Marvel’s Runaways Review

Okay, you take Brian K. Vaughn’s very highly acclaimed comic series, Runaways. Add a cast of great young actors. A Breakfast Club-esque dynamic with a dash of what makes recent shows like Riverdale and Stranger Things so awesome, and you have yourself a pretty decent show for television. What could go wrong?

Well, from where I sit, it looks like Marvel and Hulu could have a hit on their hands with the new Runaways show. It did sort of creep up on us, what with all the other new Marvel shows popping up like Inhumans on ABC and The Gifted on Fox. Runaways is a bit more like the latter, using tried and true ingredients like teen angst and faithfulness to source material.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!*

The most important aspect of the show that is immediate is the casting choices and the willingness to take the “risk” of adapting the feel and look of the characters almost directly from the original comic book. Vaughn is on as a producer, and Runaways is his “baby”, so I think they didn’t want to play around too much. Almost all of the cast are spot on with their comic book counterparts. And that is a good thing!

And while I personally haven’t read any Runaways comics (I know, I apologize...it’s on the to-do list), I do have a roundabout knowledge of the characters from other comics and just being a comic book journalist and editor in general. Molly Hayes has appeared in X-Men comics and Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean appeared in the all-female A-Force comic, so that’s my experiences with them. I also had a gist of what the story was about.

Basically the first two episodes (which played back-to-back on the Canadian cable channel Showcase, since Hulu is not available here) introduce us to the main characters, a group of normal Californian kids who all grew up together because their parents were all friends (or associates). Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz), a social awkward “geek”, Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano), a girl that seemingly uses her emo/goth style to hide her emotions after the loss of her sister, Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner), the daughter of a Scientology style religious (cult?) leader and is looking to rebel, Chase Stein (Gregg Sulkin), a brilliant kid inventor who tries to hide that because he wants to be a popular jock type, Molly Hernandez (Allegra Acosta, and her last name’s not Hayes...she’s really the only character that’s changed that drastically), the youngest of the group that wants nothing more than to make the cheerleading squad and her adoptive sister, Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer), a brainy social activist. All of the kids have grown apart as they got older and their interests matured as well as after the loss of Amy Minoru, Nico’s sister, something all the kids are sad about...but we are never told how it happened.

The show begins with all the kids having seemingly normal lives with normal families, and then s^!t gets weird fast. All of the parents have dark secrets and when Alex attempts to get all of his friends back together, each one tries to find other plans and excuses not to hang out. Chase hears about a house party from his douchey jock friends and bails on a “study date” with Gert. Karolina just wants to rebel from her religious mom and decides to go to the same party. She is offered some kind of hallucinogenic drug from a weird guy and she takes the pill from him and when she rips off the “promise bracelet” she was given to by her mom that she NEVER takes off, she begins to glow with translucent light. We are meant to think that it’s the drug. But after she passes out and dragged upstairs by the “douche jocks”, Chase stops them, fights them off and brings her to his car to drive her home. In the car, we see her take the pill out of her coat and throw it away!

Molly experiences weird stuff too. She begins to get cramps while trying out for cheerleading. The school nurse makes light of it, but Molly really thinks something is wrong...mainly because her eyes begin glowing and she bends the metal part of the bed she’s sitting on with her bare hands. Realizing she may have superpowers, she later tries to lift an old broken down van in the garage but can’t. When the van starts to roll down the hoist it’s on, she is able to stop it and push it back into place! That’s not even the weirdest stuff that happens! Gert asks Molly to go down and “feed the pets”, because she is waiting for Chase at the library. We are to assume that their parents are simple lovers of exotic animals, but in the back of the room there is a big metal door with a DO NOT OPEN warning on it and something seemingly large growling behind it! Fans of the comic know where this is going! It’s weird and unexpected and awesome!

