Strength: Quicksilver possesses superhuman strength primarily in his lower body as part of his body's adaptations for running. With his upper body he can lift (press) approximately 1000 pounds. He can leg press approximately one ton under optimal conditions.

Known superhuman powers: Quicksilver is a mutant who possesses the superhuman capacity to think and move at great speeds. His entire 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 human use is 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 of over 100 miles per hour. Quicksilver's practical reaction time is about five 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. 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.

Quicksilver has been timed at speeds of up to 175 miles per hour, approximately three times faster than the fastest land animal, the cheetah. He has sufficient energy reserves to enable him to run at this average speed for about four hours, whereupon he must reduce his speed, replenish his body's store of energy, or do both.

Quicksilver has used his powers of acceleration for various feats. He has plucked an arrow out of the air from a standing start, after the arrow left the bow and traveled a distance of about 20 feet. He has dodged machine gun fire, but presumably he was able to see the path of the bullets change as his assailant was attempting to track him with a burst. He has created cyclone-like gusts of wind, which are able to knock a man off his feet, by racing around in a ten-foot diameter circle. With a 500-foot approach to gain momentum, Quicksilver can run approximately 300 feet up the side of a surface with a 90-degree inclination (such as a building) before gravity overtakes him. With a 100-foot approach to gain momentum, he can run across a body of water for approximately 1000 feet before beginning to sink

Feeling that it was not right to raise two seemingly normal babies amid the evolved animal-men of Wundagore, Bova was relieved when, several nights later, an American couple, Robert and Madeline Frank, also came to Wundagore seeking assistance. The Franks were former super heroes active during World War II known as the Whizzer and Miss America; Madeline was now pregnant and about to give birth. Bova intended to give the couple the days-old twins to raise along with their own newborn. Unfortunately, the couple's child was stillborn and Madeline died from complications in giving birth. Bova presented Robert Frank with the twins, claiming they were his own natural children, in the hope that it would assuage his grief. Instead, Frank fled from Wundagore upon hearing of his wife's death, nearly insane with grief. (Years later, the children would come to believe for a time that Frank was their natural father.)

Bova then presented the twins to her master, the High Evolutionary, who agreed to find foster human parents for them. He chose Django and Marya Maximoff, a gypsy couple camped nearby who had lost their own twin children, Ana and Mateo, during World War II. The Maximoffs accepted the strange gifts from the High Evolutionary and cared for the children as if they were their own. (Years later, the aging Django would mistakenly believe that Wanda and Pietro were his natural children Ana and Mateo.)

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 gypsy 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 remember 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. Unaware that he was their natural father, 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. Magneto did not realize Wanda and Pietro were his children, nor did they know he was their father.

When the Brotherhood was defeated by the overwhelming powers of the alien Stranger, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch quit the Brotherhood; the Stranger transported Magneto away from Earth, and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch returned to Transia.

Avengers, a world-renowned team of super heroes. They were inducted along with Hawkeye to take the place of the charter members, who wished to take a leave of absence. Although the hot-tempered Quicksilver and Hawkeye often both rebelled against his orders, Avengers leader Captain America molded them into valuable team members.