- "For someone who's pretty fast, I always seem to be too late."
- ―Quicksilver
Peter Maximoff (also known as Quicksilver) is a mutant who has the ability of super speed.
Biography
Early life
Peter Maximoff was born in the mid 1950s. He was the result of an affair between Ms. Maximoff and the mutant Erik Lehnsherr.
In 1977, Peter participates in a track and field competition and breaks 8 world records. An investigation is conducted on him in which he is revealed to be a mutant. This sparks a controversy of mutant participation in athletics. Later, athletics officials adopt a genetic testing policy in partnership with Trask Industries in which no athletes carrying the mutant X-Gene can compete in professional sporting events.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
A mutant believed to be Quicksilver was captured by William Stryker along with many other younger mutants for Stryker's project "Deadpool". He was later freed by Wolverine and escorted with the others to a helicopter commandeered by Charles Xavier.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Some time after this, he met Wolverine and the pair became friends. He was among those captured and being escorted by the Sentinels to a concentration camp.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
When Wolverine travels back in time to 1973, he, Charles, and Hank go to Peter Maximoff's house to seek his help. The group meets Peter's mom, who tells them that she will write a check for whatever he took. Logan tells her that they just needed to talk to him and are welcomed into the house. Peter speeds around his basement while Logan tells him that they need his help breaking into a prison. Peter is at first uninterested until Charles informs him that he will be breaking into the Pentagon. This grabs Peter's attention, and when he asks the group on how he can trust them, Logan displays his claws - proving that they're mutants. Joining the X-Men on their mission, Maximoff easily infiltrates the Pentagon and enters an elevator with a guard who is bringing Magneto's food.
Peter eventually realized Magneto was his father, having been unable to process the facts on the short time he met Wolverine, Professor X, Beast, and Magneto.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Obsessed with finding his father, Peter spends the next ten years looking for him and eventually comes across his house in Poland. However, he is too late once more as the mutant had fled from the area and returns to his home to witness a special commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Magneto's attack on Washington D.C. Peter then departs for the X-Mansion in search of answers.
Upon making it to the mansion, Peter notices it is exploding and he uses his super speed to get every student and even their pets out to safety on the school lawn. William Stryker and his soldiers soon arrive and Peter, Hank McCoy, Moira MacTaggert and Mystique are rendered unconscious and taken to Alkali lake. Locked in a prison that blocks their powers, Peter talks to Mystique about Magneto asking what he was like and revealing to her that he was his son. Peter and the others are later saved by Scott Summers, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler. The group then don some flight suits and board an astral plane. Aboard the aircraft, Jean and the others talk about how Mystique revealing herself to the public as a mutant was an influential moment to them. Peter agrees, also stating that it had a big impact on his life, although joking that his life is still the same to how it's always been.
In Cairo, the team is divided into different tasks with Jean, Cyclops, and Beast confronting Psylocke and Storm, Moira to guard the plane, Nightcrawler to rescue Professor X, and Quicksilver and Mystique to stop Magneto. Peter grabs Mystique and uses his speed to travel across a bridge of magnetic debris to Magneto, who is floating in the air and manipulating the Earth's natural magnetic forces, creating disasters across the globe. After Peter fails to penetrate the mutant's magnetic field, Mystique gives a heartfelt plea for Magneto to stop and Peter almost tells him that he's his son but goes against it, believing that it wasn't an appropriate time. Peter then rushes back to help his fellow X-Men, using his amazing speed and strength to give Apocalypse a severe beating, until he adapts to his powers and breaks Peter's arm and leg. Mystique arrives in the disguise of Psylocke and attacks Apocalypse, only to get strangled in the process. However, the two are saved thanks to the interference of Magneto. Cyclops, Storm, Professor X, Magneto, and an enhanced Jean Grey then manage to disintegrate Apocalypse.
