Runaways (Earth-616)

From Marvel Database

Contents 1 History 1.1 Civil War 2 Paraphernalia 3 Notes 4 Recommended Readings 5 Trivia 6 See Also 7 Links and References

History

With their parents all gathered at Alex Wilder's mansion for an annual gathering, Nico Minoru, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, and Alex Wilder accidentally witnessed their parents performing the ritual sacrifice of a teenage girl. Scared of those they loved, the children banded together and became runaways. The shocked teenagers vowed to turn the tables on their evil parents. Nico took a mystical staff called The Staff of One, Chase found powerful gauntlets and multi-spectral goggles, Karolina discovered her alien heritage and superpowers, Molly found out she is a mutant, and Gert inherited a genetically engineered Deinonychus under her telepathic control.

In order to get their children back, the Pride framed them for the murder of the innocent girl they had sacrificed. The runaways retreated to a subterranean hideout they called "the Hostel", a mansion buried during an earthquake. The teenagers, except Alex, picked new superhero names to replace the ones their parents had given them. Meanwhile, Alex Wilder was secretly still loyal to the parents.^[1]

While stopping a robbery, the runaways encountered a boy named Topher, who claimed his parents forced him to aid them in the robbery. Deciding he was one of them, the group took him back to the Hostel. Topher revealed himself as a vampire and attempted to "turn" Nico, but Alex rescued her. Topher died after biting Karolina, whose blood was infused with solar energy.^[2]

Cloak and Dagger, informed that the teenagers had kidnapped Molly, confronted the Runaways. After learning the truth, the two superheroes promised to contact the Avengers to help the runaways take down the Pride; Alex, however, tipped off the Pride, and they telepathically removed all memory of the meeting from Cloak and Dagger.^[3]

The teenagers learned that the Gibborim, an ancient race of beings who wished to wipe Earth clean of humanity and start again, formed the pride to do their bidding. The runaways disrupted the ceremony that would give the Gibborim the power to destroy humanity. Alex engineered his friends' defeat and revealed himself to be the mole. He told Nico that Karolina and Molly's parents had planned on killing the rest of the pride and taking their children with them to the next world. Alex offered for his family and Nico's family to go instead. Nico angrily refused and fighting ensued. It ended when Molly destroyed the container that held the sacrificed girl's soul in it (to be given as an offering to the Gibborim). The angry Gibborim destroyed Alex, and as the Pride's undersea lair collapsed, the grown-ups held off the giants giving the runaways a chance to escape in a vehicle called "The Leapfrog".^[4]

With their parents dead, Social Services separated the Runaways. Three months after the destruction of the Pride, Karolina organized a reunion, and the team headed off to an Avengers storage complex to retrieve Old Lace. The teenagers decided to stay together, rather than return to their new lives.^[5]

The Runaways fought the villains who moved to Los Angeles in the wake of the Pride's death. A future version of Gert appeared and warned the group that a man named Victor Mancha would one day kill all of Earth's heroes. Before she died, she told them to kill Victor as a boy before he became too powerful. They subdued Victor, a confused teenage boy with a superhero fixation whose superpowers activated for the first time in the struggle. Ultron, Victor's father, killed Victor's mother and took control of Victor, forcing him to attack the his new friends. Victor learned that Ultron created him to be a superhero to destroy the Avengers from within. With the help of the teenage superhero support group Excelsior, the runaways defeated Ultron, and Victor joined them.^[6]

Karolina attempted to kiss Nico, but Nico became embarrassed and left, making Karolina feel stupid and alone. A Skrull named Xavin appeared and told Karolina that, due to a pact between their parents, he was Karolina's fiancé. He asked Karolina to marry him in order to stop the war between their races. Karolina resisted, revealing to Xavin and her friends that she liked girls; Xavin told her he iss a shape-shifter and changed into female form. Convinced, Karolina returned to her home planet with Xavin, in hopes of ending the conflict.^[7]

