The Marvel Universes are full of superhero teams, from the Avengers to the X-Men to the Fantastic Four. The “Runaways” are a less well-known squad of eccentric superheroes among these hordes of superhero teams.
The Runaways were first featured in a comic book series by Brian Vaughan and Adrian Alpohna in 2003, and they later even had their own sitcom in 2017. Six young people with superpowers joined this gang to fight crime after learning that their parents were crooks. We will examine the history of this group today and fill you in on every aspect of The Runaways!
The origins of the misfit and unlikely team
The otherworldly being known as “The Gibborim,” who need human servants on Earth, is the origin of the Runaways. Then Gibborim called six married pairs and gave them unrestricted power if they would sacrifice human souls to him. These couples banded together to become the “Pride,” who controlled the Los Angeles criminal underworld. Six of this group’s most devoted members would eventually be permitted to rule the sky, according to a promise made by the Gibborim, who also bestowed upon them wealth and power.
Although the couples initially cooperated, they soon began hatching schemes to betray one another in order to ensure that they were among the six people who would receive heaven. The Gibborim also stipulated the requirement of human sacrifice, and “the Pride” would come together yearly while pretending to have a charitable function to offer a helpless soul to The Gibborim. They carried out a “Rite of Blood” to murder their victim, and then during the “Rite of Thunder,” they fed the victim’s spirit to Gibborim.
After a few years, one of the members of Pride ‘Janet Stein’ realized that she was pregnant. This unexpected pregnancy led all Pride members to decide that they must all have one child of their own so that they could pass on the powers inherited by Gibborim to their children. These children were named Alex Winder, Nico Minoru, Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean, and Molly Hayes. They were unaware of their parent’s deal with Gibborim, but Alex accidentally witnessed one of their ritualistic sacrifices during the annual gathering.
He then started snooping around and discovered information about the Pride. He also learned that the Dean and Hayes couples had plans to betray the group and murder each other.
Alex came up with a plan and waited until next year to gather the other children. He then intentionally led Nico, Chase, and Gertrude to the room where they witnessed their parents preparing to murder a young woman named Destiny Gonzales during the ‘Rite of Blood’ ritual. In the meantime, Molly Hayes and Karolina Dean waited upstairs while the others witnessed the ritual.
The children later met at the ‘Griffith Observatory’ where everyone except Molly was present. They decided to frame their parents for the murders and first went to the Yorkes household. Here, they came across a dinosaur who apparently had a telepathic link to Gertrude.
Slowly but surely, the kids realize their own powers. They even came across a book called the ‘Abstract,’ which had six copies handed to each couple working in the Pride. The Abstract contained information on Gibborim, the past and future activities of the Pride, as well as various ritual spells. However, it needed a decoder ‘Ring of the Abstract’ to be able to decipher these texts.
The children then visited the Dean household, where they realized that Karolina is actually an alien. Slowly, they visited each of their houses, and their next stop was Chase Stein’s house. They visited Chase’s father’s workshop and stole some of his equipment, such as X-Ray specs and high-tech gauntlets known as ‘Fistigons.’
They even got their hands on the magical ‘Staff of One.’ Finally, the group visited Molly Hayes’ house, where Alex got his hands on the ‘Ring of the Abstract.’ They rescue Molly from the house, and the parents finally realize that they need to do something about their children. The Pride then framed their children for murdering ‘Destiny Gonzales’ and even accused them of kidnapping the young Molly Hayes.
The group then finds themselves in trouble, and Chase leads them to his ‘Hostel,’ which was actually a mansion that was buried during an earthquake. The Runaways decide to lie low for a while and only step out for a food run. However, they witness a store robbery during one of their food runs and also meet ‘Topher.’
They tried to recruit him and brought him back to their Hostel, where Topher finally revealed his true identity as a vampire. He lunges into an attack on Nico, but Karolina steps up and asks Topher to attack her instead. Since Karolina was an alien, her blood was infused with solar energy, which led to the instant death of the vampire.
In the meantime, Lieutenant Flores, along with ‘Cloak’ and ‘Dagger,’ looks for the children. However, the Pride does not want Cloak and Dagger to be involved. Cloak and Dagger then run into the Runaways, who tell them the truth about their parents. The duo promises to contact the Avengers to look into this, while Alex informs his parents and Pride that Cloak and Dagger are onto them. The Pride then corners the duo and gets rid of all their memories related to this case. Alex then even tips off the police about their location, and the Runaways run away while the Hostel starts collapsing.
Finally, the Runaways went to the ‘Marine Vivarium,’ an underwater place where the Pride carried out the ‘Rite of Thunder.’ Here, they disrupt their parent’s plans, and Alex finally reveals that he has been secretly working for their parents and tipping them off. Nico and Alex get into a fight, which ends when Molly destroys the container where their parents held Destiny Gonzales. The Gibborim then killed Alex, and Chase helped the other Runaways escape the place in the ‘Leapfrog’ vehicle. The fiasco also resulted in the deaths of all the members of the Pride, and the Marine Vivarium also collapsed as a result.
After being orphaned, the Runaways, who now consisted of Chase, Nico, Karolina, Molly, and Gertrude, were put under the care of social services. The Social Services separated the groups, but Karolina organized a reunion at the Griffith Observatory after a few months. They were all fed up with their living conditions and decided to steal the ‘Leapfrog’ vehicle and run away together. They also rescued ‘Old Lace,’ the dinosaur who had a telepathic link with Gertrude.
