Multiverse General Speed

Daniel

Daniel

tani
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#1
#1
Introduction​
In versus debating scenarios, the term “speed” measures how quickly a character can move, react, or perceive events, especially in combat situations. Since speed is a major factor in determining the outcome of a fight, it is one of the most important stats considered when comparing two characters. As a way to organize and evaluate feats of speed across different franchises, this section uses a system of defined levels that categorize characters based on the maximum speed they have demonstrated in their respective series or can reasonably be scaled to.

Generally, these speed levels range from normal human movement all the way up to speeds exceeding that of light. At the highest levels, some characters can even transcend the concept of time entirely. This structured approach helps debaters fairly compare characters in matchups, even if those characters originate from different series. By clearly defining speed levels, debaters can more accurately analyze feats, which leads to more precise comparisons and clearer conclusions in a versus matchup.

Types of Speed​
In versus debating, speed is not categorized as a single concept, but rather divided into several distinct types that represent different aspects of how a character moves, reacts, or perceives events during a fight. These categories are used to better explain how fast a character truly is in specific situations. For example, a character may be able to react to projectiles moving at bullet speed, but may lack the travel speed to cross large distances quickly.
Travel Speed​
Travel speed measures how quickly a character is able to move from one location to another over a considerable distance. Usually, these distances generally tend to exceed the range of close-quarters combat.
Applications:
  • Flying across battlefields or vast terrains
  • Running between distant points
  • Traversing space or interstellar regions
Examples:
  • A fighter jet flying through the sky
  • A spaceship that is travelling between planets
  • A superhero flying across cities or even entire countries
Things to Consider:
  • High travel speed does not guarantee that a character can move just as fast in combat or exhibit similarly high reaction speed.
  • For example, a character capable of traveling at Mach 10 may still struggle to react to attacks of similar or even slower speed if those attacks are coming from close range.
  • Travel speed involves continuous movement through space, which differs from teleportation, which is the ability to instantly move from one location to another without physically moving through the space in between.
Combat Speed​
Combat speed measures how quickly a character can move while actively engaged in battle. This includes dodging attacks, delivering strikes, and reacting to threats within the immediate vicinity.
Applications:
  • Swinging a weapon (or multiple weapons)
  • Throwing punches or ranged attacks such as projectiles
  • Dodging or weaving between enemy attacks
  • Reacting to projectiles with measurable speed
  • Maneuvering around opponents in close-range combat
Examples:
  • A swordsman parrying a series of incoming strikes
  • A martial artist moving fluidly around multiple opponents
  • A character dodging energy blasts while advancing toward an enemy
  • A fighter deflecting or blocking a projectile mid-flight
Things to Consider:
  • Combat speed is not the same as travel speed.
  • While combat speed is limited to movement within close- or mid-range combat scenarios, travel speed refers to movement over larger distances, often outside of the confines of a battlefield.
  • Combat speed is separate from reaction speed, which refers specifically to the time it takes to begin a response rather than the physical speed of movement during that response.
  • Having sufficient reaction speed usually enables a character to respond to incoming attacks or projectiles moving at a certain speed, allowing them to evade, block, or parry these incoming attacks.
Reaction Speed​
Reaction speed is how fast a character can respond when something happens, like an attack coming at them.
Applications:
  • Noticing an attack and starting to dodge or block
  • Moving just in time to avoid danger
  • Using an ability right after recognizing a threat
Examples:
  • Dodging a bullet right as it is fired
  • Blocking an arrow with a shield at the last second
  • Catching a weapon that was thrown toward them
Things to Consider:
  • This is about how quickly a character starts to move, not how fast they actually move after that.
  • Reaction speed is different from combat speed, which refers to how quickly a character can move repeatedly while actively fighting.
  • A character can have fast reflexes but they might only be able to replicate that level of speed in short, quick bursts.
Perception Speed​
Perception speed measures a character’s ability to mentally register and process events happening around them, especially during fast-paced or high-speed situations.
Applications:
  • Noticing rapid movements or changes in the environment
  • Mentally processing high-speed actions or attacks
  • Tracking multiple fast-moving objects or opponents at once
Examples:
  • A character seeing a bullet clearly as it travels through the air
  • Observing multiple high-speed fighters while keeping up with their movements
  • Watching an explosion unfold while still processing the surrounding environment and reacting accordingly
Things to Consider:
  • Perception speed is about mental processing, not physical reaction or movement.
  • A character might be able to follow high-speed events with their eyes and mind but still be unable to dodge or respond in time without matching reaction speed.
  • High perception speed provides strategic value, including the ability to analyze a fight, predict attacks, as well as making more accurate decisions in battle.
  • This trait becomes especially important when dealing with characters who move at extremely high speeds or use abilities that manipulate time.
Levels of Speed​
Immobile
  • Speed Range: 0 m/s
    • Characters at this level are completely immobile. They cannot move or change their position without external assistance.
