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Max Mercury is a fictional character, a DC Comics superhero based on Quality Comics' Quicksilver. He first appeared in Quality Comics' National Comics #5. However, since almost nothing was revealed about that character, except that he possessed super-speed and his secret identity had the first name "Max", writer Mark Waid was free to reinvent the character in The Flash, without contradicting anything. When the character reappeared in early 1990s issues of The Flash, his name had to be changed from "Quicksilver" to "Mercury" to avoid confusion with Marvel Comics' Quicksilver.

In Waid's origin of the character, he was originally a scout with the US Cavalry in the 1860s. A friend of the local Indian tribes, he was shocked and dismayed to find them massacred on the orders of his commanding officer. Enchanted by a dying Indian shaman, he gained super-speed. In the years that followed, he became known to the Indians as Ahwehota ("He Who Runs Beyond The Wind"), and to everyone else as Windrunner.

Mercury has repeatedly traveled through time, seeking to enter the so-called Speed Force. He usually bounces off and finds himself decades in the future. His first attempt left him in the 1890s, where he created a new identity for himself as Whip Whirlwind. Later, he travelled ahead again, and was active in the 1930s and 1940s as Quicksilver when he acted as a mentor to the fledgling Golden Age Flash and Johnny Quick.

In 1948, he had an affair with the wife of a doctor who had saved his life. When the doctor learned of this and his wife returned to her husband's side, Max fled into the future once more. He then reappeared in the early 1960s, where he battled Savitar and was bounced still further forward in time. He spent some years in hiding, but was persuaded by Garrick to return to action against Professor Zoom in the guise of Barry Allen. In recent years, he has been the mentor of first Wally West and later Bart Allen (alias Impulse). He taught West about the Speed Force, and helped him to access his full speed by encouraging him to break a mental block he'd placed on his powers- stopping Wally from being as fast as Barry because he would then have really replaced his uncle as the Flash-, and he attempted to teach Impulse patience. While living with Impulse, Max learned that his earlier affair had resulted in a child, a daughter named Helen Clairborne.

Max not only differs from other speedsters in his attempts to understand the Speed Force in a mystical way (referred to by other characters as "Zen") but also in his agility. He cannot run as quickly as the Flashes, but he has a greater ability to perform acrobatic stunts and finely coordinated actions than they do; he was even able to outmaneuver Professor Zoom during their initial fight, although Zoom still gained the advantage by threatening innocent people.

Max is missing in action, his body apparently possessed by the spirit of a Golden Age supervillain, the Rival, who manages to escape to some unknown place in time.

In Infinite Crisis #4, Max appears in the Speed Force, where his spirit was imprisoned after the Rival escaped from the very same peril by possessing Max's body.

• Profile from "The Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning" website
• Crimson Lightning - An online index to the comic book adventures of the Flash.