Finally, the Runaways settled in one of the Pride’s old dens beneath the ‘La Brea Tar Pits.’ They worked together to fight crime in Los Angeles and became a team of superheroes. On these missions, three new members joined the Runaways. These recruits included Victor Mancha, Klara Prast, and Xavin.
Exploring the individual members of the superhero team
The original Runaways team consisted of six members, but many new recruits later joined them.
Alex Winder, son of the mafia bosses, was the first leader of the group, and he was quite a child prodigy. He was also the one to uncover the secret identities of their parents in the beginning. Though he worked with the Runaways initially, he always had his own strategy, and later on, he betrayed the group by revealing their plans to his parents. He also dies quite early on in the story but later reappears as a living corpse.
Nico Minoru, also known as ‘The Gloom,’ was the daughter of the Minorus that worked in the Pride. Gibborim gave the Minorus wizard-like abilities, and Nico had also inherited these dark powers. She was essentially a witch and could manipulate magic. Nico acts as a leader of the group after Alex betrays them and leaves the team. Whenever Nico was injured and started bleeding, a powerful staff known as the ‘Staff of One’ emerged from her chest and gave her the ability to bend magic. She also has the ability to perform telekinesis, teleport, and even fly.
Karolina Dean, formerly known as ‘Lucy in the Sky,’ was the daughter of two alien invaders working for Gibborim. After joining the Runaways, she took the name ‘Princess Justice.’ Karolina was actually an alien powered by solar energy and was also known as ‘Majesdanian.’ In the Majesdanian form, Karolina could manipulate solar energy in her body and use this energy to blast laser beams. She also has the ability to fly in this form. However, her Majesdanian powers are finite, and she cannot stay in this form for too long. Upon running out of power, Karolina returns to her human form and uses the sun’s rays to recharge her energy.
Molly Hayes belonged to a family of mutants, and her parents had telepathic abilities. Molly was the youngest member of the Runaways team and was also known as Bruiser or Princess Powerful. Molly had supernatural powers that included super strength and invulnerability to any attacks, and she was known as ‘Blue-J.’
Chase Stein, also known as Gun Arm, was the son of mad scientists. Chase was the oldest member of the Runaways and often performed various roles within the group. He possesses the powerful ‘Fistigon’ gauntlets that he stole from his father’s workshop along with the other Runaways. Chase also drove their vehicle ‘Leapfrog,’ which was originally designed by Chase’s parents and was his mother’s idea.
Finally, Gertrude Yorkes was the sixth member of the original Runaways. Gertrude’s parents were time-travelers, and though Gertrude did not inherit any time-traveling powers, she was pretty intelligent. Gertrude was the booksmart, witty character in the series and was also known as Arsenic. She had formed a telepathic connection with a genetically engineered dinosaur called ‘Old Lace.’ However, Gertrude, later on, dies in the comics and passes this telepathic link to Chase, who then has the ability to connect with Old Lace. Gertrude was later resurrected after a few comic volumes and returned to the Runaways team.
Victor Mancha was a cyborg who could manipulate energy and metal and was one of the group’s newer members. However, he later left the group to join the ‘Avengers A.I.’
Other new recruits included Xavin, a son of the Skrull Warlords who had the ability to shapeshift, and Klara Prast, who was a Swiss immigrant that had the ability to control the growth of plants.
A TV series was put together after the movie was canceled
Marvel had initially planned to release a movie based on the Runaways, but they soon changed courses after the wide success of Avengers. Later on, they developed a television series that followed this team of superheroes, and this series first aired on November 21, 2017. The show lasted three seasons until December 2019 and aired on Hulu streaming services. Rhenzy Feliz played the role of Alex Winder, while Lyrica Okanu portrayed Niko Minoru and Virginia Gardner played the role of Karolina Dean, among other cast members.
The first season focused on the Runaways discovering their parent’s secret identities as they discover the ‘Pride.’ The Runaways then investigate these secrets. At the same time, their parents start to get suspicious of their kids. Finally, the first season ended with the Runaways coming together to form a plan to put an end to their parent’s crimes.
In the following season, the Runaways learned to navigate the world independently. They sought shelter, food, and clothing on their own while also ensuring the police or their parents didn’t discover them. They get a lot closer and realize they only have each other to fall back on. They finally execute their plan to take Pride down, but their plans seem to be going astray. A mole in the group reveals their plans to Jonah, also known as ‘The Magistrate.’ Jonah is also Karolina’s father and is actually a Gibborim in disguise on the Earth. The Runaways make a plan to destroy Pride, while their parents try to track them down and put an end to their plans.
Finally, the third season of the show focused on the Runaway’s efforts to free Chase, Gertrude, and Karolina after they were captured by evil forces. The Runaways also faced a new enemy, who is later revealed to be the Magistrate’s son. This new enemy is after Karolina’s mother ‘Leslie Dean’ in order to get his hands on her unborn child, and this team of young heroes helps Leslie escape him.
The Runaways, led by Nico Minoru, also find themselves in a dark realm ruled by Morgan le Fay and fight their most brutal battle yet.
The show’s premises were mostly based on the comics, with a few minor tweaks in the storyline here and there. The show keeps up a decent pace throughout, but some viewers held the opinion that it could have been wrapped up in two seasons. It does have a compelling storyline, and the elements of ritualistic sacrifices and superpowers, and evil organizations altogether create an entertaining television series.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the Runaways are a fierce group of superheroes who have fought against all odds and stuck by each other’s side as they faced many crises right from their childhood. They have fought against all odds to succeed in their missions and have a lot of potential that will hopefully be explored in their future story arcs!