Speedster (fiction)

The use of speedsters in fiction requires artistic license due to the laws of physics that would prohibit such abilities. Moving at the speed of sound, for example, would create sonic booms that are usually not heard in such stories and generate substantial heat. An enormous amount of energy would be required to achieve such speeds, and as some speedsters can actually move close to or at the speed of light, this would cause them to gain near-infinite mass, according to the laws of relativity.

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe states that the character Nova maintains speeds which can be considered "modest", especially when carrying a passenger. The Handbook also concedes that a solid object moving in the Earth's atmosphere at several times the speed of sound or faster would wreak havoc on the planet and that moving at such speeds would prohibit Northstar from breathing, while the generated wind/friction would ravage his body. On the other hand, the Handbook states that the character Quicksilver was born with adaptations that make higher speeds possible, such as enhanced cardiovascular, respiratory, musculature, and digestive systems, a more efficient metabolism, better lubricated joints, tendons with the tensile strength of spring steel, unidentified bone composition that can withstand the dynamic shock of his touching the ground at speeds over 100 miles an hour, and a brain that can process information fast enough for him to react to his surroundings at high speed.[1]

In DC Comics, the Flash family of speedsters derive their abilities from an extradimensional energy source known as the Speed Force, which grants them superspeed and various other abilities required to use it, such as durability.[2] However, the Speed Force is not the source from which other DC characters with superspeed such as Superman or Captain Marvel/Shazam derive their powers.

Writer John Byrne maintained modest abilities for the speedster character Danny Hilltop in his series John Byrne's Next Men. Although Danny can keep pace with a race car, the friction generated by his speed melts any footwear he wears, burning his feet. Thus he runs barefoot, having toughened the soles of his feet through a regimen of pounding increasingly harder materials.[3]

Other writers choose not to offer any scientific explanations for the questions raised by the actual use of such abilities. Peter David, whose run on the series Young Justice included the junior speedster Impulse, has opined that speedsters are inherently difficult to write: "Speedsters make me nervous, because if you play them accurately, they're impossible to beat ... I could deal with Impulse because he was easily distracted."[4][5]

A webcomic speedster character

Speedster characters appear in other media such as film, video games, anime and manga, the most notable being the video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, and Looney Tunes characters Speedy Gonzales and the Road Runner.

Others include:

• Characters in the Dragon Ball franchise including Goku and Frieza[6][7]
• Daphne Millbrook from the NBC television superhero drama Heroes[8][9]
• Characters in the manga One-Punch Man including Saitama,[10] Flashy Flash,[11][12] and Speed o' Sound Sonic[13][14]
• Dash Parr from the Pixar motion picture The Incredibles[15][16]
• Bree Davenport, the bionic hero from Lab Rats[17][18][19]
• A-Train and Shockwave from the comic book The Boys[20] and its TV adaptation[21]