Following the reconstruction of the X-Mansion, Peter opts to stay and decides that he would tell Magneto about being his son someday. Later, upon receiving new costumes, Quicksilver, alongside Cyclops, Mystique, Storm, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Beast, gather in the Danger Room to train against some Sentinels under the watch of Professor X.Personality
Cocky, overly-confident and somewhat of a kleptomaniac, Peter Maximoff is often quick to act and impatient due to his enhanced speed and being three steps ahead of everyone else. He has a fast-paced manner of speaking and acting such as before meeting Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy and Wolverine he had already discovered that they were driving a rental car and while leaving checked the flight path of their plane to Paris. During 1973, Peter often enjoyed stealing or showing off his powers by getting in and out with what he wants under seconds flat and leaving no trace. He agreed to help Xavier and Wolverine break Magneto out of prison, on the benefit for Peter that he got to break into the Pentagon, supposedly the most inmpentrable prison in the world.
Peter has also displayed a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. For example while attempting to escape the Pentagon and was confronted by security guards, using his super-speed, gives one a wedgie, stole another guards hat and making another punch himself. After the X-Mansion exploded and Peter began saving the students within, he also flirted with Moira and took the time to drink a bottle of soda and an entire pizza while doing so. He also follows the latest music such as during the 70's keeps Time in a Bottle in his Sony Walkman cassette but changes to the more progressive rock, Sweet Dreams during the 80's while battling Apocalypse.
Powers
- Superhuman Speed - Peter can move, think and react at supersonic speeds. His speed allows him to move faster than the human mind can even perceive. At super speed, time appears to be moving in slow motion.
- Limited Molecular Control - Quicksilver is able to vibrate his molecules to disrupt the inter-molecular bonds around him. This can lead to many effects such as phasing or molecular combustion. Quicksilver can control whether his speed will cause collateral damage as he can run and knock over a group of armed men by running past them whilst moving at a faster speed he does not harm Charles, Erik or Logan when defeating the guards. During the Pentagon extraction, he holds Erik's neck to avoid causing him whiplash injury. He does not seem to be concerned by the effects of high-speed friction caused by air resistance, which should injure anyone he carries. This implies he can protect his 'passengers' somehow. During his visit to the mansion, it is shown that even an explosion seems to be frozen from his perspective.
- Accelerated Momentum - By using his super fast reaction time and perception of the world, Peter can see the world nearly frozen while he is making his move. Because of his incredible speeds gravity has no effect on him and he can even run up walls. In fact, he moves so fast that kinetic energy, inertia, friction, pressure, and vectors have no effect on him. This causes weight and hardness of objects and people being non existent to him while he moves at super speed. By displacing objects frozen in time around him, even with seemingly little exertion of force, he can generate great force similar to the force of an explosion. By throwing a plate at a guard while at super speed, its impact with the guard sent him flying through the air. A simple tap on the cheek at super human speed was enough to send a fully grown man, flying. Also, while in super speed, pulling off curtains from large windows caused the windows and the surrounding wall to explode. He could effortlessly lift, throw send objects and people flying through the air as if they are weightless. He was even able to send Apocalypse flying through the air at great speed by hitting him at super speed, and repeated this process, allowing him to hit Apocalypse again and again while he was frozen in slow motion. This ability therefore made him able to hit inhumanly hard and simulate superhuman strength while moving at super speed.
- Superhuman Perception - Quicksilver's increased speed also augmented his reaction time, allowing him to react to danger and events much faster than a normal human. His reflexes are so fast that they even allow him to catch bullets in mid-air. As a result, Quicksilver tends to see the world around him as if it were in slow motion, especially when he is moving at super speed.
- Enhanced Reflexes - Quicksilver is capable of perceiving the world as if it was all moving in slow motion.
- Enhanced Physiology - Quicksilver's body is enhanced to suit the needs of his power. He has shown various physical enhancements, due to the effects of his power.
- Accelerated Healing: - Quicksilver's body's super speed also accelerates his metabolic rate. His body can break down food more efficiently than a regular human and, as a result, expels very little waste products that he can exhale through his skin. This enables him to rapidly heal from injuries, though it is not a true healing factor, just a highly accelerated metabolism. After being severely injured by Apocalypse, Quicksilver is seen with crutches, however his arm and leg had made a full recovery after a day as he is seen with the new X-Men without his cast and crutches. This means Quicksilver can heal broken bones and joints within a 48-hour period.
