Fastest Thing Alive

"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive."

—Opening Narration of The Flash (2014)

When a character is acknowledged as being faster than everyone else. Super-Speed is almost always a given.

Compare World's Strongest Man for the strength equivalent, World's Best Warrior for combat in general, World's Smartest Man for the intellectual equivalent, Nigh-Invulnerability and/or Complete Immortality for toughness and Fastest Gun in the West for attack speed with guns.

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Tropes:

Anime & Manga

• Dragon Ball:
  • Burter from Dragon Ball Z claims to be this, but Goku quickly proves him wrong. The only time he actually shows his super speed is when he catches a Dragon Ball that Vegeta threw away from the Ginyu Force. Even at "equal" Power Levels Goku proved to be faster than Burter's leader Captain Ginyu (and then proceeded to prove he could raise his power level and presumably his speed along with it).
  • In Sequel Series Dragon Ball GT, Nuova Shenron proves to be even faster than Goku, even faster than Omega Shenron, which is what the otherwise already more powerful Syn Shenron had become after absorbing the powers of every other shadow dragon except Nuova.
  • In the other sequel series, Dragon Ball Super, Whis from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is considered the fastest being in the universe, and he was already pretty fast in the movie he debuted in.
  • The Universe Survival Arc has Dyspo from Universe 11. He is the fastest being in his universe and even boasts of being the fastest in the multiverse, a claim he backs up by outclassing just about everyone else in speed.
• While she is not explicitly acknowledged as such in-universe, Fate Testarossa from the Lyrical Nanoha series is consistently shown to have the firmest grasp on Super-Speed among all modern mages, to the point where, in Nanoha Force, she seems able to move faster than her opponent can Teleport Spam — and that's before activating her Super Mode.
• The Fourth Hokage from Naruto is considered to be the fastest person who ever lived, and that's without factoring in his Flying Thunder God technique. Following his death, this title would go to the Fourth Raikage and eventually to Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's son.
• Silence Suzuka from Uma Musume. Very Loosely Based on a True Story, she is a champion famous for leaving other runners in the dust and winning her races by a significant lead. No one seems capable of catching up to her, with her hitting a world-record speed that leaves the race commentators speechless. Then the series recreates the infamous tragedy of the 1998 Tenno Sho, where Silence Suzuka suffered a horrifying break-down mid-race. While the real horse was too badly injured to be saved, the fictional Suzuka is hospitalized and warned that her broken leg may be a Career-Ending Injury.

Comic Books

• Xs Omnibus: X's Absolute Speed makes him faster than time itself, allowing him to effectively stop time for 15 seconds, albeit with a somewhat lengthy cooldown.
• The Beano: Billy Whizz is exceptionally fast and is "The world's fastest boy".
• In the Marvel Universe, the entity known as The Runner is a cosmic being that is the fastest creature in existence, capable of circling the entire universe and winding up back where he started before barely any time has passed. However, it's revealed that while he is naturally fast, his insane speed actually comes from a Plot Device Amplifier Artifact known as the Space Gem, which allowed him to traverse space in no time at all.
• A member of The Eternals known as Makkari is the fastest being in the Marvel universe, in terms of natural speed. In a cosmic race, he technically came in second to the "Buried Alien", an Expy of DC's Barry Allen—although Makkari still proved superior in speed), and defeated other speedsters like the aforementioned Runner, Quicksilver, The Whizzer and Speed Demon.
• The Flash:
  • All of the various Flashes have this reputation—especially the original Wally West, who is in later stories credited as having far surpassed all of his predecessors and any other speedster in the known DC Universe (although, since Bary Allen's revival under Geoff Johns' pen, he appears to be considered more or less equal Depending on the Writer). There is the occasional being, phenomenon, machine etc, that does prove faster than him(as seen below) but Wally has an ability to "steal speed", which lets him temporarily increase his own while slowing someone else down.
  • Technically speaking, Wally's nemesis Hunter Zolomon (aka "Zoom") is faster than him, since Hunter manipulates time itself and thus can move himself or others through time on a scale even Wally can't keep up with. Even more technically speaking, though, what Zoom does isn't exactly "speed".
  • The limit of the Black Flash's speed isn't really known, but the Black Flash is one aspect of Death, and it's stated that he'll eventually catch every speedster. Wally West was able to outrun it by taking the speed of several other speedsters, and even then this only gave him superior acceleration as the Black Flash still gained on him, suggesting higher top speed - it just ran out of room, or time, to reach it. Seeing as Black Flash is an aspect of Death, this doesn't necessarily contradict Wally's status as "the fastest man alive", though.
• New Gods: The Black Racer is another aspect of Death, but in his case represents the death of gods. He has faced Wally West in battle, and outright boasted that he was the faster of the two.

