| Max Mercury | |
|---|---|
.png) Quality Comics' Quicksilver, retooled as Max Mercury. Art byNick Cardy. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Quality Comics DC Comics (current owner) |
| First appearance | As Quicksilver: National Comics #5 (Nov 1940) As Max Mercury: Flash (vol. 2) #76 (May 1993) |
| Created by | Jack Cole, Chuck Mazoujian Revamped by:Mark Waid |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Maxwell Crandall |
| Species | Metahuman |
| Team affiliations | Freedom Fighters All-Star Squadron Justice League |
| Partnerships | Wally West Bart Allen |
| Notable aliases | Ahwehota, Windrunner, Whip Whirlwind, Lightning, Bluestreak, Quicksilver, Buckshot, The Zen Master of Speed |
| Abilities | Super speed Molecular control Time and dimensional travel |
Max Mercury (Maxwell Crandall), also known asWindrunner,Whip Whirlwind, andLightning, is aDC Comics superhero similar toQuality Comics'Quicksilver. Initially an obscurespeedster, the character was rebooted byMark Waid in 1993 in the pages ofThe Flash and made a mentor toWally West andBart Allen.
Max Mercury appears in the television seriesThe Flash, portrayed by Trevor Carroll.
He first appeared in Quality'sNational Comics #5, cover dated November 1940, as Quicksilver.[1] Comics historianDon Markstein calls Quicksilver "probably the first imitator ofthe Flash's super-speed schtick".[2]
Almost nothing was revealed about the character except that he possessed super-speed and had previously worked as acircus acrobat.[3] In fact, after about a third of his feature's run, his superhuman speed was downplayed, or phased out altogether. He appeared inNational Comics until issue #73 (Aug 1949).[4] He also made an appearance inUncle Sam Quarterly (Winter 1941).[5]
Due to Quicksilver's indistinct background,Mark Waid was able to reinvent the character inThe Flash without contradicting previously established continuity. The character was renamed Max Mercury to avoid confusion withMarvel Comics'Quicksilver.
In Waid's origin of the character, he was originally a scout with theUS Cavalry in the 1830s. A friend of the localIndian tribes, he was shocked and dismayed to find them massacred on the orders of his commanding officer. Enchanted by a dying Indianshaman, he gained superhuman speed. In the years that followed, he became known to the Indians asAhwehota ("He Who Runs Beyond The Wind"), and to everyone else as Windrunner.[6]
Mercury has repeatedly traveled through time, seeking to enter the so-calledSpeed Force. He usually bounces off and finds himself decades in the future. His first attempt left him in the 1890s, where he created a new identity for himself as Whip Whirlwind. Later, he traveled ahead again, and was active in the 1930s and 1940s as Quicksilver, where he acted as a mentor to the fledglingGolden AgeFlash andJohnny Quick.
According toJess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, "Quicksilver fights the Axis mesmerist Baron Hoff, the circus aerialists the Black Cats, the mad scientist Dr. Morlo, the Human Fly, the Screaming Skull, the Witch Doctor, and the Speed Demons, whose super-speed is derived from special pills".[7]
In 1948, he had an affair with the wife of a doctor who had saved his life. When the doctor learned of this and his wife returned to her husband's side, Max fled into the future once more. He then reappeared in the early 1960s, where he battledSavitar and was bounced still further forward in time. He spent some years in hiding, but was persuaded by Garrick to return to action againstProfessor Zoom (who was posing asBarry Allen). Max Mercury has been the mentor of firstWally West and laterBart Allen (alias Impulse). He taught West about the Speed Force, and helped him to access his full speed by encouraging him to break a mental block he had placed on his powers—stopping Wally from being as fast as Barry because he would then have really replaced his uncle as the Flash. He also attempted to teach Impulse a measure of patience with varying results. While living with Bart, Max met an aged physician named Helen Claiborne, who turned out to be his daughter from his earlier affair.
InImpulse #88 (2002), Max is possessed by the spirit of a Golden Age supervillain: theRival. While still in Max's body, the Rival escapes to an unknown place in time.[8]
InInfinite Crisis (2006), Max appears in the Speed Force, where his spirit was imprisoned after the Rival possessed him. Max assists Johnny Quick, Bart Allen, and other speedsters in takingSuperboy-Prime to a realm beyond the Speed Force.[9]
Max later appears inThe Flash: Rebirth (2009), whereBarry Allen frees him from the Negative Speed Force controlled by Professor Zoom.[10]
Max is a human granted superhuman speed by ancientNative American rituals. His speed is enough that he can accelerate well beyond the standard Mach 1 super-speed limit, or the speed of sound; though he cannot reachescape velocity. Over time, he tried to find the fuel for his powers (and those of otherspeedsters): theSpeed Force. Though he never quite entered it nor obtained its energies to power his speed, his attempts allowed him totravel forward through time.
Among his peers, Max is unique in his attempts to understand the Speed Force in a mystical way (referred to by other characters as "Zen"). He also differs from other speedsters because of his agility; he cannot run as quickly as the Flashes, but he has a greater ability to perform acrobatic stunts and finely coordinated actions.
An alternate universe version of Max Mercury from theFlashpoint timeline appears in theFlashpoint tie-inKid Flash Lost. After becoming connected to theBlack Flash, Bart Allen kills Mercury to give Barry Allen enough power to undo the Flashpoint timeline.[11]
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