  • Applies to:
    • Statues or inanimate objects
    • Beings that are not conscious, thus have no capacity for movement
    • Beings who are physically or conceptually locked in place
Below Average Human
  • Speed Range: Less than 5 m/s (rough estimate)
    • Characters at this level move noticeably slower than the average person. Their movement may be hindered by physical limitations, old age, injuries, or their natural physiology.
  • Applies to:
    • Elderly or injured humans
    • Slow-moving animals like turtles or sloths
    • Beings that are sluggish by design
Average Human
  • Speed Range: ~5–12 m/s
    • This levels includes the full range of realistic human movement—from the average adult to Olympic-level athletes. Characters at this level exhibit physical speed that remains within the natural limits of the human body. It can be further divided into three sub-levels:
      • Average Human: Casual walking or jogging pace (~5–6 m/s)
      • Athletic Human: Trained individuals, like sprinters or soldiers (~8–10 m/s)
      • Peak Human: Olympic-level athletes and highly trained individuals (~10–12 m/s)
  • Applies to:
    • A civilian running from danger
    • A professional athlete sprinting at top speed
    • A highly trained martial artist reacting in real time
Superhuman
  • Speed Range: ~12 m/s to 100 m/s
    • Characters at this level of speed move significantly faster than real-life humans, often appearing as blurs to the human eye. While they haven’t reached supersonic speeds, speed of this level clearly exceeds peak human capability.
  • Applies to:
    • Enhanced or mutated humans
    • Characters who can outpace moving vehicles
    • Characters who can react to projectiles from a distance
    • Creatures or beings with unnatural agility or reflexes
Subsonic
  • Speed Range: ~100 m/s to 343 m/s (up to Mach 1)
    • Characters at this level of speed are fast enough to dodge incoming arrows, cross short distances in the blink of an eye, as well as move faster than the average human can see. While not yet reaching the speed of sound, feats of speed at this level would be impossible to replicate for humans in the real world.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters capable of dodging thrown weapons or arrows with ease
    • Fighters who can move faster than the eye can follow
    • Agile beings who can dash across small areas almost instantly
Supersonic
  • Speed Range: ~343 m/s to Mach 5 (approx. 1,715 m/s)
    • Characters at this level are capable of moving at or beyond the speed of sound. Their actions often create shockwaves, sonic booms, as well as appearing as blurs to normal observers.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can dodge or react to bullets or high-velocity projectiles
    • Fighters who move fast enough to create sonic booms
    • Beings that can close large distances instantly in battle
    • Modern fighter jets flying at near top speeds
Hypersonic
  • Speed Range: Mach 5 to Mach 25 (approximately 1,715 m/s to 8,575 m/s)
    • Characters at this level move at speeds vastly beyond the sound barrier. Their strikes may generate powerful shockwaves, and their movements can become difficult or impossible to track with the naked eye. At this level of speed, characters are capable of dodging gunfire, even from close range.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can dodge firearms at close range.
    • Characters who can dodge lightning from a distance can reach speeds up to this level.
    • Fighters whose movements leave afterimages or blur trails
    • Feats where large distances are covered in a relatively short period.
High Hypersonic
  • Speed Range: Mach 25 to Mach 100 (approximately 8,575 m/s to 34,300 m/s)
    • Characters at this level move at speeds that far exceed any real-world aircraft or atmospheric reentry velocities. Their movements are almost impossible to follow without enhanced perception or senses.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can react to or move faster than artificial lightning (lightning produced from Tesla coils or other lightning simulators)
    • Characters capable of instantly traversing wide battlefields
    • Fighters who leave multiple afterimages or travel faster than sound-based detection
Massively Hypersonic
  • Speed Range: Mach 100 to Mach 1,000 (approximately 34,300 m/s to 343,000 m/s)
    • Characters at this level move much faster than anything seen in real life. They can react to or keep up with attacks that are hundreds of times faster than sound, such as energy blasts, falling meteors, or some types of beam weapons.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can intercept or dodge large-scale, high-velocity projectiles
    • Fighters capable of moving faster than natural or enhanced senses can process
    • Characters who can dodge or intercept lightning bolts at close range
    • The speed needed to travel from ground level all the way up to the Kármán Line (the edge of space, at 100 kilometers above sea level) in a single second
Massively Hypersonic+
  • Speed Range: Mach 1,000 to ~0.01c (about 343,000 m/s to 3,000,000 m/s)
    • This level covers characters who exceed the limits of the Massively Hypersonic levels (over Mach 999) and approach the edge of light-speed scaling. They move at speeds thousands of times faster than sound and far beyond anything seen in the real world.
  • Applies to:
    • Lightning dodging/deflecting feats at that happen at close range
    • Beings that can move across entire countries or continents in moments
    • Fighters who can keep up with or intercept orbital-level projectiles or beam-based weapons in space
Sub-Relativistic
  • Speed Range: 0.01c to 0.1c (about 3,000,000 m/s to 30,000,000 m/s)
    • Characters at this level can reach speeds up to a small fraction of the speed of light—ranging from 1% up to 10%. This is approximately Mach 8,745 to Mach 87,450.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can move or react to laser-based weapons from a distance
    • Beings that cross vast distances like continents or planetary orbits in a second or less
Relativistic
  • Speed Range: 10% to 99% the speed of light (0.1c to <1c, or ~30,000,000 m/s to ~299,000,000 m/s)
