Merge:Runaways

Runaways is a Marvel Comics comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. The series features a group of teenagers who try to make up for the evil done by their supervillain parents by becoming superheroes.

Publication history
Runaways launched in 2002 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. After Marvel cancelled the Tsunami imprint in January 2003, the series moved to the "Marvel Age" imprint. In September 2004, the series ended at issue #18. The series was revived in February 2005.

Original members

 * Nico Minoru - The daughter of magicians, Nico carries the mystical "Staff of One," which allows her to cast spells, although she claims she can never the use same one twice. in the second series, she leads the group.
 * Karolina Dean - The daughter of aliens, Karolina can fly and manipulate solar energy. She returns to her home planet Majesdane to stop a war between it and the Skrull Empire. During the 'Parental Guidence' arc, she and Xavin return to the runaways.
 * Molly Hayes - The daughter of mutants, Molly possesses super-strength. She often grows sleepy after exerting herself or using her invulnerability.
 * Alex Wilder - The son of thieves, Alex leads the group at its inception but is later revealed to be betraying them to their parents.
 * Gertrude Yorkes - The daughter of time travelers, Gert owns a genetically engineered deinonychus named "Old Lace", with whom she has an empathic bond. Gertrude is killed in the "Parental Guidence" storyline by a younger version of Alex' father Geoff Wilder.
 * Chase Stein - The son of scientists, Chase uses high-tech gadgets stolen from his parents and pilots the group's ship, the "Leapfrog". Chase claims to have killed a carjacker when he was 16, something he asks Nico not to tell the others. When Gert dies, Chase gains control of Old Lace, a copy of the Abstract, and a decoder ring. He runs away from the runaways after a disagreement about where to bury Gert's body.

Later members

 * Victor Mancha - The cyborg son of the robotic Avengers foe Ultron, Victor has electromagnetic powers.
 * Xavin - Xavin is a young Super-Skrull-in-training bethrothed to Karolina by their parents.

Recurring characters

 * The Pride - The Pride are a group of archetypical supervillains who keep their crimes secret from their children, the runaways. They are killed by their benefactors the Gibborim at the end of the first series. A new Pride is revealed to have formed, led by a younger version of Alex's father Geoffrey Wilder and made up of Alex's Internet friends.
 * Excelsior - Founded by former teenaged superheroes Mickey Musashi and Phil Urich, Excelsior is a support group whose goal is to help former teenage superheroes to adjust to mundane lives and to dissuade other super-powered teenagers from becoming vigilantes.
 * Cloak and Dagger - Cloak and Dagger are former runaway teenagers with superpowers who try to help runaways and abducted children.

Plot summary
Nico Minoru, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, and Alex Wilder meet at their families' annual gathering, where they see their parents performing the ritual sacrifice of a girl, and the teenagers run away. Before they go, each learns of their mysterious heritage, taking weapons or discovering powers they didn't know they had.

The Pride frame their children for murder in order to get them back. The runaways retreat to an underground hideout they call "the Hostel", a mansion buried during an earthquake. While stopping a robbery, the runaways encounter a boy named Topher, who claims his parents forced him to aid them in the robbery, and the group takes him back to the Hostel. Topher reveals himself as a vampire but dies after biting Karolina, whose blood is infused with solar energy. Cloak and Dagger, informed that the teenagers had kidnapped Molly, confront the runaways. The two superheroes promise to contact the Avengers to help the runaways; a mole among the teenagers, however, informs the Pride, and they erase Cloak and Dagger's memories of the meeting.

The teenagers learn that an ancient race called the Gibborim formed the Pride to help them destroy humanity, and they disrupt the ceremony that will give the Gibborim the power they need. Alex engineers his friends' defeat and reveals himself to be the mole. After Molly frees the sacrificed girl's soul, the Gibborim destroy Alex for his failure and the Pride, and as the Pride's undersea lair collapses, the runaways escape in a vehicle called "The Leapfrog". With their parents dead, Social Services separates the runaways. Three months after the destruction of the Pride, the team reunites and retrieves Gert's dinosaur Old Lace. They stay together and fight the villains that move to Los Angeles in the wake of the Pride's death.

