Speed (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Speed | |
 Tommy Shepherd as Speed Art by Jim Cheung. |
|
| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Young Avengers #10 (February, 2006). |
| Created by | Allan Heinberg Jim Cheung |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd |
| Species | Unknown |
| Team affiliations | Secret Avengers Young Avengers |
| Abilities | Superhuman speed Molecular acceleration. |
Speed (Thomas "Tommy" 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.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd is presumably the only son of Frank and Mary Shepherd, who are divorced. He was born and raised in Springfield, New Jersey.
Wiccan (Billy Kaplan) and the other Young Avengers recently located him as 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, their intent being to recruit more super-powered teens who could help them rescue their abducted teammate, Hulkling.
The Young Avengers find Tommy in a high-powered facility in Springfield that Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) initially describes as "just juvie" (juvenile hall), though the facility and its staff are equipped with advanced offensive and defensive technology such as robotic suits and power dampening containment cells.
Vision states that Tommy is being held at the facility, presumably under court order, because he "accidentally" vaporized his school. When they release him from his cell, it was immediately noted that Tommy, a white-haired speedster, bore a striking resemblance to Billy ("twin-like") and Quicksilver, sharing the latter's hair color and similar abilities.
The team then runs into the armed officers of the facility. Tommy cynically and cruelly begins attacking the officers and fleeing doctors, stating that he had been locked up for months and that during his time there, he was tested and experimented on with the goal to make him into a living weapon. Hawkeye and Patriot (Elijah Bradley) manage to stop him and convince him to join them in rescuing their teammate Hulking from Kl'rt the Super-Skrull.
Little more has been revealed about the facility or Tommy's experiences there prior to his release, nor have they been addressed by the other Young Avengers or Tommy himself.
In Young Avengers #12, Tommy decides to officially join the team and adopts the codename "Speed".
[edit] The Search for the Scarlet Witch
In Young Avengers Presents #3, Tommy joins Billy as they search for the Scarlet Witch through Genosha and Wundagore before finally encountering Master Pandemonium at a former residence of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. Master Pandemonium decides not to fight the boys after recognizing Wiccan's magic as being the same as the Scarlet Witch's and realizing that the two boys are the same as Wanda's previous children, William and Thomas. Instead, he elaborates on their history concerning Mephisto and the Scarlet Witch and advises them that the history they search for is filled with "darkness and chaos" and that they should embrace who they are in the present.
[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]. Indeed the Young Avengers Present issue from March 2008 has been solicited as involving "twin brothers" Wiccan and Speed looking for their "mother Wanda"[3].
Much conjecture has been made as to their appearance and powers, and while Marvel's official character files state that they are, indeed, her children[citation needed], 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.
However, in Young Avengers Presents #3, where Speed and Wiccan search for the Scarlet Witch, Tommy's skepticism appears to have entirely diminished. He refers to himself as Wiccan's "big brother" (though neither truly knows who is older) and frequently refers to the Scarlet Witch during their search as "Mom."[4]
[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. In Young Avengers Presents #3 he asserts that he is "Quicksilver fast", shown running from the eastern seaboard of the United States to Genosha, an island off the east coast of Africa, in the same amount of time it takes Wiccan to teleport the same distance. This indicates that Speed is fast enough to run across the surface tension of a body of water without sinking.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] The Last Avengers Story
In a one-shot story about the final Avengers story, Billy and Tommy grew up as the children of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. As a child, Tommy witnessed the accidental murder of his mother by his uncle, Quicksilver, which caused their father, the Vision to become emotionless and withdrawn. Tommy (known as "Tommy Maximoff") chose to become a student of Doctor Strange and learn the mystic arts. He and his brother Billy (who became a villain known as "the Grim Reaper" and sought revenge against him and their father) communicated via holograms where Tommy implored his brother to give up his villainy, stating that he was apprehensive to fight him. Eventually the Reaper joined forces with Kang and Ultron-54 and their "final battle" with the Avengers. Tommy sought advice from Doctor Strange about what to do concerning his brother, stating that he was not ready to fight him. Tommy decided to assist the Avengers and tried to reach and recruit the Vision, who had become near-catatonic and enormous having apathetically allowed his molecules to diffuse, but to no avail. Angered and frustrated, Tommy left to fight his brother. Tommy and Billy were locked in battle until their father the Vision saw this and came to his senses and destroyed Ultron, ending the fight.
Unlike his Earth-616 counterpart, Tommy Maximoff inherited his mystical abilities from his mother, the Scarlet Witch rather than his uncle's super speed. As a student of Doctor Strange, Tommy was able to perform various magical feats, including concussive mystical bolts and creating force fields.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Avengers Forever - Chat Room Transcript
- ^ Prism Comics » Features » Ten Queeries with Allan Heinberg
- ^ NEWSARAMA.COM: MARVEL COMICS SOLICITATIONS FOR MARCH 2008
- ^ Young Avengers Presents #3
- ^ The Last Avengers Story #1, 2
