Pietro Maximoff was kidnapped from Serbia and brought to Wundagore Mountain, base of the High Evolutionary, he and his twin sister, Wanda, were the children of Romany couple, Django and Marya Maximoff. The High Evolutionary supposedly abducted the twins when they were babies and experimented on them, once he was disgusted with the results, he returned them to Wundagore, disguised as regular mutants.
As adolescents, Wanda and Pietro discovered that they had unusual superhuman abilities. When Django began to steal food to feed his starving family, enraged villagers attacked the Romani camp. Using his phenomenal speed, Pietro fled from the camp with his sister. The circumstances of their separation from their family were so traumatic that not until well into adulthood could they remembered anything but the barest details of their childhood. For the next few years Wanda and Pietro wandered central Europe, living off the land.
One day, Wanda accidentally caused a house to burst into flame through her hex powers, which she could not yet control. Superstitious townspeople began chasing her, thinking she was a witch. Despite Pietro's attempt to defend her, they were soon overpowered and were about to become victims of mob violence when Magneto came to their rescue. Magneto pressed them into service in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, costumed them, and named them the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. For months they served Magneto out of a sense of obligation and fear of his reprisal. As members of the Brotherhood, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch aided Magneto in his terrorist campaigns against humanity and helped him combat the original members of the X-Men.
Powers: --Speed Physiology: Pietro's body is adapted towards the rigors of high-speed running. His cardiovascular and respiratory systems are many times more efficient than those of a normal human being. He metabolizes an estimated 95% of the caloric energy content of foodstuffs (normal humans use about 25%). The chemical processes of Quicksilver's musculature are so highly enhanced that his body does not generate fatigue poisons, the normal by-products of locomotion, which force the body to rest. Rather, his body constantly expels waste products during his accelerated respiration through exhalation. His joints are smoother and lubricated more efficiently than those of a normal human being. His tendons have the tensile strength of spring steel. His bones contain unknown materials significantly more durable than calcium to withstand the dynamic shocks of his feet touching the ground at speeds a human could never achieve or withstand. Quicksilver's lachrymose is more viscous than normal, thus preventing rapid evaporation and replenishment of surface fluids on his eyeballs under the influence of high wind velocity to occlude his vision.
--Superhuman Speed: He was originally capable of running at speeds of 175 miles per hour).[97] He had sufficient energy reserves that enabled him to run at this average speed for roughly four hours before reducing his speed to replenish his body's store of energy.[97] Quicksilver has used his powers of acceleration for various feats, such as when he plucked an arrow out of the air from a standing start, dodged machine gun fire, and has created cyclone-like gusts of wind, which are able to knock a man off his feet.[97] He is able to run across the Atlantic Ocean and to oversea continents without having to stop,[98] run up the sides of buildings effortlessly,[citation needed] and even "fly" for short distances by using rapid air currents produced by his legs for thrust.
After his powers were upgraded by Isotope E, his running speed was increased until he was capable of easily reaching high supersonic speeds between Mach 4 (3,080 miles per hour) and Mach 5 (3,691, miles per hour). The true extent of his amplified abilities are unknown and are stated to be limitless, he has been observed outrunning Thor's lightning bolts, running from Tibet to Indonesia in a few seconds, or covering half the Earth's distance in 92 seconds. Quicksilver is also resistant to the effects of friction, reduced oxygen up to a point where a human can no longer breathe,[citation needed] and impact upon his body while moving at super-speeds. He has traveled around the world by running on top of the ocean water and even ran all the way up Mount Everest without slowing down and went flying above cloud level as a result. He has recently shown the ability to shift his molecules through solid objects, and transport people at speeds greater than the speed of sound without injuring them.
--Enhanced Durability: Pietro's bones is super-durable and capable of resisting tremendous impact forces that could easily crush and kill a human without suffering any serious external or internal injuries. --Superhuman Reflexes: Pietro's reflexes are superior to the finest human athletes. Quicksilver's practical reaction time is several times faster than a normal human's and the speed at which his brain processes information is heightened to a level commensurate with his bodily speed, enabling him to perceive his surroundings while traveling at high velocities.[citation needed] Even in his earliest appearances he could perform feats of incredibly fast reaction-time, such as dodging a close range optic blast from Cyclops. He is able to move in a picosecond, even with a concussion. --Accelerated Metabolism: Pietro's metabolism is more than 15 times that of a normal human being, thus enabling him to heal much faster then normal and have an extended health and longevity. --Superhuman Stamina: Pietro's cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic systems are far more efficient than human norms. His body generates virtually no fatigue poisons. --Superhuman Agility: His physiology grants him agility that is above average compared to a normal human. --Enhanced Strength: Quicksilver's strength is slightly superhuman, sufficient to lift 1,000 lbs and leg-press one ton. --Quick Intelligence: He can process information at superhuman speeds, enabling him to read dozens of books in a matter of minutes or teach himself to play a musical instrument in a matter of moments. --Navigation: Quicksilver can sense vibrational patterns in his environment that enable him to always find magnetic north. This allows him to navigate and change course instinctively despite blurring at high speeds or lack of landmarks, like over open ocean. --Molecular Acceleration/Destabilization: Through the course of his life as a mutant, his super speed has granted him numerous abilities. One of the very peculiar ones was being able to vibrate his molecular structure at high speeds. Different writers used it for different purposes that were often absurd or completely ignored it to avoid obscurity. He has demonstrated the full effect which enables him to destabilize atomic matter by accelerating the target object's molecule structure, often causing it to fall apart or explode usually by touching it. It is unknown if he can do this from a distance like his nephew Thomas Shepherd. He also had the ability to fly for short periods of time. --Intangibility: Pietro also can use molecular destabilization to walk through solid objects.
