The Flash vs Quicksilver: Who is Faster?

It’s the battle of the speedsters. Marvel’s pacey Avenger and DC’s fastest man alive. The Flash vs Quicksilver: Who is Faster?

To find out the answer to this age old question we first need to examine the exact source of the duo’s powers and how they got them. Then we can go into the details on the kinds of speed these guys can reach.

Quicksilver

First up we have Pietro Maximoff, more commonly known as Quicksilver. Pietro is the brother of Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch. Unlike his DC counterpart, most depictions of the character say that Quicksilver was born with his Superhuman abilities.

This of course is in stark contrast (Stark – get it?!) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the character where Quicksilver gets his powers from the Mind Stone. However, this backstory was only adjusted because Marvel did not yet have the rights to the X-Men franchise and could not explore the mutant narrative in more detail. That being said, we’re going with the ‘he was born with it’ version of the character here.

Pietro is the son of perhaps one of the most powerful mutants of all time – Magneto. Therefore, it stands to reason that he would be born with a strong genetic mutation allowing him the ability to use Super Speed whenever he sees fit.

So, how fast is Quicksilver exactly? In the Marvel Comics (and that’s what we’re going with here), the fastest speed that Quicksilver has ever reached is 12,348 kilometres per hour, or Mach 10. This speed range can be classed as hyper-sonic. Essentially, Quicksilver is in the same speed range as a NASA rocket almost at full velocity.

The Flash

Next up we have Barry Allen himself aka The Flash. In the DC Universe, The Flash is simply known as the fastest man alive. He is also one of the founding members of The Justice League alongside Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to name a few.

Ironically, before he got his abilities Barry Allen was known as slow, methodical and always late to events. One night while at work, his workbench was struck by a bolt of lightning, reacting with some nearby unspecified chemicals which splashed on Barry and rendered him unconscious. It was a shortly after this event that Barry Allen became The Flash.

So, how fast is The Flash? The Flash is able to tap into something called the Speed Force. This basically makes him infinitely fast. He has been known to move at speeds 10 times the speed of light. Which in real people speak is 1,862,820 miles per second. Yep, PER SECOND. He’s pretty fast then. In fact, he’s so fast he’s been known to be able to convert himself into pure energy, to phase through objects and also to go back in time!

The Verdict

If you’ve just read the previous sentence I think you may already know the overall verdict on this one. In the question of The Flash vs Quicksilver: who is faster? it’s not even close. The Flash is so much faster than Quicksilver it’s kind of embarrassing for the latter, but that being said, I do love Quicksilver as a character.

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