The Flash: Max Mercury Just Saved Central City by Standing Still - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #761, by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi and Steve Wands, on sale now.

The Flash and Reverse-Flash's explosive feud has escalated into an all-out war between Barry Allen's extended Flash Family and Eobard Thawne's Legion of Zoom, a team of the Flash's colorful rogues gallery plucked from throughout the timestream. As the two factions fight each other with Central City as their battlefield, one heroic speedster takes a surprising strategy in the face of the mounting violence: Meditation. And, to everyone's surprise, this seemingly passive tactic succeeds is completely turning the tide of battle.

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As the Flash Family and the Legion of Zoom fight in the streets of Central City, Max Mercury senses fluctuations in the Speed Force. Reunited with his old protege and ward Impulse, Max instructs Bart Allen to protect him while he enters a deep meditative state to commune with the extra-dimensional forces. While initially incredulous that his mentor would take time in the middle of a freewheeling brawl to sit still and meditate, Bart complies, giving Max the time and peace he needs, defending him from any approaching enemies while Max reconnects with the Speed Force.

Of all the speedsters, Max Mercury always had the tightest bond with the Speed Force after first discovering its existence in the 1830s. Entering the Speed Force, Max traveled through time for decades, studying the extra-dimensional source of his super-speed before emerging from it in the DC Universe's relative present. Max taught Wally West, Jay Garrick, and Bart about the true nature of the Speed Force and was widely viewed as the world's foremost authority on the esoteric force. Absent during the New 52 era, it was Max that helped Barry navigate through the Speed Force to regain control of his own body in the real world, taking Max and the similarly displaced Jesse Quick with him.

Impulse's defensive mission ultimately pays off as Max's meditation succeeds in drawing more heroic speedsters through time through the connective nature of the Speed Force. Forming portals, the Flash Family receives much-needed reinforcements from different future eras of the DCU, arriving just in time to overwhelm the Legion of Zoom, shocked about the sudden influx of superheroes on the battlefield as Max emerges from his meditation. After holding numerical superiority for most of the fight, Max just decisively tipped the odds in the superheroes' favor, tapping into the Speed Force's unique connection through time to bolster his ranks.

For what was a single comic book issue largely dedicated to a sprawling, epic brawl, Max Mercury surprised everyone in the midst of a high-speed, running fight to abruptly stop and take a knee. Nicknamed a Speed Force guru, Max lived up to his reputation and expertise by communing directly to the extra-dimensional forces he had spent most of his life studying extensively. This lifelong pursuit has clearly paid off for the Flash Family as they defeated their assembled enemies and saved Central City from the Legion of Zoom but it is still an unusual gambit in the middle of a frenzied fracas.

The Speed Force connects all speedsters, living and dead, throughout all eras of time; it's a power source and the all-encompassing Flash fact brought to life. With a deeper connection and mastery of it than most, Max singlehandedly rallied an even greater number of heroes through the Speed Force and he did it all by remaining came in the middle of the raging tide of battle.

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