    • Characters in this levels move at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Their motion may appear as instantaneous blurs, and most beings without some type ability which allows for enhanced perception can no longer track or react to them meaningfully.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who move or react at near light-speed levels but not at full lightspeed
    • Travel through outer space at speeds below the speed of light
    • Movements that may potentially distort the environment or appear as teleportation to slower opponents (possible, but not guaranteed)
Lightspeed
  • Speed Range: 1.0c (≈ 299,792,458 m/s)
    • Characters at this levels are capable of moving at the actual speed of light. They can react to, dodge, or move alongside light-speed attacks and travel across planetary distances almost instantly.
  • Applies to:
    • Speed of light, or laser-based weapons.
    • Characters who consistently dodge or intercept genuine light-speed projectiles (ex: lasers, photon beams)
    • Beings who can move from the Earth to the Moon in just over a second
    • Combatants who fight at a speed that would seem frozen to anything slower (possible)
Faster Than Light (FTL, 2 levels)
  • Speed Range:
    • FTL: 1 to 10 times the speed of light (1c to 10c)
    • FTL+: 10 to 100 times the speed of light (10c to 100c)
    • Characters at this level are capable of traveling or reacting at velocities that exceed the speed of light. When moving at such speeds, they can cross massive distances (such as the space between planets) in mere moments. Characters that can move at this level of speed are often seen easily deflecting multiple bolts or beams of light-based projectiles, or other attacks that move at comparable speeds.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can dodge, react to, or chase down genuine light-speed attacks with ease
    • Beings who travel between planets in moments, or even star systems in a reasonable amount of time.
    • Fighters whose movements are completely imperceptible to anything below lightspeed
Massively FTL
  • Speed Range: 100 to 1,000 times the speed of light (100c to 1,000c)
    • Characters at this level are capable of moving at speeds ranging from hundreds to a thousand times faster than light. At this level, they can cross entire solar systems in seconds, allowing them to travel between star systems almost instantly.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can keep up with or dodge massively multiplied light-speed attacks
    • Beings that cross astronomical distances, such as the distance from one planet to another, in an instant
Massively FTL+
  • Speed Range: 1,000 times the speed of light and beyond (1,000c+)
    • This levels is reserved for characters whose speed greatly surpasses even the upper limits of Massively FTL. Their movement may span light-years in moments, and their reactions can scale into millions or even billions of times faster than light (or higher) since there is no defined upper limit for this level of speed.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can blitz other MFTL-level beings with ease
    • Beings who traverse galaxies or entire star systems in the blink of an eye
    • Fighters who react to attacks or events occurring across vast distances instantly
Infinite
  • Speed Range: Not bound by time or distance, movement occurs instantaneously, and traveling an infinite distance becomes possible.
    • Characters with infinite speed are able to move or act without any travel time, regardless of the distance. They can appear or operate in any location instantly, as their speed is literally limitless. However, this typically applies only within a single universe, as traveling outside of their own universe may involve a different set of mechanics and could possibly warrant a separate or higher speed rating.
    • Note that infinite speed is not the same as teleportation. While teleportation involves disappearing and reappearing without traveling through space, infinite speed implies that movement occurs so quickly that the time it takes to go from one place to another is effectively zero, regardless of distance.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters whose movement has zero delay, even across infinite distances
    • Entities who are stated or shown to move "infinitely fast" within their cosmology or narrative
    • Characters who is capable of being present in all locations simultaneously through their speed alone (very rare)
Immeasurable
  • Speed Range: Beyond conventional measurement; not defined by distance or time
    • Immeasurable Speed refers to a level of movement that is entirely independent of linear time. Characters at this level don’t just move incredibly fast, but also act in ways that transcend the normal flow of time, such as moving through frozen time, operating before time began, or even functioning outside the bounds of cause and effect.
    • Speed at this level cannot be measured or expressed through conventional scientific values as it exists entirely outside the concept of measurable speed.
    • These characters do not rely on time to move, react, or perform actions. Their motion can ignore or bypass the usual sequence of events, breaking conventional rules of order and progression.
  • Applies to:
    • Characters who can move in completely frozen time, even without the use of time manipulation.
    • Beings who can travel to the past, present, or future solely through movement. Movement through time which rely time-based powers cannot qualify.
    • Entities that exist or act beyond the structure of normal spacetime or causal logic.
Irrelevant
  • Speed Range: lol
    • Irrelevant Speed applies to characters for whom concepts like speed, distance, and time no longer have any meaning. These beings do not move through space or time in the traditional sense. Instead, they operate on a level where the very idea of movement is no longer applicable.
    • This level of speed is typically reserved for highly abstract or metafictional entities that exist beyond the structure of physical reality and the flow of time itself.
  • Applies to:
    • Beings that exist beyond all dimensions, space, and time
    • Characters who transcend causality and the structure of reality
Common Misconceptions About Speed