- Extended Longevity: -It is likely that is health & longevity are also extended. According to Wolverine, he and Quicksilver met sometime between the events of The Last Stand in 2006 and Days of Future Past in 2023, stating that Quicksilver can get into anywhere. This implies that Quicksilver ages at a slower rate (Assuming he is at least 17 in the 1970s) and therefore is still active despite being around 67 years old.
- Enhanced Durability - Quicksilver's body is enhanced to survive the impact of his speed. His joints are a strong as spring steel, his bones are several times harder than calcium and his soft tissue, skin and muscle are proportionally enhanced to match. However Apocalypse was capable of easily breaking his leg and dislocating his arm.
- Enhanced Strength - A side effect of his enhanced durability provides Quicksilver with exceptional strength despite his size and age, as shown by being able to sweep guards off of their feet with his speed. He was able to effortless carry and throw multiple students from the mansion to save them from the explosion. Whilst his strength is not very high, his speed and durability allows him the attack the super durable Apocalypse and send him flying without harming himself.
- Enhanced Stamina - Despite Quicksilver's superhumanly accelerated metabolism, his highly developed stamina prevents him from tiring or building up lactic acid or fatigue toxins.
- Enhanced Agility - Quicksilver was able to jump up and run sideways onto a wall without any build-up or change in speed and balance. He could easily run around his basement in a blink of an eye despite the number of stolen objects and the three X-men members coming in later. He could run around a group of guards in curves, arcs, and sharp turns without slowing down, as from his perspective everything still seemed to be moving in slow motion. During the evacuation of the mansion, Quicksilver is capable of performing a back flip whilst carrying two students under his arms.
Equipment
- Walkman - Peter wears a stereo belt so he can listen to his music while he is running. He can hear the music normally, even though he is running faster than human senses can perceive, presumably by making the music play fast enough to catch up with his own senses. In 1983 he uses a Sony Sports Walkman.
- Clip On Headphones - Peter wears clip-on headphones to listen to his music and also they don't fall off his ears even when he is running at super speed. He later uses Sony earbud headphones in 1983.
- Duct Tape - Peter carries duct tape with him in order to tie up his enemies.
- Goggles - Peter wears silver goggles in order to protect his eyes from debris while he is running, such as water.
Relationships
Family
- Magneto - Father
- Ms. Maximoff - Mother
- Magda † - Step-Mother
- Scarlet Witch - Younger Twin Sister
- Nina † - Half-Sister
- Unnamed Half Sister
- Jakob Lehnsherr † - Grandfather
- Edie Lehnsherr † - Grandmother
Friends
- Wolverine - Friend and Ally
- Professor X - Mentor and Friend
- Mystique - Mentor, Teammate, and Friend
- Storm - Teammate, Friend, and Former Enemy
- Beast - Teammate and Friend
- Moira MacTaggert - Teammate and Friend
- Cyclops - Teammate, Friend, and Savior
- Jean Grey - Teammate, Friend, and Savior
- Nightcrawler - Teammate, Friend, and Savior
Enemies
- William Stryker - Captor and Enemy
- Apocalypse † - Enemy
Trivia
- Another version of Quicksilver appeared in Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company's production Captain America: The Winter Soldier and in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He is portrayed by Evan Peters' Kick-Ass co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
- This version is named "Peter" instead of "Pietro".
- This is due to both Fox and Marvel owning Quicksilver's movie rights, as Quicksilver was heavily involved in both the Avengers and X-Men comics.
- Quicksilver replaced a young Juggernaut in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
- A nod to Magneto possibly being his father was made in the film. When he discovers Magneto has the ability to control metal, Peter says his mother once knew a man who had the same ability.
- Michael Fassbender confirmed in an interview with CinemaBlend that Magneto is indeed Quicksilver's father in the movies.
- This was cemented by Quicksilver himself in X-Men Apocalypse.
- Even though the production purposely renamed Quicksilver as Peter instead of Pietro as per the comics, he was referred to as Pietro in the 25 Moments website.
External links
Quicksilver on the Marvel Wiki
*
Quicksilver on Wikipedia