"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born-to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand!"
As the Heroic Age dawns on the Marvel Universe and we prepare for a new chapter in the ongoing saga of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, each Friday Marvel.com will present a different column focusing on the one and only Avengers. From line-ups to costumes to villains to classic stories and beyond, we've got you covered on the history of Marvel's most prolific team of heroes!
So let the call go out: Avengers Assemble!
Pietro Maximoff, better known to the world as Quicksilver, started his life in comics as a misunderstood member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants along with his sister The Scarlet Witch. The pair teamed up with Magneto out of a sense of loyalty after he helped them out, but would eventually go on to become Avengers along with Hawkeye under the watchful eye of Captain America. The cantankerous speedster tends to keep his costumes simple, usually sporting bodysuits offering the least amount of resistance while running around at super speed.
Original Green Costume
First appearing in X-MEN #4 (1964), Quicksilver sported a multi-shade green costume with his legs and arms covered in light green and his chest with a darker green. His torso also sported the white lightning bolt that acts as the character's logo going from his right shoulder to above his left hip connecting to a white belt element around his waist. The colors would vary depending on appearance, but Pietro always seemed to sport the little Pan-like wings in his hair.
Joining the Avengers in 1965's issue #16, Pietro still wore the green costume, but it settled into a more regular design with a pants-under-trunks look for the lower half.
Classic Blue Costume
After six years of wearing the ol' green and white duds, Pietro switched over to a nearly identical costume design-wise, but with a light blue color scheme accented with white boots and gloves to match his hair. This costume, designed by John Buscema, debuted in AVENGERS #75 from 1970. Quicksilver wore this costume when he met the Inhuman Crystal and when they got married in FANTASTIC FOUR #150.
X-Factor Costume
Quicksilver experienced a dark period in his history involving manipulation at the hands of Maximus the Mad. He later joined up with X-Factor and in X-FACTOR #93 the government folks running the program decided the team needed a uniform look involving a lot of extra nonsense that Pietro quickly ditched after a brief run, revealing a very simple navy and yellow look with an X pattern across the chest. As you might expect, Quicksilver soon bailed from the group, rejoined the Avengers along with his wife Crystal and their daughter Luna and briefly returned to his light blue suit.
Navy & White Suit
The 90's ushered in many new looks for classic heroes and Quicksilver proved no exception. In AVENGERS: THE CROSSING he revealed a brand new costume, once again using a familiar design, but this time the lightning bold went across his whole body and separated two sections of color. His right side featured a navy blue color and the left white with a few bolts of color. Pietro wore this costume when many of the Avengers died at the hands of Onslaught, when he got his own series in 1997 and when Earth's Mightiest Heroes returned in 1998.
The High Collar Costume
Quicksilver bounced around for a few years, but eventually rejoined the Avengers once more with 2001's issue #38. He commemorated the occasion with yet another new version of his classic costume, this time flipping the dark and light blues to the opposite sides, making the lightning bolt wider and giving the look a larger collar, disco-style.
After the events of House of M, Quicksilver found himself powerless. He lost his mind a little, tried to kill himself and stole the Terrigen Crystals from the Inhumans in hopes of renewing his powers. He would go on to show up in X-FACTOR during and after Civil War, offering to help powerless mutants get their groove-or abilities-back. During this time he wore a t-shirt sporting his classic bolt logo and regular business style clothes.
Current Appearance
After dealing with his problems and blaming many of them on a Skrull that never existed post-Secret Invasion, Quicksilver found himself a member of Hank Pym's Mighty Avengers. Pietro went back to his all-green costume and has been sporting it ever since, including in AVENGERS ACADEMY, where he acts as a mentor and teacher to the potential next generation of heroes.
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Light blue makes him look old
I always found that classic blue costume a little bit camp. I really like the Navy blue and high collar designs best, still keeping to that old classic feel but not changing it too much.
Light blue costume is my fav.
Pietro is such a deep character. He has always been one of my favorite Marvel characters. His actions and motivations are so human which makes him so much more realistic and relatable. I think he deserves his own series. What ever happened to him after he stole the Terrigen crystals and kind of got his powers back.