The Runaways traveled to New York City with Cloak, whose memories of them were restored. Someone had used Mutant Growth Hormone to attack Dagger and frame Cloak. When Nico and Chase found the dealer, Chase dropped the Pride's name and, claiming to have killed someone, talked his way out of the dangerous situation and into the information they need. Nico kissed Chase in thanks for saving her, but Chase rejected her, saying his relationship with Gert was the only thing keeping him "good". Gertrude and Victor ran into Spider-Man and discussed the situation with him over sushi, but Nico knocked him out because Spider-Man was an adult and an Avenger. When the Avengers were looking for Cloak, Wolverine scared Molly, and she punched him through a building. Chase defeated Dagger's attacker with Nico's staff after she was knocked unconscious. With Dagger safe and his name cleared, Cloak returned the kids home.^[8]

The Runaways encountered the X-Men, who had come to take Molly to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning to train. While the two teams fought, Gert and Kitty Pryde sat at the sidelines talking. Finally, Emma Frost decided they shouldn't force someone to come with them against their will, and if Molly decided to join the X-Men, she knew where to find them.^[9]

Molly was knocked unconscious during a superhero fight, and she woke to find that she had been "recruited" by the Provost, who ran a crime ring that used children to commit thefts. Molly recruited her classmates, defeated the Provost, and returned home.^[10]

Alex's online friends met up after Alex's death and discussed his disappearance. One of them hacked Alex's account and learned that Alex's parents were part of the Pride, whom the group believed to be heroes. The group attempted a spell to bring Alex back, but a younger version of Alex's father Geoff appeared instead.^[11]

Victor had a nightmare about killing his friends under Ultron's influence. Chase confessed to being jealous of Victor, someone his parents would have loved. Gert and Nico discussed leadership and decided that if it should prove necessary, Gert would become the leader. Acting on a police call involving a masked individual, the teenagers realized they had arrived at Alex's old house. Alex appeared, although Nico was suspicious. She asked him where they first kissed, and his confusion and a spell revealed that it was Geoff Wilder. In the fight that resulted, the new Pride took control of Victor, Gert found out that Nico kissed Chase, and Geoff escaped with Molly.

Before the Runaways could rescue Molly, they had to repair the Leapfrog. Gert tried to break up with Chase, and Nico discovered, using a spell, that the new Pride were getting their information from Victor; much to his surprise. Gert and Nico were ready to destroy Victor, but Chase stuck up for him. Karolina interrupted the fight. After telling the team why she and Xavin were back on earth, Victor found out that the new Pride had been using him as a spy cam, and found that the broadcast was coming from Nico's old Summer Home. Xavin asked the team if he/she could help. The team went to Nico's old Summer Home and found the new Pride had moved out and the weapons cabinet was empty. The Runaways found the new Pride and a fight started, but in the end Geoffrey Wilder killed Gertrude and the new Pride learned the truth about his intentions. Nico Minoru used the Staff of One spell "Forget" causing the young Geoff Wilder to forget about what he had experienced in the present day. Chase ran away from the Runaways after a disagreement about where to bury Gert's body.

The Runaways dealt with the repercussions of the death of Getrude Yorkes. Nico and Victor began a physical relationship, Molly asked the Leapfrog if Gert was in heaven, and Xavin and Karolina — stranded on Earth — discussed the significance of a single death. A former policeman responsible for investigating the Pride attempted to sell a talisman he stole from one of their lairs to an antiques dealer. The elderly shopkeeper, who claimed that he just wanted things to "go back to the way they used to be", transformed into a monster and attacked Los Angeles, particularly Starbucks stores. The runaways raced to the scene. Chase and Old Lace confronted Lotus, and Chase told her that he was hiring her. The teams headed to downtown LA to confront the monster. Xavin and Karolina tried their best to attack the monster but their attack failed. Molly was able to stop the monster's war path and knock it down thanks a caffine spell made by Nico. Meanwhile, Chase told Lotus that his plan was to bring back Gertrude by using the Gibborim and creating a new Pride called "The Fall". Chase attempted to exchange the soul of Lotus for the resurrection of Gert. Unfortunately, Lotus' soul was not innocent, and Chase departed the Gibborim's dimension, though they took care to repeat their offer: one innocent soul for Gert's resurrection. Chase had Lotus burn the Abstract; but not before he stole several pages; and left to rejoin the other Runaways. As the battle with the monster went out of control, Xavin and Nico tried a different approach: Xavin took the appearance of the old man's dead wife, and Nico casted a spell to give Xavin her voice. Together, the two were able to calm the monster and return him to his human form. Chase reunited with the other runaways at the hostel and looked at Gert's portrait longingly while holding his pages from the Abstract.^[12]

Civil War

The Runaways intervened in a fight between the Flag-Smasher and S.H.I.E.L.D., whose agents damaged Victor. The Young Avengers saw the altercation on television, and the Vision suffered a seizure, and they stole a Quinjet and used Wiccan's magic to find them. Molly attacked the group, thinking they were working with S.H.I.E.L.D., but the team subdued her and entered the Hostel to talk to the Runaways. The Vision and Victor experienced seizures when they were near; the Vision explained that he and Victor shared the same electromagnetic signatures, most likely due to their both having been created by Ultron.