Fan Works

• Dragon Ball Z Abridged discusses this trope in regards to Burter, who is once again claimed (largely by himself) to be the "fastest in the universe". Jeice later takes the time to point out all the in-universe holes in this theory, namely that Ginyu and Freeza are faster than him since they have higher power levels. When he suggests Guldo's time stopping makes him faster than Burter, Burter snaps and admits he just wanted something to call his own, as he's just "the big blue snake guy" otherwise (and indeed this is later revealed to be part of the reason Ginyu had him on the team).
• Equestria: Across the Multiverse: Princess Firefly of the 'Speed Equestria' universe is this, being the fastest being the alliance has ever encountered and Princess of Speed. At her top speed using a power called God Speed, she's capable of moving faster than light under her own power. Word of God suggests she's a genuine Speedster in a Flash sense. Second fastest is her sister Princess Wind Whistler, who's almost as fast, but has more finesse to balance out.

Literature

• Accel World:
  • Silver Crow has the highest sustained speed of any Duel Avatar, thanks largely to being the only player with access to true Flight, and later gains ways of boosting his flight speed even further in Serious Business situations. However, he's only moderately fast when fighting on the ground (which he does often, either for tactical reasons or because his wings are damaged or low on meter). There are also other characters who can outspeed him in short bursts.
  • Blood Leopard is Brain Burst's fastest sustained runner - the traumas which shaped her avatar are related to a motorbike and a condition which could cause her heart to beat too fast, resulting in her gaining the power to turn into a leopard with twin motorcycle engines for hearts. She gets extra mobility from her "Bloodshed Cannon" Special Attack, which transforms her into a Human Cannonball (and can be spammed if she continuously blasts through fragile objects to recharge her meter).
• Survivor Dogs has the mythical Lightning, a dog so fast that he could escape death itself. The Earth-Dog kept on trying to kill him but couldn't. The Sky-Dogs saved Lightning during one of his escapades and he has lived with them in the sky ever since. When lightning strikes, that's because Lightning is teasing the Earth-Dog.

Live-Action TV

• The Boys has A-Train, a speedster superhero and Flash Expy, whose main claim to fame is this... to his detriment. It turns out his skills have been in decline due to age and wear, to the point that he takes performance-enhancing Super Serum to stay ahead of his rivals. He's very aware that if he isn't the Fastest Man on Earth, his position on the main superhero team is in jeopardy. This culminates in him having a heart attack due to overexertion and the effects of drugs—once he's recovered, Homelander kicks him off the team, claiming A-Train isn't even in the top twenty anymore.

Toys

• Transformers:
  • Transformers: Generation 1: Blurr is the fastest Autobot on Cybertron, and likes to remind people of it.
  • Transformers: Robots in Disguise:
    • Side Burn is the fastest of the three Autobot Brothers.
    • "Bullet Train To The Rescue" has Linear RFG, the fastest bullet train in the world.

Video Games

• In Pokémon, the fastest Pokémon out of the original 151 introduced in Pokémon Red and Blue was Electrode, with a base 140 Speed stat. In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Deoxys and Ninjask were introduced, which were faster; with Deoxys's Speed Forme being the fastest at base 180 Speed until the Crown Tundra expansion of Pokémon Sword and Shield introduced Regieleki, which has an astounding base 200 Speed.
• UlforceVeedramon Future Mode is the fastest Digimon but is slow when submerged in water, with Mercurymon (based on the Roman god) having the fastest land speed and Neptunemon (another Roman god) having the fastest water speed. Neptunemon in fact wears the same kind of armor that slows UlforceVeedramon down in water, meaning Neptunemon can shed it to swim even faster if necessary.
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Most instruction booklets and official bios refer to Sonic as some variation of "world's fastest hedgehog." Jet also mentions Sonic's reputation for being "the fastest thing alive" in Sonic Riders (with the caveat that the title only applies on the ground, not with Extreme Gear, and thus where their rivalry stems from), and Sonic says so himself in the 3DS version of Sonic Generations. Shadow and Metal Sonic are his only real rivals in terms of speed, both of whom rely on technology rather than natural running speed (hover shoes in the former's case and being entirely mechanical in the latter's) and can only move faster than him in short bursts.
• In Touhou Project, the crow tengu Aya Shameimaru is considered the fastest sustained flier in all Gensokyo.