A future version of Gert appears and warns the group that a man named Victor Mancha will one day kill all of Earth's heroes. Before she dies, she tells them to kill Victor before he becomes too powerful. They attack and subdue Victor, a confused teenager whose superpowers activate for the first time in the struggle. Victor's father Ultron kills Victor's mother and forces Victor to attack his new friends. Ultron reveals that he created Victor to join the Avengers and destroy the team from within. With the help of the teenage superhero support group Excelsior, the runaways defeat Ultron, and Victor joins them.

After Nico rejects Karolina's advances when Karolina attempts to kiss her, a Skrull named Xavin appears and tells Karolina that he is Karolina's fiancé, due to a pact between their parents. He asks Karolina to marry him in order to stop the war between their races. Karolina resists, revealing to Xavin and her friends that she is a lesbian; Xavin tells her he's a shape-shifter, and he changes into female form. Convinced, Karolina returns to her home planet with Xavin with the hope of ending the conflict.

The group travels to New York City with Cloak, whose memories are restored. Someone has used Mutant Growth Hormone to attack Dagger and to frame Cloak. When Nico and Chase find the dealer, Chase, dropping the Pride's name and claiming to have killed someone, talks his way out of danger and into the information they need. Nico kisses Chase in thanks for saving her, but Chase rejects her, saying his relationship with Gert is the only thing keeping him "good". Gertrude and Victor run into Spider-Man and discuss the situation with him over sushi, but Nico knocks him out because Spider-Man is an adult and an Avenger. When the Avengers look for Cloak, Wolverine scares Molly, and she punches him through a building. After Chase defeats Dagger's attacker with Nico's staff, they return home.

The runaways encounter the X-Men, who have come to take Molly to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning to train. The two teams fight until Emma Frost decides they shouldn't force someone to come with them against their will. Later, in a superhero fight, Molly is knocked unconscious, and she wakes to find that she has been "recruited" by a crime ring that uses children to commit thefts. Molly organizes her fellow captives, defeats the Provost, and returns home.

After Alex's death, his online friends met up 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. In a fight with Geoff Wilder and the new Pride, the Pride takes control of Victor, Gert finds out that Nico kissed Chase, and Geoff escapes with Molly. The runaways fight the new Pride again, and Wilder reveals that it is actually Nico that he wants. Moments after Geoff appears to shoot Nico, Xavin reveals that he has been impersonating her. Chase enters the burning house to look for Gert, and Geoff captures him, intent on sacrificing him. When Gert tries to save Chase, Geoff throws his knife at her, mortally wounding her.

Gert transfers her control of Old Lace to Chase before she dies. After an argument, Chase leaves the runaways, and his friends bury Gert behind the Hollywood letters. Nico erases Geoff's memory and preserves the timeline by sending him back in time. Geoff appears in his rightful time but realizes his decoder ring is missing. The final panel shows Chase with the decoder ring, a copy of the Abstract, and Old Lace.

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways
The July 2006 limited series Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways ties in to Marvel Comics' "Civil War" event. The series is written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Stefano Caselli. Each series' writer serves as a creative consultant.

The series takes place following Runaways #21 and Young Avengers #12.

At a farmer's market, the Flag-Smasher battles S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tasked with apprehending unauthorized superhumans. The runaways intervene and defeat the Flag-Smasher, attracting the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., whose agents damage Victor. The Young Avengers view the altercation on television, and the Vision suffers a seizure. When Patriot cannot convince Captain America to let the Young Avengers recruit and help the runaways, the Young Avengers steal a Quinjet and use Wiccan's magic to find the runaways. Molly attacks the group, thinking they are working with Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. The team subdues Molly and enters the Hostel and talk to the runaways. The Vision approached Victor's body and the two experience seizures like those the Vision suffered before.

Public Opinion
The characters in Runaways are fairly unpopular within the Marvel universe; they are looked upon with distrust by most people and are often referred to as "the Pride's children". They are on the run from the law because adults such as the Avengers want to "help" them by putting them into a more stable environment. They are also feared to a degree; in the Daily Bugle's article in the Civil War edition, the team is written about in a cautious tone, suggesting that they may follow in their parents' footsteps. Patriot expresses a similar sentiment when he and the Young Avengers try to help the group during the Civil War. While the other Young Avengers want only to help the runaways avoid S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Patriot also wants to make sure that the runaways don't abuse their powers in the new wartime environment.

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.
 * 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.