Noh-Varr, a Kree from an alternate reality sent by S.H.I.E.L.D to capture the teenagers, attacked the teenagers, breaking Xavin's neck. Noh-Varr's handlers captured Wiccan, Hulkling, Karolina, and Xavin's body and took them to Cube high-security metahuman prison. The Cube's warden attempted to dissect Hulkling, but his organs shifted to avoid the knife. Xavin righted his broken neck and attacked the warden. Victor, realizing that the Vision's arm, embedded in Noh-Varr's chest, had begun to interface with the alien, overloaded him by coming near, and the Vision removed Noh-varr's psychological conditioning. The two teams parted ways and Noh-Varr took control of the Cube.

Things got worse when a new enemy threatened to tear the team apart. Xavin expressed confusion about his identity to Karolina, and Chase learned from the Gibborim that the time during which he could resurrect Gert was short. Chase told Nico that he intended to sacrifice himself on Gert's behalf and shut down Victor when he tried to intervene. He took the Staff of One and left. Molly, heard a voice that told her to alert the others, and they followed Chase, using a urine trail that Old Lace left for them.

The team found the end of the trail behind a donut shop and left Molly behind with Victor. Using Chase's portal, they entered the realm of the Gibborim, only to find that the giants would not accept Chase as a sacrifice. Apparently, his self-sacrifice had removed him from the category of "innocent" and instead the giants moved to consume Nico. As Victor regained consciousness, he and Molly entered the realm of the Gibborim to save Nico (thanks to a "Fastball Special"). Without their sacrifice, the Gibborim faded from reality. As the team returned to the Hostel, they noticed one of their security robots had been destroyed. Xavin realized that he did not make the group invisible when they floated out of the tar pits. Iron Man greeted the children with a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. Cape-Killers. Meanwhile, in another plane of reality, the Gibborim came face to face with the person who alerted Molly to Chase's plans in the first place: Alex Wilder.^[13]

The Runaways managed to escape from Iron Man into New York City, where they met with Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. Fisk offered the team protection from the government if they stole an artifact for him. The team successfully stole it, but were confronted by the Punisher and a winged monster. The team managed to escape, but decided not to give the artifact to Fisk, which caused him to attack them with an army of ninjas. After losing a lot of blood, Nico casted a spell to knock the ninjas out. Chase plugged the artifact into the Leapfrog and they were sent back in time to 1907, where they confronted Gert's parents, who started a super-powered gang war to destroy the teens. The group escaped the war and returned to the present day with a new member, Klara Prast, who can control plants.^[14]

After returning from a trip to 1907, the Runaways landed in the middle of the Skrull's invasion of Earth. Xavin feigned siding with the Skrulls and knocked out the rest of the Runaways before going to save Hulkling of the Young Avengers from execution.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: The Leapfrog
Weapons: None known.

Notes

Recommended Readings

• Runaways #1-18
• Runaways Vol 2 #1-31
• Runaways Vol 3 #1-current.
• Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways #1-4
  

Trivia

• Joss Whedon is a vocal fan of the book, and a letter written by him was printed in Runaways vol. 1 #18 and reprinted in the first Hardcover edition. Whedon was the books writer for a time.
• Brian K. Vaughan named the characters Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder after his parents and Molly Hayes after his younger sister.
• Despite not being used frequently since the first volume, Marvel's Handbooks and Website still refer to the characters by their "Superhero" names.

See Also

• Appearances of Runaways (Earth-616)
• Team Gallery: Runaways (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Runaways (Earth-616)
• Images that include Runaways (Earth-616)

Links and References

• The Hostel
• Runaways' Safe House
• Runaways Fansite
• Brian K. Vaughan's official site
• Dark Secret (fansite)
• Wikipedia's Runaways page