Josef, also known as Red Rush, was a Russian speedster and the Guardians of the Globe's first responder. He was an original member of the Guardians of the Globe until his death at the hands of Omni-Man.
Quick Answers
How did Red Rush gain his super-speed abilities?
What role did Red Rush play in the Guardians of the Globe?
How did Red Rush meet his end at the hands of Omni-Man?
Who is the actor behind the voice of Red Rush in the Invincible series?
How fast can Red Rush run compared to other speedsters in the Invincible universe?
History[]
Background Information[]
Josef was a Russian man who gained his super-speed through unknown means. After gaining his abilities, he donned the persona of Red Rush and became a superhero. At some point prior to the events of the show, he joined the Guardians of the Globe and married a woman by the name of Olga, telling her his secret identity as well.
Protecting the President[]

Guardian of the Globe assembling together to defeat Mauler Twins.
Red Rush arrived with the other Guardians of the Globe when the Mauler Twins attacked the White House, playfully apologizing for his lateness as he arrived about a half-second after Darkwing. The Immortal ordered Red Rush to evacuate a nearby security guard whom the Mauler Twins were about to kill, which he did successfully.

Martian Man restrains Mauler Twin so Red Rush could punched them.
He then helped evacuate more civilians safely with the assistance of Green Ghost and Darkwing, relaying an order to Green Ghost that her duty was to ensure the President's safety. After evacuating everyone, Red Rush reunited with the other Guardians of the Globe and defeated the Mauler Twins, sending them to prison.

Red Rush on a date with his wife.
Later, Red Rush tried to have a picnic with Olga who said that he should be nice to Aquarus, as the marine hero had few friends that did not live in the ocean. Red Rush says he would try, but during the conversation, he rushed off to fight Kursk in a factory, and neutralized the villain instantly by restraining him with wires around a pole. However, when he returned to the picnic, he hadn't removed his superhero costume, which angered Olga since she felt she could not even maintain his attention for one conversation, and furthermore had broken a promise between the two. Red Rush explained that with his super speed, he perceived the world incredibly slowly, and conversations at normal speed were agonizingly slow. After offending Olga, he apologized before his wristband signalled a Guardians emergency, and Red Rush ran to Guardians Headquarters.
Betrayed and Killed[]

Red Rush pushes the Immortal out of the way of Omni-Man's attacks.
Red Rush was as surprised as the other Guardians to learn Darkwing was not the one who had signalled the emergency, and in their collective confusion, he was the first to see Omni-Man fly towards The Immortal. Red Rush reached Immortal just in time to narrowly push him out of the way of Omni-Man's punch, and in the next moments of the fight, he also rescued Aquarus from being crushed beneath Omni-Man's fist.

Red Rush getting his skull crushed by Omni-Man.
Red Rush then attacked Omni-Man, landing several stray blows at odd angles with his super speed. However, Omni-Man predicted his next attack, grabbing Red Rush's wrist. He then hoisted a nearly helpless Red Rush in the air by the head, squeezing Red Rush's skull between his palms.

Red Rush punches Omni-Man.
Red Rush punched Omni-Man dozens of times, but only managed to shred Omni-Man's costume, breaking his hands against Omni-Man's invulnerable body until his punches turned into desperate flails. Omni-Man crushed Red Rush's head almost instantly in real time, but agonizingly slowly for Red Rush. The remaining Guardians were beaten and killed shortly after Red Rush, although they managed to injure Omni-Man enough that he collapsed from exhaustion following the fight.
Aftermath[]

Guardian of the Globe's corpses.
The Global Defense Agency soon breached the room and brought in paramedics to check for casualties and recover the bodies. Red Rush's left eye, which had popped out of his skull when Omni-Man was crushing it, was carelessly smashed by one of the GDA Agents. His body was taken out of the room offscreen. His name is mentioned by Omni-Man along with all the other former members of the Guardians of the Globe. At the private funeral, Olga broke down in tears over not being able to see her husband's body.
He is mentioned when his wife Olga vents to Debbie about how the GDA hasn't found the killer. and how He lied to her about how everything was gonna be fine.

