Quicksilver is up first in our “Countdown to ‘Ultron'” miniseries.

Marvel

DON’T BLINK!

Portrayed by: Aaron Taylor-Johnson

First Appearance: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Post-Credits)

What makes Quicksilver awesome: What’s more awesome than super speed and a super twin sister?

Best MCU Moment: Surprise cameo at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the high speed fight scenes to come.

Pietro Maximoff, better known as Quicksilver, is a relatively fresh face to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with his first appearance coming in the post-credits scene of Captain America 2. Although it was just a cameo for the character, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a decent amount of backstory already in play—which will also explain why we see him and his sister, Scarlet Witch, siding with Ultron in the trailers.

Along with his twin sister, Wanda, Pietro was brought up in less than desirable conditions. They were forced into orphanism at age 10 when their home was struck by a mortar, leaving them on their own. As the two grew older, they saw their home country of Sokovia overtaken by outside forces that would later be identified as HYDRA. Riots were forced in their country in order to make a cover for their unethical experiments. Thinking they were driving forces out, Pietro and Wanda participated. All the while Wolfgang von Strucker was doing his best job at attempting to control and make use of the newly acquired Chitauri Scepter.

Eventually Strucker and co. were able to find ways to supercharge their weapons, as well as create entirely new ones. This naturally led to HYDRA wanting to inquire what effects the Scepter would have on humans. Many were approached to volunteer as test subjects, and several accepted, including Pietro—as well as Wanda after some convincing from her brother. Of all the volunteers, only the twins survived, thus their powers began to develop.

From what we’ve seen so far from Pietro’s brief screen time, Quicksilver is going to be sticking with the basics: super speed and super reflexes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing the character tap into any of his molecular manipulation anytime soon in the MCU.

How big of a role do you think Quicksilver will have? Are you excited to see the character appear more in the MCU? Tweet us @YouNerded.