assaulted him showing to the other mutants the unconscious Callisto as proof (in fact her growing pain had sent her in a comatose state). In retaliation Quicksilver used his newfound power to pummel Magneto with the aid of two "temporal dupes", and only the sight of his crying daughter stopped him from killing his own father, blaming him for having never acknowledging his presence and his love for him.
After a brief encounter with the Inhumans, U.S. government agents shot Quicksilver with a tranquilizer dart in an attempt to immobilize him. What they really sought, however, was the tank of Terrigen Mist. In an attempt to save his daughter, Pietro ordered Lockjaw to teleport her away from Genosha. This proved a fortuitous move. Despite a warning by the Inhumans to return the tank, the agents attempted to escape with their newly acquired cargo. Left to deal with the situation on his own, Black Bolt whispered the word "war," preventing the agents from escaping and causing massive destruction to the surrounding area. As a result, this action was taken as a sign of open conflict between the Inhumans and the U.S. government. After escaping from the battle on Genosha, Quicksilver bathed himself in the Terrigen Mists for what seemed to be weeks on end, going so far as to absorb the crystals into his own body. He used the Terrigen Crystals to travel farther into the future than ever before, and upon his return spoke of a monstrous disaster yet to come. Learning he gained the power to restore the super-human abilities of former mutants, Pietro "cured" a man on the street who turned out to be the villain known as Reaper. As he walked away, Quicksilver appeared more mentally unstable than ever before as he chose to accept the destruction that lay ahead.
Pietro was later arrested for vagrancy, but he regained his powers after suffering through many hallucinations which eventually indicated that the terrigenesis crystals had run their course through his body. Upon seeing a young woman in danger, he used his powers to break out of the prison and save her after she was thrown off a building. He left her at a lighthouse on Rhode Island with a man and his child who likely did not have a mother. He rediscovered his desire to be a hero and happily ran off with a fresh start.
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. After the events of the storyline the character is publicly of former crimes, with an unknown Skru being blamed (although Henry Pym and Avenger butler Jarvis are aware of the lie). Quicksilver also resumes wearing his original green costume.
Powers & abilities
Speed Physiology: Pietro's body is adapted towards the rigors of high-speed running. His cardiovascular and respiratory systems are many times more efficient than those of a normal human being. He metabolizes an estimated 95% of the caloric energy content of foodstuffs (normal human use is about 25%). The chemical processes of Quicksilver's musculature are so highly enhanced that his body does not generate fatigue poisons, the normal by-products of locomotion, which force the body to rest. Rather, his body constantly expels waste products during his accelerated respiration through exhalation. His joints are smoother and lubricated more efficiently than those of a normal human being. His tendons have the tensile strength of spring steel. His bones contain unknown materials significantly more durable than calcium to withstand the dynamic shocks of his feet touching the ground at speeds a human could never achieve or withstand. Quicksilver's practical reaction time is several times faster than a normal human's and the speed at which his brain processes information is heightened to a level commensurate with his bodily speed, enabling him to perceive his surroundings while traveling at high velocities. Quicksilver's lachrymose is more viscous than normal, thus preventing rapid evaporation and replenishment of surface fluids on his eyeballs under the influence of high wind velocity to occlude his vision.
Superhuman Speed: He was originally capable of running faster than the speed of sound (770 miles per hour). He had sufficient energy reserves that enabled him to run at this average speed for an unknown amount of hours before reducing his speed to replenish his body's store of energy. Quicksilver has used his powers of acceleration for various feats. He has plucked an arrow out of the air from a standing start, and has dodged machine gun fire. He has created cyclone-like gusts of wind, which are able to knock a man off his feet. He is able to run across the Atlantic Ocean and to oversea continents without having to stop, run up the sides of buildings effortlessly, and also seems able to use some type of energy, comparing it to "his father's power". He is currently capable of reaching high supersonic speeds up to at least Mach 4 (3,080 miles per hour), he can probably run faster. Quicksilver is also immune to the effects of friction, reduced oxygen up to a point where a human can no longer breathe, and impact upon his body while moving at super-speeds. He has traveled around the world by running on top of the ocean water and even ran all the way up Mount Everest without slowing down and went flying above cloud level as a result.
Molecular Destabilization: Through the course of his life as a mutant, his super speed has granted him numerous abilities. One of the very peculiar ones was being able to vibrate his molecular structure at high speeds. Different writers used it for different things that were often absurd or completely ignored it. He has demonstrated the full effect which enables him to destabilize atomic matter by accelerating its molecules often causing it to fall apart or explode usually by touching it. It is unknown if he can do this from a distance like his nephew Thomas Shepherd. Another example can be found in Uncanny X-Men #44, when he had the ability to fly for short periods of time.
Enhanced Strength: Pietro possesses superhuman strength primarily in his lower body as part of his body's adaptations for running. With his upper body he can lift (press) approximately 1000 pounds while his legs can press approximately 1 ton under optimal conditions.
Enhanced Durability: He is capable of resisting tremendous impact forces that could easily crush and kill a human without suffering any internal injuries.
- Precognitive Immunity: Perhaps due to his close relation to the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver is invisible to Layla Miller's precognition.
Abilities
Gifted Intellect: Pietro is intellectually gifted, able to think at great speeds, contrary to his impulsiveness.
Skilled Combatant He has been trained in martial arts and other forms of combat by Captain America making him an excellent fighter.[http:// ]
Weaknesses
He has no known weaknesses, but his mentality is currently questionable.
In other media
Television
Quicksilver features in 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 - present) and The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Scott Menville (2009).
Film
In X2: X-Men United, the name "Maximoff" appears on a computer screen in a list of mutant names. He can also bee seen briefly in the new movie X-men origins: Wolverine.
Video games
- Quicksilver has a cameo appearance in the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
- Quicksilver appears in Data East's 1991 arcade game, Captain America and the Avengers as a supporting character.
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009).
Toys
- Toys
Quicksilver was one of the action figures featured in Hasbro's Marvel Legends Blob Series.