When you go on a date, you do not expect to meet the person who will become your worst adversary. But if you are the Flash, that is exactly what you will receive. The Flash had no idea how dangerous this new foe would be. Savitar claims himself to be the God of Speed, despite never being known by his own name. That is why he chose the name of the Hindu god of motion as his moniker.
His goal to kill the Flash and become the sole usurper of the Speed Force causes him to kill a large number of speedsters. His abilities are comparable to those of the Flash, which makes him the Flash’s most capable foe. But why does he have such a grudge against someone? What is the depth of his insanity? These are some of the issues we will discuss in today’s video. So, without further ado, let us go straight into the film and learn about Savitar’s origins as the self-proclaimed God of Speed.
The first comic appearance and origins explored
Savitar made his first comic book appearance in The Flash, Volume 2, Issue #108 which was published in December 1995. His character was created by writer Mark Waid and artist Oscar Jimenez. The issue is titled “Dead Heat – First lap: Flatfooted”.
Before getting into the story, let us recall a rather special speedster, and no, it is not the original flash or his successors. Jonathan Chambers known to us as Johnny Quick is kind of a self-made speedster. He uses a mathematical formula in order to tap into what he believes to be a fourth dimension from which he is able to achieve super speed. This formula is termed 3×2(9yz)4a. He eventually teaches the same formula and how to use it to his daughter Jesse Quick.
Another speedster superhero we will meet in this issue is Max Mercury who received his gifts from a shaman. In order to save his clan, before dying the shaman drew a lightning bolt on Max’s chest and prayed to the god of the storm and the wind. When Max ran, his speed kept on increasing to superhuman levels. Eventually, during a thunderstorm, he was also drawn into the Speed Force, the energy field that gives speedsters their power, which further increased his abilities.
Now let us deal with Issue #108. The story starts with a flashback to a year ago with a look at some kind of ritual that seems to be summoning lightning. In the present day, we are immediately introduced to the first flash, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, and two members of the Red Trinity. The Red Trinity was created by Doctor Pytor Orloff. He used steroids, cybernetic implants, and specialized gene therapy to induce super speed in his test subjects. From the Red Trinity, the speedsters named Anatole and Cassiopeia are doing their job of delivering packages sooner than immediately.
On the other hand, Jesse, who is on her first date, gets attacked by some thugs and they steal her car. She speaks the formula to activate her super speed and starts chasing after them. Simultaneously, Cassiopeia, in order to deliver a package even faster, decides to take a straight line to the 40th floor by running vertically up the building. Jay Garrick, with his speed, tries to save a vase from falling. Suddenly something happens and it leaves all these speedsters in shock.
Jesse Quick had almost gotten hold of her car when her speed instantly vanished away. The same thing happened with Jay Garrick. His vase ended up falling on the ground. And as for Cassiopeia, who was still in mid-air, his power disappears as well and sadly, he takes a fatal fall and dies on the spot. Away from all these terrors and unaware of what has transpired between these speedsters, Wally West, the Flash, is spending some quality time with his girlfriend Linda Park.
Their lunch is interrupted by a sudden attack of a few ninjas wearing blue overcoats, quite similar to the ones we saw at the beginning of the issue. But it looks like Wally is the only one who can see these ninjas. He soon realizes that they are running at a speed almost as fast as the Flash. He catches up to them and starts kicking some butts one by one. The mysterious ninjas start to retreat once they realize they cannot defeat the Flash.
But Wally was not going to let this sudden attack get the best of him. He manages to catch one of the ninjas and knocks him out for questioning. He then notices that Jay Garrick and Jesse Quick have also arrived to surprise Wally yet again. Jesse never really liked Wally because she found him arrogant. And now even more because she holds him responsible for her loss of ability.
For that matter, even Jay thinks that Wally might have unknowingly done this. Since Wally is the speedster who has a direct link to the Speed Force, he mainlines it. While the rest of them just tap from it. Jay and Jesse think that Wally’s connection to the Speed Force has grown stronger to the point where he is stealing all the available energy which has now resulted in the other speedsters losing theirs.
But Wally has not felt any sort of change in his powers, so he believes it to be an easy problem because they can just figure out a way to restore the balance. However, when he finds out that in the midst of this, Cassiopeia lost his life, he starts to feel responsible and guilty. Jay tries to keep a level head by saying “Our power has to be going somewhere. Energy can’t be destroyed, only transformed.”
Wally notices the captured ninja waking up and threatens him to reveal where he came from and who sent him. And this is when we find out about Savitar because the ninjas belong to him. Savitar is the Lord of Speed and he was the one who stripped the unworthy of their swiftness, transferring it instead into the Thunderbolts’ agents meaning the ninjas. These agents have been ordered by Savitar to eliminate all true students of the lightning. This is the reason why they attacked Wally West. Due to his direct link, he is seen as a true student. And his fellow speedsters are deemed unworthy because they have no direct link to the Speed Force.
Out of nowhere, still in the grasp of Wally, the ninja is hit by immense lightning and starts to age ten years in one second. Before Wally could even think straight, the ninja’s bones turned to dust before his body even hit the ground. Apparently, this was Savitar’s doing from a faraway place. They soon realize that Savitar’s next target is Bart Allen, Barry Allen’s grandson who goes by the name Impulse.
