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Quote1 Okay, if you guys can't even decide on a costume, I'm not going to sing our new theme song! Quote2
Molly Hayes[src]

History

Like the other original Runaways, Molly Hayes was born after her parents and the other members of the Pride decided to pass on their inheritance from the Gibborim to their children.[7] Molly's parents, Gene (a doctor) and Alice Hayes (a speech therapist), had telepathic powers.[8][7] At birth, Molly's parents tested her for the presence of an X-Gene, but the tests results were negative.[9]

Along with Karolina Dean, Molly was not present to witness her parents and the Pride sacrifice Destiny Gonzales for the Ritual of Blood.[10] She was also left out of the groups subsequent meeting at Griffith Observatory.[11] The Runaways' last stop before going into hiding was rescuing Molly. After narrowly escaping their parents, and taking refuge in The Hostel, Gert suggested taking on new codenames to start over without the influence of their parents. Molly wanted to be named Princess Powerful, but Chase instead dubbed her Bruiser.[1]

File:Molly Hayes (Earth-616) 0001.jpg

Molly reasserting her codename

Molly thought that running away was a great adventure, and she was excited about becoming a real superhero and even made a costume. Molly has been a longtime admirer of superheroes, and even planned on one day joining the X-Men and marrying Wolverine.[12] Molly also owns a plush Doop doll[13][14] and loves Dazzler's music.[15]

Molly was the only Runaway to truly miss her parents,[16][2] and had to be continually reminded that her parents were super-villains. Chase Stein and Molly began to develop a big-brother/little-sister relationship.[16] Molly later developed a similar sibling relationship with Speed from the Young Avengers much to Chase's annoyance.[17][18]

File:Thomas Shepherd (Earth-616) and Molly Hayes (Earth-616) 001.jpg

Molly bonding with the Young Avenger Speed

When facing off with the Pride in their Marine Vivarium, it was Molly that destroyed the sacrifice container freeing Destiny Gonzales' soul.[19] After narrowly escaping the destruction of the Marine Vivarium, the Runaways were immediately apprehended by Captain America[19] and placed into foster care. Molly was picked up by a local branch of the X-Corporation.[20] Weeks later after a text message from Karolina, the Runaways reconvened at the Griffith Observatory. Together they decided to retrieve Old Lace and the Leapfrog, and run away again.[21] Molly was always excited to bring new recruits onto the team,[12][22][15][23] but sometimes lacked some of the social nuances of young adults.[20][15]

During a trip to New York City to help Cloak, Molly met one of her idols, Wolverine. However, she quickly became annoyed with him when he frightened her which resulted in her punching him hard enough to propel him out of a church window and across a street into a snowbank which ended her crush on him.[24][25]

Molly was one of the 198 mutants to retained their abilities after M-Day.[24] Because of their severe depletion of the mutant population, the X-Men tracked down the Runaways to recruit Molly to be trained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. A brawl ensued, and in the end, the X-Men agreed to allow Molly to remain with her friends.[25]

X-Men (Earth-616) and Molly Hayes (Earth-616) from Runaways Vol 3 10 0001

Molly touring Cerebro with Wolverine and the Stepford Cuckoos

Molly once encountered the Beast at the La Brea Tar Pits and the two discussed extinction. When Beast explained that mutant kind was heading in that direction Molly stormed off, calling him a depressing jerk. The two were able to reconcile when the Beast told her that, despite this, she should try to do as much as possible so she could be remembered.[26] After the X-Men relocated to San Francisco, Molly began complaining of the psychic call sent out to all mutants.[27] Molly was able to tour Graymalkin Industries, but ultimately again declined the X-Men's offer in favor of remaining with her friends.[28]

During a fight with Dragoness, Molly was knocked unconscious and awoke to find that she had been kidnapped by the Provost, who used children to commit thefts. Fortunately, Molly was able to organize her fellow captives, defeated the Provost, and returned home.[2]

Molly took Gert's death hard. When she began receiving ominous direction from a disembodied voice, she believed it was Gert aiding her from beyond the grave.[14] In fact, it was Alex Wilder trying to redeem himself and escape from Hell.[29]

File:Runaways Vol 2 26 page 13 Frank Castle & Molly Hayes (Earth-616).jpg

Molly punishing the Punisher

During their trip to 1907, Molly was extremely excited at the prospect of recruiting Klara Prast, a young girl roughly Molly's age with the gifts of botanopathy and chlorokinesis.[23] Upon returning to the present, Klara and Molly became best friends.[30][18][31]

When Chase started to sense that Old Lace was still alive, the Runaways followed the trail straight to the Avengers Academy campus. When Justin Seyfert detected the Ultron tech within Victor and X-Genes in Molly and Klara, the Runaways were attacked. The fighting ceased and they made an effort to recover Old Lace. Much to the Runaways' joy, they found Old Lace alive and well. They then came into conflict with the Academy again as their plans to force Klara and Molly to stay were revealed. Ultimately, Dr. Pym agreed to allow the girls to remain with the Runaways as long as they checked in regularly and took a robotic tutor for Molly and Klara.[32]

When Nico and Chase disappeared with little notice, having been kidnapped to Murderworld by Arcade,[33] Molly became very concerned. She somehow knew they had been kidnapped and was worried for Old Lace's health. Dr. Pym agreed to look into the matter, but unfortunately came up empty-handed.[34] The Runaways were reunited when Nico and Chase returned, but the team quickly fell apart. Molly was approached by her grandmother, and she agreed to be taken in by her.[35] Molly was aware that her grandmother was a shady scientist, but decided to stay with her regardless because of their kinship.[5] Molly additionally attended school at the Hollywood Hills Middle School, where she had a best friend named Abigail.[36]