Green Ghost's corpse, and Red Rush's corpse in The Immortal memories.
The damage he dealt to Omni-Man's costume was discovered and analyzed when Debbie and Art were looking for proof that Nolan and the Guardians fought. His corpse is later seen along with Aquarus', Darkwing's, and Green Ghost's during The Immortal's recovery of past events of his life.
Physical Appearance[]
Josef was a Russian male with light brown hair and eyes, as well as distinctive cheekbones. As a civilian, he wore a dark grey cap, matching olive tracksuit top and bottoms with lime green highlights, a white undershirt, and white sneakers. As Red Rush, he wore a skintight red suit with his superhero initials printed on his chest, stylized "RЯ". He also wore transparent red-tinted visors as a way of seeing clearly when running, which were constructed from glass. Like all the other Guardians, Red Rush wore a piece of equipment resembling a wristband that would signal an alert anytime him or any of the other Guardians were needed in action, however it would be hidden under his costume most of the time.
Personality[]
From what little is gathered from the show, Josef seemed to be a kind-hearted and selfless man. However, he was exceptionally impatient due to his powers of perception slowing down experiences of most things to an agonizingly slow pace. He would regularly leave behind his civilian life in order to fight crime, causing many feuds between him and his wife, despite this they seemingly still cared for each other, with his death deeply affecting her. Due to his abilities, he underestimated most of his opponents, mostly just overwhelming them with speedy punches rather than sound strategy. This led to his death against Omni-Man, who predicted his attacks and killed him, when Red Rush would have been most useful continuing to rescue his teammates from Omni-Man's similar speed.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Red Rush fights Kursk.
- Superhuman Perception: Red Rush's perception was much faster than a normal human's, as he was able to see Omni-Man begin his attack on Immortal and intervene before any of the other Guardians could react. He mentioned he could not turn it off, and therefore experienced time differently than everyone around him, leading him to get bored easily.
- Superhuman Durability: Red Rush had far greater durability than normal humans and was able to withstand the force imposed on him when moving at high speed. This makes him immune to friction and G-Forces to some degree, as well as sudden, prolonged acceleration. This doesn't prevent him from storing up inertia as he accelerates, as in his fight against Omni-Man, where he hit Omni-Man with enough momentum to stagger him.
- Superhuman Strength: Red Rush was physically stronger than most people with comparable body types, which allowed him to carry several adult humans in one go while running. He displayed remarkable swiftness and robust physical prowess when he effortlessly tackled the Immortal to safety, who was far more muscular than he was. Additionally, he possesses the capacity to effectively transfer substantial levels of kinetic energy through the forceful impact of his punches. Red Rush unleashed a relentless onslaught of blows, relentlessly pummelling Omni-Man's costume until his chest was shredded bare, which also caused Omni-Man to spew out blood.
- Superhuman Agility: Thanks to his altered perception of time, Red Rush was able to maneuver and launch attacks while moving at high speed. His body's joints were more flexible, enabling him to perform incredible feats such as dodging Omni-Man's punches and moving at supersonic speeds without making false moves.
- Superhuman Stamina: Red Rush had the stamina to move at high speeds. His muscles produced much less, if any, fatigue toxins, enabling him to fight and exercise for extremely long. He was never seen needing to recover from any sort of physical activity.
Weaknesses[]
- Limited Durability: While he had much higher durability than the average human, there were certain limits. As he died, Red Rush's attacks more resembled desperate flails than proper punches as his hands were broken by punching Omni-Man's much more durable body dozens of times. Omni-Man was also able to crush Red Rush's skull between his palms and kill him instantly.
- Lack of Training: Red Rush was overly reliant on his unrivaled speed, since there were few Earth-based opponents that could actually keep up with his attacks. As a result of this, his attacks were predictable, and he was unable to avoid being caught by Omni-Man when attacking.
- Squeamish: Red Rush became extremely nauseous at the sight/smell of vomit, to the point of vomiting himself. This was especially pertinent as Red Rush was typically the Guardians of the Globe's first responder and main civilian evacuator, and would personally carry civilians to safety with his super-speed, which would inadvertently cause them to vomit.
Appearances[]
Season 1 | ||||||||||||
1. "It's About Time": | Appears | 5. "That Actually Hurt": | Absent | |||||||||
2. "Here Goes Nothing": | Corpse | 6. "You Look Kinda Dead": | Mentioned | |||||||||
3. "Who You Calling Ugly?": | Mentioned | 7. "We Need To Talk": | Flashback | |||||||||
4. "Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out": | Mentioned | 8. "Where I Really Come From": | Absent |
Season 2 | ||||||||||||
1. "A Lesson For Your Next Life": | Mentioned | 5. "This Must Come as a Shock": | Absent | |||||||||
2. "In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish": | Video | 6. "It's Not That Simple": | Absent | |||||||||
3. "This Missive, This Machination!": | Absent | 7. "I'm Not Going Anywhere": | Absent | |||||||||
4. "It's Been a While": | Absent | 8. "I Thought You Were Stronger": | Absent |
Specials | ||||||||||||
Invincible: Atom Eve: | Mentioned | |||||||||||
Invincible: Atom Eve & Rex Splode: | Mentioned |
Comic Differences[]
- As a character, Red Rush mostly stays faithful to the comics, however like the rest of the Guardians, he is fleshed out a bit more right before his death.
Red Rush's design in the comics.
- His costume colors were primarily more orange shaded, with his logo in his chest and boots being yellow.
- His costume would also sport a giant lightning bolt on his chest in comparison the show, which had his superhero initials on his chest.
- His civilian design remains mostly unchanged, with the main difference being the lack of his cap and tracksuit.
- His death is slightly different in the comics as he would get his face smashed with Aquarus' in comparison to the show where his head would slowly get crushed.
Trivia[]
- He is based on The Flash (Barry Allen).
- He is the first member of the Guardians who was killed by Omni-Man.
- It is a common fan theory that if Red Rush had continued playing a more supportive/defensive role, saving the Guardians from Nolan's punches, they might have been able to win against him.
- His costume features "RЯ" on its chest. Obviously, this stands for Red Rush in English, but Я is also a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet which Russian primarily uses. "Я" also means "I" or "self" in Russian, although it is pronounced "ya" in English.
- His death is referenced in Omni-Man's Like Putty Fatality in Mortal Kombat 1.
- He is a playable character in the mobile game Invincible: Guarding Of The Globe. In the game, Red Rush's design from the comics was used instead of the TV Show design. He and War Woman are the only ones to have their comic designs in the game.