20

Quicksilver is known for having the incredible power of moving super fast and disturbing time-reality as a result.

As we can see in the movie in this special scene, he is moving so fast that time seems stopped for "normal" people. The thing is that his body is still normally working, so does it mean that Quicksilver is aging faster when he is in that state?

It would be funny to have him be 18 years old at some time, and 40 years old few minutes later.

Any comic/in universe interpretation of this subject is appreciated!

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    Well, as you can see on the scene, he moves so fast that time is slowed for the rest of people, but his body acts normally, he is running/jumping etc, his cells should be affected. For him the moment lasts 2minute while it lasts like 0.1s for everyone else, so it kinda works like time bending
    – RiddlerNewComer
    Jul 18 '16 at 13:57
  • 1
    Yes, but does it impact his aging or his cells in anyway? I've not read every book and it would seem logical that his body suffers from such activity and results into aging
    – RiddlerNewComer
    Jul 18 '16 at 14:02
  • 28
    In Real Physics (TM) he would age slower due to time dilation.
    – Philip Klöcking
    Jul 18 '16 at 14:21
  • 1
    @Celeritas If a character experiences a minute of time, one would expect the character to age one minute. If a character is accelerated 100x normal, one would expect a 100x increase in the rate of aging (relative to normal speed) unless there is some compensation mechanism. Usually such undesirable effects are hand-waved away or ignored as part of comic book physics.
    – Paul A. Clayton
    Jul 19 '16 at 2:39
  • 4
    I'm wondering how his music player works in bullet-time..
    – NVZ
    Jul 19 '16 at 14:38
29

As we can see in the movie in this special scene, He is moving so fast that time seems stopped for "normal" people.

No, time hasn't slowed or stopped for the "normal" people...at all.

We're seeing the scene from HIS viewpoint at that stage. To HIM they are standing still, but in actuality, he's just moving really fast.

Since there is no actual time-changing going on there is no reason why any aging should be taking place at all.

The only physiological effect that should take place is use of energy (hand waving aside). He'd need to replace that energy, presumably by eating, quite a lot. His metabolism would take care, I imagine, of any over-eating issues.

Aging isn't related to metabolic rate it's related to time. Sure he'd be expending more energy moving fast..we all do that, but we don't age quicker when we run or slower when we sit still.

In the comics, aging does not appear to be a factor except recently.

After being killed (by Magneto), and brought back to life by the Scarlet Witch (because comics) he lost his abilities (along with the vast majority of mutants) when...

blaming all her heartache on the powers she [The Scarlet Witch] and her family possessed, the phrase she uttered to bring back reality removed millions of mutants' powers, Quicksilver included.

Unable to cope with a world he felt was going too slow, Quicksilver went back to the Inhumans a wreck, and was convinced to use the Mists of Terrigen to gain powers once more. He succeeded in gaining new and fantastic powers, which included being able to move his molecules so fast that he could travel in time, which has had severe effects on the way he is aging...,

Marvel Wikia

Improve this answer
9
  • 3
    Not knowledgeable, but wouldn't his metabolism be working faster as well when he's going fast? If so, technically, he should be aging faster too...
    – JS Lavertu
    Jul 18 '16 at 17:53
  • 8
    "Since there is no actual time-changing going on there is no reason why any aging should be taking place at all." - Time is relative; it all depends on how fast he is moving. He would age more slowly due to time dilation.
    – Ed S.
    Jul 18 '16 at 19:08
  • @Paulie_D Your comment is what the top answer should be.
    – aalaap
    Jul 19 '16 at 5:27
  • 2
    "Aging isn't related to metabolic rate" - citation needed.
    – Taemyr
    Jul 19 '16 at 13:59
  • 1
    What about his music player? How does it work in his time?
    – NVZ
    Jul 19 '16 at 14:45
7

Although it is logical to expect Quicksilver's metabolism to work faster, he's never been shown aged (like most other comic book characters).

He would be affected by time dilation, though.

The closer the object approaches the speed of light, the slower time flows within that object (or the less the flow of time affects the object, or maybe the slower physical processes flow within the object itself).

t' = t*sqrt(1-V^2/c^2) Where t' is dilated time. Subtract the ratio of square of speed to square of lightspeed from one and take square root of that.

If, for example, Quicksilver moves at 1% the speed of light, he is at nearly 3 000 km/s, and the ratio of squares of speeds will be 0.0001 (1% squared, or 0.01^2). Therefore, for him, time will move at 0.9999 of its stationary speed (well, let's not get too anal with significant digits).

To put it in perspective, if an observer is sitting in a chair watching Quicksilver run around at 1% speed of light, for every 100 years (36524 days) that the observer ages, Quicksilver will age 36520 days.

That is, of course, a negligible ratio, but suppose that Apocalypse amplified his speed to 10% of lightspeed...

Let's just ignore the fact that he's long surpassed the escape velocity (which he probably surpassed already while rescuing the inhabitants of Xavier School).

Improve this answer
3

As Nomenator has said, due to time dilation - quicksilver will age slower, but not significantly at all. Wired approximated Quicksilver's speed at around 9.091 km/s. that's a pretty slow rate compared to the speed of light.

To put things in perspective - if quicksilver could run at that speed for a full year (in his frame of reference), he would only have aged 0.14 seconds less than the rest of us.

Improve this answer
1

In X-Factor Issue #72 page 14 Strong Guy notices Quicksilver reading quickly and asks him if he should as it speeds up his aging. Quicksilver responds that the little effort it take to read won't speed his aging significantly. Therefore Quicksilver acknowledges that his speed does increase his age.

https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/X-Factor-1986/Issue-72?id=40802

Improve this answer
0

No he would actually age slower. Einstein proved that basically times goes slower the faster something (or someone) moves.

Quoted from here:

In a nutshell, the Special Theory of Relativity tells us that a moving object measures shorter in its direction of motion as its velocity increases until, at the speed of light, it disappears. It also tells us that moving clocks run more slowly as their velocity increases until, at the speed of light, they stop running altogether. In fact, it also tells us (as we will see in subsequent sections) that the mass of a moving object measures more as its velocity increases until, at the speed of light, it becomes infinite.

If something travels faster than the speed of light, it can travel back in time. I believe Flash has done this on the occasion, at least he did in the recent Batman v Superman film.

This website has an easy to understand explanation of the physics:

image copied from www.emc2-explained.info

Improve this answer
0

I'd say his subjective time moves faster because he needs it; if his brain didn't keep up with his body, he'd slam on something very, very fast.

TvTropes would call that a required secondary power. [warning: TvTropes link. That site can bend time and make whole hours disappears!]

But as far as I know, no physical property makes it so that his speed changes its time. If you were somehow traveling at the same speed, you would't see time freeze for other people -you just would see them zoom past in a blur; but if you could focus on them, they'd still be moving at the same speed (minus negligible relativistic effect, as noted by other answers).

Improve this answer
0

An in-universe example of a Marvel speedster who did age quickly was William "Thunderbolt" Carver. His superspeed did kill him of old age in a matter of months.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.