After Chase travelled back in time to save Gert from dying, Gert rallied him and Nico to get the team back together,[35] but Molly declined the offer to return to the team. When Gert accepted an offer from Molly's grandmother to stay with them, Molly convinced her to escape together since she didn't want her grandmother to experiment on Gert.[5] They were assisted by their fellow Runaways, and together they stopped Molly's grandmother.[37] Molly moved to The Hostel with the rest of the team, but continued attending middle school. Nico used her Staff of One to conjure a spell so that she and Chase would magically become Molly's legal guardians.[36]

During this time, Molly's best friend Abigail disclosed with her that she was actually eternally young, and had been stuck with 13 years of age since 1964 after eating an enchanted cupcake gifted to her by the Enchantress. Abigail gave Molly the remaining of the two cupcakes she had been gifted, so they could be eternally young together.[38] While Molly gave thought to Abigail's offer, Karolina's girlfriend Julie Power ate the cupcake, unaware of its properties, and was turned into a pre-teen again.[39] The Runaways went to Abigail's house and retrieved a small vial containing a potion to reverse the cupcake's effects. Julie drank the vial, dooming Abigail to be stuck her age forever, since she actually intended to eventually drink it once her parents passed away. Molly was heartbroken by having to betray Abigail's trust to help Julie.[40]

Attributes

Power Grid[48]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Enhanced:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Molly is a second-generation mutant, and has demonstrated the following abilities:

  • Superhuman Strength: The upper limits of her powers have never been tested. Molly has been seen to be capable of toppling monsters as large as skyscrapers (albeit while supercharged with magic), she was also able to tunnel through miles of rock by punching and can lift a car with ease[1] as well as being able to hold up the Leapfrog without difficulty.[41]
  • Invulnerability: Molly has some level of invulnerability, though she is not invincible, when the Excavator attempted to attack her with his Shovel it broke over her head and caused her no harm.[22]
  • Bioluminescence: When Molly's strength increases, her eyes glow pink. Sometimes, she also emits a pink aura. This is a similar power signature to both her parents.[9]

Weaknesses

Exhaustion: Molly's strength rapidly drains her endurance, the more she expends herself the quicker this happens and after particularly large or long lasting feats of strength she will often fall asleep and be unable to use her powers again until she has sufficiently rested.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Transportation

Notes

Molly Hayes hats collage 001

Some of Molly's various hats

Trivia

  • Molly is known for various ridiculous animal hats.[14]
  • Molly's name is taken from creator Brian K. Vaughan's sister, Molly Hayes Vaughan.
  • Molly sleeps with a plush Doop doll and is a fan of both doop and Wolverine.[43][13][14]
  • Molly is the only character who appeared in every issue of Runaways during Brian K. Vaughan's tenure on the title.
  • Molly is a fan of the singer Dazzler's music.[15]
  • She told Xavin she has a picture of Northstar on her wall, as a way of explaining she has no problem with homosexuality.[44]
  • She is a fan of the X-Men, knowing a great deal about them and described the group as having Shadowcat-ted when they phase through a roof.[45]
  • The X-Men have tried to recruit Molly twice: once immediately after M-Day[25] and again after relocating to San Francisco.[28]
  • Molly was deemed a Low Threat by the O*N*E.[46]
  • Molly really enjoys Disneyland.[2][5]
  • Molly is a fan of Sailor Moon. [37]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Runaways #6
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #13
  3. Runaways (Vol. 2) #16
  4. Runaways (Vol. 2) #18
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Runaways (Vol. 5) #5
  6. Runaways (Vol. 2) #4
  7. 7.0 7.1 Runaways #13
  8. Runaways #3
  9. 9.0 9.1 Runaways #5
  10. Runaways #1
  11. Runaways #2
  12. 12.0 12.1 Runaways #8
  13. 13.0 13.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #15
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #23
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #19
  16. 16.0 16.1 Runaways #7
  17. Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways #2
  18. 18.0 18.1 Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3
  19. 19.0 19.1 Runaways #17
  20. 20.0 20.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #7
  21. Runaways #18
  22. 22.0 22.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #1
  23. 23.0 23.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #28
  24. 24.0 24.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #12
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 Free Comic Book Day (Vol. 2006) #X-Men Runaways
  26. Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age #1
  27. Uncanny X-Men #499
  28. 28.0 28.1 Runaways (Vol. 3) #10
  29. Runaways (Vol. 2) #24
  30. Runaways (Vol. 2) #30
  31. Runaways (Vol. 3) #1
  32. Avengers Academy #2728
  33. Avengers Arena #1
  34. Avengers Arena #13
  35. 35.0 35.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #3
  36. 36.0 36.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #7
  37. 37.0 37.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #6
  38. Runaways (Vol. 5) #8
  39. Runaways (Vol. 5) #9
  40. Runaways (Vol. 5) #10
  41. Runaways (Vol. 2) #14
  42. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5
  43. Runaways (Vol. 2) #11
  44. Runaways (Vol. 2) #22
  45. Runaways (Vol. 2) #26
  46. X-Men: The 198 Files #1
  47. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5
  48. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 5
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