WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for “Race Through the Dread Dimension” by Jason Aaron, Federico Vicentini, Matt Milla, and VC’s Cory Petit, from Heroes Reborn #3, on sale now.
Heroes Reborn has put a brand new spin on the Marvel Universe, and things are moving so fast that no one hero could possibly keep up with all of it. At least, none other than the Blur, the Squadron Supreme’s very own resident speedster and Marvel’s Flash. While the Scarlet Speedster himself might enjoy a relatively laid-back lifestyle when he isn’t busy combating crime or causing another Crisis, the Blur of the Squadron Supreme finds it harder to wind down after a long day of saving the world. In fact, no matter what he is doing, the Blur is living life at a thousand miles a minute.
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Stanley Stewart is more than used to living his life at lightspeed ever since jogging through a strange mist that imbued him with superspeed and transformed him into the Blur. Not only does he spend his days facing off against villains such as the Silver Witch of the Masters of Doom, but he regularly fills his downtime with as much as possible if for no other reason than to keep himself from getting bored. While the likes of Barry Allen would rather spend their time away from racing against the clock with family or friends, Stanley just doesn’t have the capacity for so much leisure.
As such, his day job as a mail carrier helps to keep him on his feet and on the move, as does his job as a dog walker, while his other day jobs as a computer programmer, barista, and window washer help to fill in the gaps. Even with so much work to be done, accomplishing it all at a blistering pace creates lots of free time to spend scrolling the web on over a dozen phones or watching the news on twice as many televisions. No matter what he does, the world just can’t seem to keep up with the Blur, which includes saving it from calculated disasters.
When Doctor Juggernaut made his attack on the United States from the front lawn of the White House, the other Masters of Doom launched their own assaults on Washington D.C. as well. Among these villains was Wanda Maximoff, aka the Silver Witch, who had gained her brother Pietro’s powers after absorbing them upon his death. Between her speed and Hex Magic, it wouldn’t seem like there was time for anything else to be on Blur’s mind. Even the heat of battle isn’t enough to hold Stanley’s attention, though, and so he occupies the moments between dodging attacks to talk to all of the loyal viewers watching his livestream. Even if this sort of casual arrogance does land him in trouble on occasion, it feels eerily real when considering what it would be like to experience life at such high speeds.
Barry Allen (or almost any Flash) has always used his powers in interesting ways to gain a slight edge over the competition. This includes speed reading dozens of pages per second or teaching himself virtually any skill in the blink of an eye through repetition and practice, but being able to do either of those things means that the way a speedster’s mind is processing them is far different than the average person. Thinking, processing, and reacting to information at such a blistering pace means that everything else would drag, and even a minute of nothing for a brain moving so fast would feel like hours. That the Blur fills his downtime with so much isn’t just an interesting trait of his character, but the perfect example of just how much attention has been paid to the details in Heroes Reborn, even if a few cracks have already started to appear in its facade.
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