Western Animation

• Dragons: Riders of Berk:
  • When it comes to flight speed, Night Furies like Toothless take the cake. Every manual lists their speed at the maximum of twenty, and Toothless has demonstrated the ability to fly faster than sound.
  • The Skrill is recognized as the second fastest dragon species, being one of the two creatures to match Toothless blow for blow (the Light Fury being the other). It also has the ability to call down a lightning strike and get into the air in an instant, moving faster than any Night Fury can.
• In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Rainbow Dash is the only known pegasus who can fly fast enough to perform a Sonic Rainboom.
• The trope name comes from the Bragging Theme Tune for Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM).
  "Soonnnicc! He can really move. Sonnniccc! He's got an attitude. Soonnicc! He's the fastest thing alive!"
• Speedy Gonzales is the fastest mouse in all of Mexico. His cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez is the slowest mouse in all Mexico, but is "fast upstairs in the cabeza."
• Cheetara of Thundercats 1985: According to Lion-O, "no creature alive" can outrun her (though, like Earth cheetahs, she can't maintain her top speed for long distances).

Real Life

• Usain Bolt, who (as of current writing) currently holds the world record for the 100 meter dash, 9.58 seconds - roughly 27 mph / 43 km/h.
• Fastest non-human animals by their choice of track:
  • The Peregrine Falcon is considered the fastest animal in the world, reaching speeds in its hunting dive of over 200 mph / 322 km/h. ^note A diving Peregrine Falcon can hit top speeds of up to 390km/h, or a little over 242mph.
  • In terms of land speed, that honor belongs to the cheetah, which can run 70 mph / 112 km/h in short bursts.
    • The second fastest land animal is probably the pronghorn. It's slower at 55 mph / 88 km/h, but it can uphold this speed longer than cheetahs.
  • The black marlin is the world's fastest swimming animal with a top speed of 80 mph / 128 km/h.
  • The fastest in terms of proportions is Paratarsotomus macropalpis, a sesame seed-sized mite that has a top speed of 322 body lengths per second. That's equivalent to a human being running at 1,300 mph / 2090 km/h.
    • Second place is the tiger beetle, running so fast it needs regular stops to get its bearings because it can't see where it's going while in motion.
• The current officially-recognized fastest production car is the Koenigsegg Agera RS, with a recorded top speed of 277.87 mph / 447.19 km/h. The fastest land vehicle of any type ever is the ThrustSSC jet car, holder of the land speed record of 763 mph / 1227 km/h (faster than the speed of sound). ThrustSSC is the first (and so far, only) manned land vehicle to ever reach supersonic speed.
• The Japanese Maglev MLX01 is the fastest train in the world and can go 367 mph / 590 km/h.
• The SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest ever conventional aircraft with a reported speed record of Mach 3.5, around 2700 mph / 4345 km/h.
• The X-15 experimental spaceplane is the fastest ever manned atmospheric (for a given value of "atmospheric", since it spent some of its flight in space) vehicle, topping out at Mach 6.15, around 4700 mph / 7564 km/h.
• Some space exploration-related speed records:
  • The fastest manned vehicle (relative to Earth) ever was the Apollo 10 spacecraft. This reached nearly 25,000 mph / 40,000 km/h on it's mission. That's around Mach 32. (Or rather, that's what it would be if the same speed were achieved inside Earth's atmosphere. Mach numbers are of course inapplicable to the soundless void of space.)
  • The Helios 2 space probe was, for the longest time, the fastest ever man made object, peaking at a speed of around 157,000 mph / 252,667 km/h during a slingshot manoeuvre around the Sun.
  • This has been exceeded by the Parker Solar Probe, whose mission will go far closer to the Sun than Helios 2 ever did. On 21 November 2021, it achieved a Sun-relative velocity of 364,653 mph / 586,800 km/h. Further fly-bys of Venus in 2023 and 2024 will come with even faster speeds as Parker is drawn ever closer to the Sun. Its final orbit will see its peak velocity approaching 430,000 mph / 691,200 km/h; for perspective, that's around 0.064% of the speed of light.
• This list has a collection of some of the fastest things in their respective categories.

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