Speed is not the same as teleportation​

  • Teleportation works by having a character disappear from one location and reappear in another without physically crossing the space between. In contrast, speed involves continuous movement through space, regardless of whether that motion is visibly tracked or not.
  • A character who "vanishes" and reappears elsewhere is not necessarily performing a speed feat, but rather, they may simply be using a teleportation ability.
  • True high-speed movement often leaves behind afterimages, shockwaves, blur trails, or other visible effects along the path of motion, while teleportation usually does not.
  • Characters who teleport do not qualify for infinite or immeasurable speed unless their movement is explicitly described as true motion that transcends the normal limits of time and space.
Perception Speed may not always scale to Reaction Speed​

  • People often confuse the ability to see fast movement with the ability to react to it. Just because a character can visually track high-speed movement doesn't mean they can physically respond in time.
  • Perception speed refers to how quickly a character can mentally process visual information, while reaction speed refers to how fast they can physically respond to that information with an action (such as dodging or blocking).
  • A character might recognize an incoming projectile moving at a certain speed, but still get hit if they lack the reaction speed to avoid it.
Dodging Light ≠ Faster-Than-Light (FTL)​

  • Attacks in fiction that appear to be lasers or beams of light are not always actual light-based projectiles.
  • Some so-called “lasers” or “energy blasts” are simply special effects with no indication that they travel at the true speed of light.
  • For a projectile to be considered an actual beam of light (and thus qualify as moving at lightspeed), it should demonstrate several of the following traits:
    • Be explicitly described as light, photons, lasers, etc.
    • Travel in a straight line
    • Reflect or refract when hitting surfaces
    • Maintain a consistent speed over long distances
  • Without clear evidence of these traits, characters who dodge or react to such attacks should not automatically be considered to scale to lightspeed.
Projectile Dodging ≠ Projectile Speed​

  • Just because a character dodges a projectile doesn’t necessarily mean they are moving at speeds comparable to the projectile itself. Depending on how close the projectile was when it was evaded, the character’s reaction speed may end up being much slower or faster than the projectile’s actual speed.
  • Only feats where the projectile has already been fired (or is clearly visible in motion) can be considered true dodging feats.
  • Characters may also dodge bullets, arrows, or energy blasts by predicting the trajectory or the actions of the attacker, which does not always require them to match the projectile’s speed.
  • Context matters:
    • Dodging at close range is far more impressive than at long range.
    • Reacting after the projectile is visible allows more time than reacting at the moment it’s fired.
    • In some cases, characters are dodging aimed attacks, not the projectiles themselves.
  • To scale a character's speed to that of a projectile, the feat should show:
    • A reaction from the character once the projectile is fired
    • Minimal distance between the attacker and the target
    • No prior warning or aiming that gives the character time to prepare
Time-Stop Resistance ≠ Immeasurable Speed​

