Contents 1 HistoryEdit 1.1 Origin 1.2 Young Avengers 1.3 Civil War 1.4 Searching for the Scarlet Witch 1.5 Secret Invasion 1.6 Dark Reign and Siege 1.7 Children's Crusade 2 Powers and AbilitiesEdit 2.1 Powers 2.2 Strength level 2.3 Weaknesses 3 NotesEdit 4 LinksEdit 4.1 Discover and Discuss 4.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

Origin

Thomas "Tommy" Shepherd was born and raised in Springfield, New Jersey. He is only son of Frank and Mary Shepherd, who divorced when he was still young. Tommy was in and out of juvenile halls for most of his life.^[1] It was in one of the detention centers that Tommy first met Lisa. The two seemed to have had some kind of romantic or physical relationship during this time.^[2]

Because Tommy "accidentally" vaporized his high school using his powers, he was imprisoned under court order in a high-powered facility equipped with advanced offensive and defensive technology such as robotic suits and power dampening containment cells. Before the Young Avengers freed him, Tommy had been locked up for months, and was being tested and experimented on with the goal to make him into a living weapon.^[1]

Young Avengers

After Hulkling had been captured by the Kree Sentries, Wiccan and the other Young Avengers were desperate to rescue him. To locate reinforcements the Vision recommended using the Avengers Fail-Safe Program, the same program Iron Lad used to locate the original Young Avengers.

The team was able to locate him in a high security detention facility for superpowered juvenile offenders. They release him from his cell, and Stature almost immediately noted that Tommy and Bill could be twins. The breakout did not go unnoticed, and as the team ran into the armed officers of the facility. Tommy cynically and cruelly began attacking the officers and fleeing doctors, but was stopped by Kate Bishop and Patriot.^[1]

Speed helped the team in battling both Kree and Skrulls soldiers to rescue Hulking.^[3] After the battle, Tommy officially joined the team and adopted the codename "Speed". Speed was anxious to be a hero, and was the first to alert the Young Avengers that the villainous tema, the Zodiac, was attacking the United Nations.^[4]

Civil War

Along with the rest of his team, Speed sided with Captain America and the Secret Avengers against the Superhuman Registration Act, which led to the Superhero Civil War.

When the Runaways tried to stay out of the conflict, they barely managed to escape from the government forces. Hearing of this development in the news, the Young Avengers decided to help the Runaways even though Captain America vetoed the plan. Wiccan used his magic to locate and teleport to the Runaways. However, the Runaways believed that the Young Avengers had come to capture them and a fight ensued until Patriot succeeded in convincing Nico Minoru to stop the hostilities. Speed develop a close sibling-like friendship with Molly Hayes.The two teams were later attacked by Marvel Boy, who captured Wiccan, Karolina, and Hulkling, and almost killed Xavin. The young heroes became the prisoners of the Warden, who proceeded to practice vivisection on the unconscious Teddy. The boys were rescued by Xavin, whose Skrull physiology allowed him to recover from Noh-Varr's attack. Billy came close to killing the Warden, but Teddy stopped him.^[5]

Searching for the Scarlet Witch

When Wiccan decided to begin searching for the Scarlet Witch, Tommy agreed to joined him. The pair searched through Genosha and Wundagore in Transia before finally encountering Master Pandemonium in Cresskill, New Jersey at a former residence of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. Master Pandemonium offered some information, but did not know the current whereabouts of the Scarlet Witch.^[6]

Not long after, Speed went on a date with Kate to help relieve her tensions about losing her codename and bow to Clint Barton. The date ended with the pair breaking into the New Avengers' Brooklyn apartment and reclaim her bow.^[7]

Secret Invasion

When the Skrulls invaded Earth, Speed joined the other Young Avengers and Runaways on the frontlines of the battle. Speed and Wiccan saved Hulkling from execution and later assisted Xavin to again rescue Hulkling.^[8]

Dark Reign and Siege

When the Young Avengers confronted the group of teenagers who had been using their name, Tommy immediately recognized one of their members, Coat of Arms, with whom he may have had a relationship with in "juvie".^[9]

During the Siege of Asgard, Tommy was the armor-bearer for Tony Stark.^[10] Speed along with the other Young Avengers helped rescue the fallen from warriors and civilians after the battle. Speed was pushing himself hard but still felt like he was failing until Ronin found him. He simply let Speed know that giving it his all would always be enough.^[11]

Children's Crusade

After Wiccan's powers overloaded and the Avengers decided to keep him under observation, Speed and the other Young Avnegers broken Wiccan out of holding and began the search for the Scarlet Witch.^[12] Accompanied by Magneto the team travelled to Transia where they met Quicksilver and a fake Wanda, who is discovered to be a Doombot.^[13] Wiccan teleported himself into the Latveria and discovering a depowered and amnesiac Wanda engaged to Doctor Doom.^[14] The Young Avengers, Magneto and Quicksilver went after Wiccan, as well as the Avengers. A battle with Doom's Doombot army soon broken out and was only stopped by the arrival of Iron Lad^[15].

