Speed (comics)
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Speed (Thomas Shepherd) is a fictional character and member of the Young Avengers, a team of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. His appearance is patterned on that of Quicksilver and first appeared in Young Avengers #10. In Young Avengers #12 he took the costumed identity Speed and joined the Young Avengers.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Wiccan (Billy Kaplan) and the other Young Avengers recently located another teenager with ties to the Avengers using the same program devised by the Vision that Iron Lad used to locate most of the current Young Avengers. The group found Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd, a white-haired boy with superspeed powers. Right away, it was noted that Tommy bore a striking resemblance to Billy and Quicksilver, sharing the latter's hair color and mutant abilities.
In Young Avengers #12, Tommy adopts the codename "Speed".
[edit] Parentage
In Young Avengers #11, Tommy's possible relationship to the Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Billy was revealed by the Super-Skrull and Vision. In the past, Scarlet Witch was so desperate to have children that she used her reality-warping powers to create twin sons out of fragments of the soul of the demon Mephisto. When the boys' souls were reabsorbed into Mephisto, they destroyed him and their souls were reincarnated as Tommy and Billy.
Heinberg stated on the situation in a transcript with fans, "According to Billy's theory, the souls of Wanda's twins inhabited his and Tommy's bodies when they were dispersed from Mephisto. But it's only a theory." [1] He also stated in another interview that his plans for the new 'season' involved the two searching for Wanda, stating "If everything goes according to plan, Wanda will indeed return to Young Avengers early in Season Two, when Billy and Tommy embark on a search for the true source of their powers. [2].
Much conjecture has been made as to their appearance and powers, and while interviews have stated that they are, indeed, her children, in the comics the only indication there of is K'Lrt's statements and Vision's files. Billy believes himself to be Wanda's son, however Tommy has been more skeptical about the situation. At this time, while it is exceptionally likely that the two are indeed the reborn souls of Scarlet Witch's children, it does not confirm that Scarlet Witch is their 'mother,' only that she may once have been so in a previous life.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Speed is superhumanly fast and his top speed is unknown, but he can exceed the speed of sound. He can also generate hyperkinetic vibrations that accelerate the molecules in matter, causing any solid object he directs his vibrations at to explode.
