Quicksilver. Artist: John Buscema.

QUICKSILVER

Medium: Comic books
Published by: Marvel Comics
First Appeared: 1964
Creators: Stan Lee (writer) and Jack Kirby (artist)
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Along with his sister, The Scarlet Witch, Marvel's Quicksilver first appeared as a member of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a group of X-Men bad guys. But they clearly didn't belong with that crowd — right from the beginning, it was apparent that they stuck around because of misplaced loyalty to Magneto, the group's leader, and not because their hearts were in it. When the Evil Mutants broke up, in 1965, …

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… Pietro and Wanda (their "civilian" names) sought refuge with The Avengers, and have been associated with that organization ever since.

Quicksilver is one of a genre of super-speedy heroes, patterned after The Flash. (Another of that genre, published by Quality Comics, used the name "Quicksilver" in the 1940s, but he scarcely signifies — his greatest impact was as a supporting character in DC's Impulse, but to avoid confusion, his name has been changed to Max Mercury.) But a rather pedestrian super power isn't all he has going for him — his prickly demeanor (caused, no doubt, by impatience with folks who move at normal speed) has made him a popular supporting character, even if he isn't the kind of guy likely to prosper as a series star.

Pietro's origin, like that of his sister, is a bit murky. He's a mutant — which in Marvel Comics means a person born with a potential super power — but the circumstances of his birth and background lay unrevealed for years. In the 1970s, it was alleged that the two were the product of a marriage between The Whizzer, an earlier Flash imitator, and Miss America, both of whom held down series at Marvel in the 1940s and, like Captain America and Sub-Mariner, members of The All Winners Squad. More recently, however, it's been established (at least until a new writer comes up with a better idea) that their father is none other than Magneto himself.

Quicksilver is now married to Crystal, one of The Inhumans (an entire race of Marvel Comics super-beings), and they have a daughter named Luna. He devotes much of his time to his family, and is less active as a superhero.

— DDM

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