He is being mentored by Max Mercury in Manchester, Alabama. Linda tried to contact him to warn him about their new enemy but she was unsuccessful. Somewhere else, we meet Johnny Quick, Jesse’s father, for the first time in this issue. Iris Allen has come to meet him and try to convince him to believe that the Speed Force is real because now, the lives of all the speedsters are in danger. But unlike his daughter, he does not believe that the Speed Force exists. He thinks it is just a bunch of foofaraws claimed by Max Mercury.
He refuses to accept it and tells Iris that his power is within him and ever since he was a young man, he has used the formula to unlock it and it has never failed him. The moment these words come out of his mouth; his formula ends up failing him as it appears that he too has lost his abilities.
The issue ends with a proper look at Savitar. The ritual, in the beginning, was definitely his doing. But the most astonishing thing is that he holds Max Mercury captive. He blames Max for allowing the super speed to spread. But as much as he would love to kill him, he can’t. He owes Max for showing him the face of God. So, he orders one of his ninjas to finish him off instead.
Now let us trace back a little bit and find out the past and origin of Savitar. Long ago, he was an unknown Cold War pilot who served in a third-world country. During one of his missions, he was testing a supersonic fighter jet at high speed. Soon his plane was struck by lightning and it resulted in a massive crash landing. Eventually, he realized that he now had the power to destroy his enemies through his newfound super speed.
So, he decided to name himself after the Hindu God of Motion, Savitar, and committed his life to uncovering the secrets of the Speed Force. His rigorous investigations and research led him to discover new powers that no other existing speedster possessed. And maddened by the idea of achieving it all for himself, he chose to go down an even darker path.
In his desire for additional knowledge to help him achieve his aims, Savitar became the founder of a cult. His disciples came to be known as the Thunderbolt Agents. His new mission was to disconnect the majority of Earth’s speedsters from their connection to the Speed-Force so that he could shift their speed into the Thunderbolt Agents. That is the part we discussed previously in his first comic appearance.
Although one major limitation in his plans was Wally West’s direct link to the Speed Force. He could not just steal it that easily. So, he decided to wreak constant havoc in the Flash’s life until the Flash finally gave Savitar what he had long desired: a union with the Speed Force by sealing him in the dimension.
After escaping the Speed Force, Savitar’s body sort of got destroyed when Barry Allen touched him. It happened because at the time, Barry was infected with the Negative Speed Force and his touch meant destruction for any speedster. As a result of this, Savitar woke up in a dark void and he was surrounded by noises of screaming and sobbing.
After what seemed like ages past, Savitar successfully recovered his link to the Speed Force which allowed him to build a gateway to escape his imprisonment. He was then once again inside the Speed Force with access to its cosmic energy. He applied the tricks and methods he had learned in the dark void in order to devour all the energy from the Speed Force and turn himself into the most powerful speedster.
Savitar appearing in The Flash TV series
Savitar’s character appears in The Flash TV series majorly in Season 3. What has been evident since the beginning of his arrival is that he is by far the most perfect opponent for the Flash, Barry Allen. He knows pretty much everything that there is to know about Barry Allen. Even the bits of information that none of his past enemies were aware of. And this was possible because quite literally, he is Barry Allen.
So, obviously, Savitar’s character was in fact portrayed by the actor Grant Gustin, who is the series’ main character. Although for a brief time Tom Felton, who was Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, also portrayed the role of Savitar because at that time, the villain had taken control over someone else’s body and was not in his true form. Much like in the comics, he is the self-proclaimed God of Speed.
In the series, he comes from the future because that is where he was created. He is a time remnant of Barry Allen, kind of a blast from the future. Apparently, he was rejected by all of his friends because he failed Team Flash in defeating Savitar and was not considered the “true Barry Allen”. So, he decided to put an end to the real flash once and for all by traveling through time in order to obtain the Philosopher’s stone and become Savitar himself. So, in essence, this villain created himself.
Although he is seen as a villain who is the very embodiment of evil, his life did not always start out like that. He was once considered heroic and someone that the kids looked up to, just like any other time remnant of a superhero. But after being left behind by his friends and family, he decided to go down the darkest path and become the very thing that destroyed his life.
We can say that he is the worst part of Barry Allen, someone that the Flash might have become had he chosen the wrong path. Savitar’s god complex gives him the boost of being superior to Flash’s other enemies but at the same time, due to his abandonment issues, he has an inherent need to prove himself to be superior. His need to destroy the life of the Flash drives him constantly and even though he wants to kill Barry Allen, he chooses to mess with him first.
He attacks Iris in order to make Barry feel the pain of losing a loved one. He is also jealous of how perfect Barry’s life is in comparison to his own. Naturally, he resents everything about Barry’s existence. Another possible reason why he hates Barry so much could be that he also hates himself. After all, the self-hatred is what drove him to become a villain in the first place.
What makes Savitar so powerful?
The most obvious power he gained from the Speed Force is the ability to run at near light speed and he is definitely at par with the Flash. The Speed Force also gave him other abilities such as an enhanced reaction, meaning he can also react at superhuman speeds. Moreover, his healing powers have greatly been impacted. Ever since his dive into the Speed Force, he has now been able to heal himself comparatively faster. However, the most special power that he has is the ability to generate a full inertia force field. He also has the power to absorb motion and energy from other objects as well as people, which results in their slow movement.
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