Eventually, all of the kids end up at Alex’s party anyway. But hanging out for them is just not the same without Amy. There’s a void. At the same time, their parents all meet up for a “Pride” meeting. We are not sure what that exactly is, but we assume it is some sort of community project they are all involved in together. Turns out it’s a lot more than that. At the Wilder estate (I should mention that all of the kids’ families seem quite well off ), the kids end up back in the main house (Alex’s room is at the guest house), and see that the parents are no longer there...but Nico notices her mom’s purse is still there. Alex goes for a coaster but sees that the coasters are all stuck together and when turned a specific way, opens a secret door. They are creeped out, but they all head down. They find all their parents down there wearing red robes and luring a teen girl (a runaway we see earlier in the episode who joined Karolina’s moms’ Church of Gibborim) into a strange pod. It looks like some kind of crazy ritualistic killing and something out of Eyes Wide Shut! Creepy stuff. The kids have no idea what’s going on! Molly tries to take a picture with her phone but the parents see the flash. Alex’s parents go to change back into their normal clothes and go up to the house to see what it was, but find the kids back at the guest house all playing Twister and they assume nothing.

The second episode deals from things from the kids’ parents’ point of view. We learn a lot more about them and what they are all into and that they are all more than they seem. Alex’s dad (Ryan Sands) is a reformed gangbanger and member of the Crips but has set himself up as the head of a construction company. When a bunch of his “former associates” start trouble at one of his sites, he manages to scare them off, revealing that their leader’s aunt is under his “surveillance”. Nico’s mother (Brittany Ishibashi) is clearly into some sort of mysticism and has a staff that holds some kind of power. Gert and Molly’s parents (Bridget Brannagh and Kevin Weisman) seem normal...but clearly something is up with the monster in their basement. Karolina’s mom (Annie Wersching) we know is involved with a shady church but we also discover that her father created the church and is believed dead...except she has a secret room where a withered almost mummified looking person is being kept alive with the aid of some very weird technology. Chase’s father, Victor (James Marsters) is a genius inventor and an obvious a-hole who doesn’t seem to have any patience for his son and is oblivious as to why Chase has no wish to be like him. We also are told that Victor Stein is the one that designed the weird pod from the ritual.

Once we learn who the parents are and we soon realize the true interesting potential for the show and how useful it could be. Unfortunately, I’m not sure utilizing Runaways in the ways it should be is do-able in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. The recent television shows seem to do everything to distance themselves from the Marvel Studios films, and that’s a shame because EVERY single family in Runaways can somehow tie into at least one of their film and TV franchises. This show could be the one thread that literally brings all corners of the MCU together!

Think about it for a second. The Wilder’s crime connections connect directly to the street level crime stories of the Marvel Netflix shows. The Minorus mysticism fits right in with Dr. Strange...in fact, Nico’s mom Tina actually DID appear in the Dr. Strange movie, played by another actress. I think we’re not supposed to notice that, but why not USE it?! Karolina’s mom clearly is using alien technology and that can easily tie to the cosmic MCU category. Victor Stein would be a direct tie to Tony Stark with his tech company and he could even be a direct competitor with Stark Industries. Molly is a bit harder to connect to anything and I’m not sure where they are going with the origin on her powers. She is a mutant in the comics, but since the MCU can’t use mutants, it’s not sure if she’s an Inhuman or just a random “enhanced” person. Her enthusiasm with having powers suggests that she is aware of others with abilities in her world, at least. Her being an Inhuman would make the most sense and would easily latch her onto Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans TV show continuity. Gert’s parents are a bit harder, but an Agent Carter or Captain America: First Avenger reference would be fun (they are time travelers, in case you are wondering).

I’m not saying that any of these ideas are out of the realm of possibility but I doubt it’s going to happen. The shows seem really scared to go anywhere near the films these days. The last season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Defenders, Inhumans and the recent Punisher show failed to mention anything from the MCU films...or even eachother! It’s sad, because in-universe connections are pretty fun for the diehard fans. This is the perfect show to finally clear the issue we’ve been having lately with all of that.

That was basically the only real issue I had with the show after the first two episodes. Everything else felt great and it seems like a show handled with care and that’s the exact opposite with how Inhumans was handled. I don’t understand why the source material needs to be diluted so much. But at least this show’s producers realized the the smart thing was to change as little as possible and it feels like they were free to take a risk. Risks are good, especially when adapting comic book properties. Marvel should know that well by now. I’d say almost all of the Marvel Studios films were risks, and they seem to generally all come out well. It’s about time Marvel’s TV shows realize that as well.

Good casting (former Dr. Doom Julian McMahon is going to eventually appear in the show as well), a compelling story and a whole lot of potential are things this show has going for it! Check it out when you get a chance if you have Hulu or on the Showcase channel in Canada!