In the DC Universe, a number of heroes have families - interconnected characters who come together when something really big is going down. The Superman Family has Superman, Supergirl, two Superboys, and a few Super-Pets. The Bat-Family consists of Batman, Nightwing, one or more Robins, Batgirl, Batwoman, and a few other heroes who come and go. With each of those families, the main hero is the wisest hero, the one who knows the most and serves as a mentor to the others. And then there's the Flash Family.
Made up of a number of Flashes, Impulses, Kid Flashes, and a couple of other speedsters of the DCU, the Flash Family is always led by the current main Flash, be it Wally West or Barry Allen. But in both cases, Flash is not the wisest hero of the team. Wally and Barry are smart, but when they need advice, they go to one man, Max Mercury.
10 Oldest Living Speedster
Max Mercury may not look it, but he is the oldest known speedster in the DC Universe. Born in the early days of the 19th century, Max was working as a messenger at a fort in the ever-expanding United States when he got his speed powers. Max was granted the power of speed by the shaman of the Blackfoot clan, who gave Max the gift in the hopes that the hero would save his people. Max did become a hero called Ahwehota, but the more he ran, the more he felt something calling to him. Soon, it became all he could think about.
9 First To Touch The Speed Force
The more Max ran, the faster he seemed to get, and the faster he got, the more he could feel something pulling him. Max became obsessed with the feeling and pushed himself to go faster and faster. As he reached new speeds, breaking the sound barrier more than a hundred years before any other human would, Max saw it; the source of his power - the Speed Force.
Max pushed himself harder trying to reach the Speed Force. And when he touched it, when he felt the power, he got scared. The Speed Force tried to pull Max into itself, but Max fought back. He stopped running and bounced off the Speed Barrier, which sent him careening through time.
8 Mentor To The Heroes
Max suddenly found himself in the year 1891, nearly sixty years had passed in the blink of an eye. He tried again and again to reach the Speed Force, each time bouncing off it and finding himself further in the future. He took on new heroic names like Windrunner, Blue Streak, and Quicksilver, before landing on Max Mercury.
Now in the late 1940s, Max began to work alongside Jay Garrick - the first Flash - and Johnny Quick. He taught them what he knew about their powers, and trained them to better use their abilities. When Jay or Johnny needed answers, Max was the man they turned to.
7 Love And Betrayal
In 1947, Max saved the town of Manchester, Alabama from a mad scientist who planned to use gas bombs to kill the population. Max was badly injured in the fight, having breathed in some of the scientist's gas, and would have died if not for Dr. David Claiborne. Dr. Claiborne and his wife Laura brought Max to their home where he stayed for nine weeks while recuperating from his wounds.
David was the only doctor in Manchester, which kept him busy. While he was away, Max and Laura became close and, in time, fell in love. One night, when David was working, Max and Laura acted on their urges. Having betrayed his friend David, Max left Manchester, running as fast as he could.
6 Retirement
Max hit the Speed Barrier again and ended up in 1957. In the early 1960s, he teamed up with Johnny Quick to take on an evil speedster named Savitar. In the fight, Savitar was pulled into the Speed Force, and Max once again bounced off the Speed Barrier, finding himself in the 1970s. Max decided that his running days were over and settled down in Central City. While working for Central City's transit system, Max would spend his free time focusing his mind on the Speed Force, searching for signs of Savitar.
5 Zen Master Of Speed
After all his running and time-traveling, Max found peace in Central City. He took up meditation and through it, learned how to connect with the Speed Force without running. By sitting still, Max learned more about the source of every speedster's power than anyone else had. Max began to search through the Speed Force looking for signs of Savitar, but he could never find his foe. With each search, Max became more connected to the Speed Force, understanding more about how it worked and what it wanted. He didn't know it yet, but what Max was learning would come to save the speedsters of the future.
4 Called To Duty
When Barry Allen became the new Flash, Max watched from afar and stayed silent, choosing to leave the superhero life behind him. When Barry died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Wally became the third Flash, Max again chose to stay quiet. When Barry Allen returned but appeared to be evil, Max was forced out of retirement.
With Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash disguised as Barry Allen destroying the legacy of the Flash, Jay Garrick and Johnny Quick turned to Max for help. Max suited up again for the first time in decades and helped Wally prepare for his fight against the greatest enemy any Flash had ever faced.
3 Friendly Rivalry
After defeating Reverse-Flash, Max chose to continue his superhero career, acting as a mentor to Wally. And while every speedster respected Max and his knowledge of the Speed Force, Johnny Quick was more than happy to debate the Zen Master of Speed about the source of their powers.
While Max Mercury saw the Speed Force as a spiritual connection, Johnny Quick believed it was all based in science. Johnny used a special mathematical formula - 3X2(9YZ)4A - to connect to the Speed Force, but Max believed that Johnny's formula was actually his mantra. The two men would often have friendly arguments over their different beliefs, right up until Johnny Quick entered the Speed Force while fighting Savitar.
2 Trapped In The Speed Force
When Barry Allen's grandson Impulse came from the future to train, everyone decided that the best teacher would be Max Mercury. Max and Impulse moved to Manchester, Alabama where Max began a friendship with a woman named Helen. In time, Max revealed to Helen that he was actually her father.
When Jay Garrick's old foe Rival - the first Reverse-Flash - returned, he possessed Max Mercury, making the other speedsters believe that Max had turned evil. When Impulse figured out what was happening, Rival used Max's body to escape into the Speed Force. It seemed that Max was gone forever.
1 The Reunion
In a move right from Rival's playbook, Eobard Thawne recently took over Barry Allen's body and tried to use Barry to destroy the Flash Family. Trapped inside his own mind, Barry connected to the Speed Force where he found Max Mercury. Max, being the Zen Master of Speed, helped Barry regain control of his body by teaching Barry the one thing Max excelled at; sitting still and focusing.
When Barry retook control of his own body, he didn't just pull himself out of the Speed Force, he brought Max and Jesse Quick - the daughter of Johnny Quick - with him. For the first time in nearly a decade, Max Mercury was back, and his new adventures are just beginning.