Quicksilver is one of the fastest speedsters in comics, regardless of company, but he isn’t the fastest. Quicksilver is Pietro Maximoff, and he debuted in X-Men #4 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Over the years, he turned good and joined the Avengers, married Crystal of the Inhumans, and both teamed with and fought his sister, the Scarlet Witch. In terms of power, Quicksilver is capable of running at speeds of 175 miles per hour, and he can run at this speed for about four hours before needing to rest. He was later upgraded by Isotope E, which lifted the limits of his speed, and he has been seen running as fast as 3,080 miles per hour.
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That said, Quicksilver <a href="https://comicvibe.com/5-arcade-games-from-1986-that-still-hold-up-today/” title=”5 Arcade Games From 1986 That Still Hold Up Today”>still isn’t the fastest in Marvel Comics. While he was one of the first speedsters introduced when Stan Lee helped create the superhero line at Marvel Comics, there were some speedsters who existed in the company before it became Marvel, and others who came later who are faster than the mutant hero.
5) Whizzer
Whizzer is Robert Frank, a Golden Age hero who debuted in U.S.A. Comics #1 (1941) by Al Avison. He was a member of the Invaders, fighting alongside Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Namor, and Jim Hammond’s Human Torch in World War II. His power, as his name suggests, was always super speed, and it was considered to be incredibly fast at the time, with Whizzer reported to be able to run up to the speed of one mile per second, with the possibility to double that with effort. His top speed at one time was 60,000 miles per second, but he could only keep that speed for a few seconds.
This puts Whizzer’s top speed at 3,600 miles per hour, which exceeds Quicksilver’s top speed. Namor once said that he believed Whizzer was faster than the mutant hero, although that might have just been his opinion. Namor made this claim in The Avengers #155 (1977) when Namor was fighting an aging Whizzer. At this point in his life, Whizzer could only run at 100 miles per hour with the risk of a heart attack.
4) FastForward
FastForward is the Buried Alien, a speedster who first appears in Quasar #17 as an amnesiac stranger and is later called FastForward. He debuted in Quasar #17 (1990) by Mark Gruenwald and Mike Manley. He appears in the comic as a blond-haired man in a red and yellow costume, with a desperate need to run. The entire thought was that he was supposed to reference Barry Allen’s Flash, who had died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, although this was mostly just speculation.
FastForward proved to be the fastest speedster in Marvel Comics at the time because he competed in the Runner’s race, and he won it while racing against Quicksilver, Whizzer, Captain Marvel, Speed Demon, Black Racer, Super Sabre, and Makkari. As a result of the win, he was named “The Fastest Man Alive,” the same nickname that Flash used in DC Comics. His last appearance was in Quasar #58 (1994), and he hasn’t been seen since.
3) Northstar
Northstar made his debut in Marvel Comics as a member of Alpha Flight, and his speed has been shown to reach Quicksilver’s level, and even eclipse it in some cases. He debuted in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (1979) by Chris Claremont and John Byrne as an Alpha Flight member who is trying to bring Wolverine back to the Canadian government. His mutant powers allow him to move and fly at superhuman speeds by channeling kinetic energy from his body’s molecules.
Northstar’s speed is tremendous, and he has been said to be able to reach 99% of the speed of light, and light travels at 186,262 miles per second in a vacuum. He has never moved at that speed since it would damage himself and the environment around him. He claimed in X-Factor #7 (2021) to reach 189,299 miles per second, which exceeded the speed of light. On a regular basis, Northstar gets as fast as Mach 10 speed without injury.
2) Makkari
Makkari is a member of the Eternals, and she made her Marvel Comics debut in The Eternals #5 (1976) by Jack Kirby. The character is also based on characters from Timely Comics named Mercury, who debuted in Red Raven Comics #1 (1940), and Hurricane, who debuted in Captain America Comics #1 (1941). Makkari specializes in speed, giving up other Eternal abilities for near-light-speed running over extended periods. Makkari was male for most of his life, but he became female after the death of the Dreaming Celestial.
Makkari is one of the Eternals of Earth, genetically engineered from early man by the Celestials. At one point in her life, Makkari trained with the Eternal guru Elo to boost her speed to unprecedented levels. In Quasar #17 (1990), Makkari joined a marathon to the moon and almost won the race against the fastest characters in Marvel Comics at the time. In the Galactic Marathon, he won the race, but was left stuck at hyper-speed as a side effect. He is a cosmic being who beat the Runner, while Quicksilver finished behind the field in the Runner’s earlier race.
1) The Runner
The Runner debuted in The Defenders #143 (1985) by Peter B. Gillis and Don Perlin. He is an Elder of the Universe, over five billion years old. He is also seven feet tall with gold eyes and hair, powered by a fraction of the Power Primordial, energy from the Big Bang. His speed is often called the fastest in the Marvel Universe, and he is also immortal and invulnerable, has cosmic awareness, and can manipulate emotions.
His greatest feat saw him reach Absolute Speed, and he has run tens of thousands of miles per hour while on a planet. The Runner has often held a Galactic Marathon, in which the fastest beings in the galaxy competed. He has beaten characters like the Whizzer, Monica Rambeau, Quicksilver, FastForward, Black Racer, and more. While characters like FastForward and Makkari have won races, the Runner proved to be faster than Quicksilver.
Who is your favorite speedster in Marvel Comics? Let us know who you think would win a race in the comments below.
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