In a large departure from the comics that the ‘Runaways‘ is based on, the kid’s parents won’t all have superpowers. One of the major cornerstones to The Pride in the comics, the evil organization that is run by these parents, is that they are super villains who are flying under the radar by being quiet about their powers and working as far away from The Avengers as they can yet still be in the continental United States. With the kids having inherited their parents gifts for the most part, it seems odd to remove this from the series.
The news came directly from series showrunner Josh Schwartz who stated in a recent interview with EW:
“None of the parents in this version [have powers]. You’ll get a grounded approach to a lot of these bigger concepts that are explainable through science and technology, but it’s more of a genre show. It leans more sci-fi than superhero.”
I mean outside of Nico’s use of magic, it doesn’t seem to be that large of a stretch that science and technology would fit here. Nico clearly is wielding the Staff of One which her mother had. To be fair, half of the original Pride didn’t have real powers either and technology or time travel and the Staff of One was used to work around that. Hell, genetic engineering could explain away Molly’s mutant power of strength which could get rid of her parent’s telepathic abilities. However, this makes you wonder if Karolina will still be an alien or not as her parents would have the same skill set by default if that were to be the case.
This will also bring into question if the Gibborim will be featured in the series. In the comics, they’re an ancient powerful race of giants who have helped give power to the Pride but are actually exerting their control over them to escape their prison. We’ve seen hints in imagery that there will be a Church of Gibborim but if they actually show up now is unknown as that sounds like it would steer away from a grounded reality.
While the previews have looked fantastic and true to the source material, this quote is having me worried that we’ll be in for some major and unexpected changes.
What do you think about the idea of the ‘Runaways’ being more grounded and their parents not having powers? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