  • Being able to move in frozen time is an impressive feat, but it does not automatically qualify a character for immeasurable speed. Some characters can move in stopped time due to resisting or ignoring the effects of temporal manipulation, rather than moving through time by raw speed alone.
  • This resistance can come from:
    • Powers that manipulate time directly, such as slowing or stopping it
    • Immunity to temporal manipulation, meaning that characters with this ability unaffected by abilities that alter the flow of time
    • Passive or innate resistance to frozen time, meaning the character remains unaffected while time around them is halted
  • Immeasurable speed requires a character to move through or beyond time itself, not merely exist during a time-stop effect.
  • If a character’s ability to act in frozen time is the result of power-based resistance or immunity, and not due to the character’s own speed bypassing time’s flow, they should not be classified in the Immeasurable levels.
Speed Isn’t Everything!​
Since speed is only one of many factors that influence the outcome of a battle, it does not guarantee that the faster character will always win. Other traits, such as advantages in attack power, strength, durability, precognition, or counters to the abilities of a faster opponent can all play a significant role in determining how a fight unfolds. In some cases, slower characters are able to endure attacks from faster opponents, possess abilities that negate or bypass speed differences, or overcome the speed gap through superior tactics, resistances, or longevity in combat.

This is why versus debating should always take the full context of a matchup into account, rather than focusing solely on which character is faster.
Speed Conversion Table​
Code: 
+------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------+
| Speed Level            | Meters/Second (m/s)   | Kilometers/Hour (km/h) | Mach Range    | % of Lightspeed (c) |
+------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------+
| Immobile               | 0                     | 0                      | 0             | 0%                  |
| Human Level            | 5–12                  | 18–43                  | 0.015–0.035   | ~0.000002%          |
| Superhuman             | 12–100                | 43–360                 | 0.035–0.29    | ~0.00003%           |
| Subsonic               | 100–343               | 360–1,235              | 0.29–1        | ~0.0001%            |
| Supersonic             | 343–1,715             | 1,235–6,174            | Mach 1–5      | ~0.00057%           |
| Hypersonic             | 1,715–8,575           | 6,174–30,870           | Mach 5–25     | ~0.0029%            |
| High Hypersonic        | 8,575–34,300          | 30,870–123,480         | Mach 25–100   | ~0.0114%            |
| Massively Hypersonic   | 34,300–343,000        | 123,480–1,234,800      | Mach 100–1,000| ~0.114%             |
| Massively Hypersonic+  | 343,000–3,000,000     | 1.2M–10.8M             | Mach 1,000–8,766| ~1%               |
| Sub-Relativistic       | 3M–30M                | 10.8M–108M             | —             | 1%–10%              |
| Relativistic           | 30M–299M              | 108M–1.07B             | —             | 10%–99%             |
| Lightspeed             | 299,792,458           | ~1.08B                 | —             | 100%                |
| FTL                    | 1c–10c                | —                      | —             | 100%–1,000%         |
| FTL+                   | 10c–100c              | —                      | —             | 1,000%–10,000%      |
| Massively FTL          | 100c–1,000c           | —                      | —             | 10,000%–100,000%    |
| Massively FTL+         | >1,000c               | —                      | —             | >100,000%           |
+------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------+
Useful Equations​
Basic Speed Formula
  • Speed = Distance/Time
    • Speed is measured in meters per second (m/s)
    • Unit for Distance is in meters (m)
    • Unit for Time is in seconds (s)
    • Used to calculate movement or reaction speed when both time and distance are known
Converting from (m/s) to (km/h)
  • Speed (km/h) = (Speed (m/s) × 3600) / 1000
    • To convert speed from meters per second (m/s) to kilometers per hour (km/h), you multiply the value by 3.6. This works because there are 3,600 seconds in an hour and 1,000 meters in a kilometer.
    • Multiply speed in meters per second (m/s) by 3600 to get the value for meters per hour, and then divide that by 1000, to convert that value into kilometers per hour.
Mach Conversion
  • Mach = Speed (m/s) / 343
    • (343 m/s) is the speed of sound at sea level (Mach 1)
    • Useful for classifying feats as subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic, etc.
Percentage of Lightspeed
  • % of lightspeed = ((Speed (m/s)) / 299,792,458) x 100
    • c is the speed of light in a vacuum, which is around 299,792,458 m/s.
    • Used for scaling feats into sub-relativistic, relativistic, or FTL ranges
 
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