Iron Lad teleported the Young Avengers and Wanda into the timestream. They all went into the past, and met reanimated Jack of Hearts, who is explode. After that Wanda remembered who she is, regained her powers and returned herself, the Young Avengers and Scott Lang into the present.^[16] She then finally confirmed that Billy and Tommy are indeed her reincarnated sons.^[17]

Wanda's increased powers were revealed to be the result of her gaining a connection to the life force itself. A ritual intended to undo the Decimation was interrupted by Patriot, leading to the powers being transferred to Doctor Doom. He intended to usher the world into utopia, a utopia in which he would rule. The Avengers and X-Men teamed up to defeat him, in the process, Stature was killed by Doom, and the villain escapes after loosing his powers when they overloaded.

Iron Lad proposed to save Stature through the Timestream but Vision refused, ending with both of them battling each other and Iron Lad destroying Vision and then taking off to the timestream, even after Wiccan warned that this was the moment in time where he became Kang the Conqueror.

In the aftermath of the battles, the Young Avengers disbanded and stayed in low profile during the major events that transpired in the world (the Spider-Island infestation, the X-Men's Schism and the resurrection of the Human Torch. Wiccan stayed in a severe state of depression but Hulkling cheered him up proposing to him, but their moment of joy was interrupted by Ms. Marvel who called them to the Avengers Mansion. After a few words from Captain America all the remaining Young Avengers were officially named as full pledged Avengers.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Speed is a mutant^[18] with an enhanced physiology design for supersonic speed, including:

• Supersonic Speed: Speed is superhumanly fast and his top speed is unknown, but he can exceed the speed of sound. He apparently is even faster than Quicksilver.^[13]
  • Molecular Destabilization: He can also generate hyper-kinetic vibrations that accelerate the molecules in matter, causing any solid object he directs his vibrations at to explode.
    • Intangibility: He also can use molecular destabilization to walk through solid objects.^[12]
  • Superhuman Reflexes: He probably has reflexes beyond the abilities of the finest athlete, because of his super-speed.
  • Superhuman Agility: He probably has agility beyond the abilities of the finest athlete, because of his super-speed.
  • Superhuman Durability: He can probably withstand intense friction and intense impacts considering how running at super-speed doesn't seem to cause him discomfort.
  • Superhuman Strength: He probably possesses superhuman lower body strength allowing him to press 800 pounds to 1 ton with his lower body.

Power Grid [19]
Intelligence	2
Strength	3
Speed	4
Durability	4
Energy Projection	3
Fighting Skills	2

Strength level

He can press between 800 pounds to 1 ton with his lower body and lift about 800 to 1000 pounds in his upper body.

Weaknesses

Despite possessing some level of superhuman durability, things such as bullets and energy blasts can injure him the same way they injure a regular person.

NotesEdit

• It is believed that Tommy and Billy Kaplan were reincarnations of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision's twin sons, Thomas Maximoff and William Maximoff.
  • Marvel's official Marvel Universe Wiki states: "When the Scarlet Witch used her powers to recreate the world after the House of M event, she inadvertently recreated both William and Thomas as well. However instead of recreating them as her children, they ended up as the children of other parents. Thomas ended up as the son of the Shepard family while William ended up as the son of the Kaplans family."^[20]
• Speed and Kate Bishop seem to share a subtle mutual attraction creating a love-triangle between themselves and Patriot.
• Speed not only has powers similar to Quicksilver but also his personality and attitude shown below.

  

LinksEdit

• 50 Appearances of Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• 34 Images featuring Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• 2 Quotations by or about Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)

Discover and Discuss

• Search this site for: Speed · Thomas Shepherd · Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• Search the Forums for: Speed · Thomas Shepherd · Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616)
• Discuss this and other characters on the forums

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Young Avengers #10
2. ↑ Dark Reign: Young Avengers #2-3
3. ↑ Young Avengers #11-12
4. ↑ Young Avengers #12
5. ↑ Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways #1-4
6. ↑ Young Avengers Presents #3
7. ↑ Young Avengers Presents #6
8. ↑ Secret Invasion Runaways Young Avengers #1-3
9. ↑ Dark Reign: Young Avengers #2
10. ↑ Siege #2-4
11. ↑ Siege: Young Avengers #1
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Avengers: The Children's Crusade #1
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Avengers: The Children's Crusade #2
14. ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #3
15. ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #4
16. ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #5
17. ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6
18. ↑ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7
19. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z hardcover Vol. 10
20. ↑ [1]