lol. He was bit by a poisonous snake while in the jungle somewhere. So instead of giving him an antivenin, he tracks down a mongoose, and injects him with mongoose blood, because mongoose eat snakes, and it just makes sense, right? Yeah. So the mongoose blood, snake venom, and cheesy 40's writing endowed him with running powers, far beyond those of mere mortal men.
At the time Marvel/Timely/Atlas needed a speedster, Flash and Johnny Quick were on the scene and it was another popular archetype.
Later Marvel decided to start a post WWII continuity with the Fantastic Four. As Cap, Namor and the original Torch were anti-Nazi propaganda, Fantastic Four, Hulk and other comics of the early 60's are often anti-Communist/Russia propaganda. Sue Storm says something reminiscient of "this rocket flight better go swell so we can beat those russian commies!". Thus, many heroes were born to take over the archetypes of previous WWII heroes who were no longer in service because of the generation gap that Marvel instituted. That and the sliding time-line have caused a bevy of storyline problems, but whatever. One does wonder, what if Marvel had done a Crisis-esque event, restarting everything. Would characters like Whizzer, Thin Man, Blue Diamond, Red Raven and Miss America have the longevity that Marvel's post '61 characters have had?
Anyone remember the Spider-Man cartoon with "The Six Forgotten Warriors"??? It was the one about the Sinister Six, and Captain America, and the Whizzer got his powers from the same formula used on Captain America? Man did they come across as LAAAAAAME!
Whizzer scares me. He's make a good villain in a slasher movie, along with Purple Man and Stiltman. *shudders*
So who's the fastest? What order is it? I'm assuming The Flash is the fastest so is it like:
Flash
Quicksilver
Superman
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Whizzer?
Even if Whizzer isn't the fastest, his origin makes him the coolest. Mongoose Blood. Just mull it over. You know you can't compete with the mongoose blood. DC has a cadre of speed field based characters. Impulse, Max Mercury, a couple other Flash's, Johnny Quick etc.
Marvel has 3 more speedsters that I know of (besides Quicksilver and original Whizzer). Another Whizzer (because the name is just so great!) from an alternate earth who is a member of Squadron Supreme. His counterpart in our earth, was also a Whizzer for awhile in Squadron Sinister, later getting some sense knocked into him, changed his name to Speed Demon, and became a Spidey foe. At last there is the MILF speedster, Spitfire. Although she has a weird twist, in that she leaves a streak/wake of fire behind her as she runs, this is not from running excessivly fast, but is indeed part of her power.