Peter Maximoff is a fictional character appearing in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series, portrayed by Evan Peters and based on the Marvel Comics character Quicksilver, a mutant with the ability to move at superhuman speed. The character appeared in the films X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), and Dark Phoenix (2019), and had a cameo appearance in Deadpool 2 (2018).
Appearances
Quicksilver first appears as a comic book character in X-Men #4 (March 1964) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character initially appears as an antagonist to the X-Men, although before long he becomes a member of the Avengers and appears as a regular character in that title beginning with Avengers #16 in May 1965. He has made numerous other appearances in that title, and other related titles, sometimes as a member of the team, sometimes as an ally, and sometimes as an antagonist. In the early 1990s, an animated X-Men TV series for Fox Kids was successful enough to impress 20th Century Fox, leading producer Lauren Shuler Donner to purchase the film rights for the comic book characters, including Quicksilver, in 1994.
In May 2013, director Bryan Singer announced that Evan Peters had been cast as Quicksilver in the X-Men films. Peters played the character in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past, and its 2016 sequel, X-Men: Apocalypse. In 2019, he reprised the role of Quicksilver in the sequel film Dark Phoenix. Following The Walt Disney Company's purchase of 21st Century Fox, all X-Men-related characters were transferred back to Marvel Studios.
In X-Men: Days of Future Past Maximoff is introduced as a mutant who can move, speak and think at supersonic speeds. Peters described Quicksilver as "very fast, he talks quick, he moves quick. Everything else is very slow compared to him, it's like he's always at the ATM waiting for the bastard in front of him to finish". Costume designer Louise Mingenbach, who drew heavily from 1970s styles for most of the clothing seen in the 1973 scenes, had Peters wear 1981-inspired clothing; this was Mingenbach's way of showing Quicksilver's irreverence for the exact time and place.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, the character takes on a much larger narrative role. Maximoff is revealed to be the son of Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto, who is unaware of this son. Peters stated of the film, "I have learned that he's my father at this point ... It's like an adoptive child or any kind of child who has a strange father trying to ... He knows who he is now so he is trying to find him. He's been searching for him. It's been 10 years and he hasn't found him and then something happens". Peters also makes a brief cameo appearance as Maximoff in the live-action film (2018), along with other team members from Apocalypse.
In Dark Phoenix, Peters described the character as more mature and subdued in the film, being focused on using his abilities for good as a member of the X-Men.
Fictional character biography
Early life
Maximoff and his two sisters were raised by his mother, with Maximoff never having met his father. As a teenager, he uses his super speed to steal things.
Meeting the X-Men
In 1973, he is visited at his mother's home by a young Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy, along with a time-travelling Wolverine, who knows Maximoff from another point in time. They convince Maximoff to help them break Erik Lehnsherr out of his prison beneath the Pentagon. Maximoff does so by vibrating the glass roof of Lehnsherr's cell fast enough to shatter it, and when security guards confront them in a kitchen, Maximoff uses his super speed to disarm and disorient them before Lehnsherr can use his powers to harm the guards. Maximoff then parts with the other four before they board a plane for Paris.