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J-Team
Doc Justice
Los Angeles' oldest continuously-serving superhero, and the leader of the J-Team. After helping Nico and Karolina, he gives them his card and ends up taking them in.
- Abusive Parents: He's done a number on Matthew's self-esteem and treats him like a hired hand instead of his own son. Doc makes passive-aggressive digs against Matthew's weight (and adds he inherited the problem from his deceased mom Sarah Jo), and as #30 shows did a good job of brainwashing Matthew into believing all the deaths Doc orchestrated were for a good cause: himself.
- Badass Normal: For the most part, he and his teammates were all normal people who tried to go and fight crime and managed to do it for the most part. He's athletic, intelligent and quite skilled with a variety of tools and weapons. Justified as he was inspired by Captain America and wished to be as such to the people of Las Angeles.
- The Bluebeard: His files show that his decision to kill off the second Princess Justice coincided with his "personal feeling" rating reaching -6. And his decision to set up Karolina to die came after his personal feeling rating towards her reached -1. It's very likely that his enthusiasm for "Fallen Princess" operations came from his marital problems.
- Broken Ace: On the surface, he appears to be a capable, courageous and cunning hero who wants to do the right thing and admired by the population. He even becomes a powerful pillar of stability and guidance for the Runaways. However, he is plagued by what is a long career of failures given the loss of his wife and comrades as well as subsequent members of the J-Team leaving (or possibly dying.) Additionally, his war against the Pride has left in serious financial troubles and thus jeopardizing everything he has worked for in his life.
- Captain Ersatz: A villainous take on Shazam! and his family.
- Determinator: He's been at this for decades go and shows no signs of wanting to stop. Matthew even comments that Doc will never retire. Deconstructed because it's not shown as healthy. He continues on and remains latched onto the past, which in part could because how bad it went. After the loss of two of his comrades (one being his wife) and the others gave up with the first iteration of the J-Team, he doubled down and became a full-time superhero. He has taken two breaks (once after everyone retired, likely to raise Matthew and the second time unknown, leaving the fourth Princess Justice to become the second Doc Justice for a year.)
- Green-Eyed Monster: By issue #30, he immediately becomes jealous of Karolina getting more time in the spotlight and begins conspiring to kill her off.
- Has a Type: Blonds, as all three of his wives were this, coincidentally, they were the three previous Princess Justices.
- Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: Played for Drama. Issue #29 reveals that the J-Team is in difficult financial straits and that his reasoning for his plan to make the kids into media darlings is in part to financially save all the assets of the J-Team and their future.
- It's also revealed that in the early days, the team was funded by Doc Justice's family, owning a chain of steakhouses. This likely declined as Doc became a full-time superhero.
- While not confirmed, given how he mentions their conflict with the Pride, it's likely the financial troubles were due to Doc Justice being unable to keep up with the vast resources of the Pride.
- Hopeless War: Until the Runaways defeated their parents, Doc and the J-Team couldn't defeat the Pride with their powers and wealth. Even against a new and weaker Pride, Doc Justice can't do more than take down some of their assets.
- Incompatible Orientation: Downplayed. Issue #29 has him hint at maybe trying to get Karolina into a relationship or at least project themselves as one, if namely because all the Princess Justices before her have been romantically close to Doc (heck, the first three were his wives.) It does not offset the
Squick factor though. #30 shows him clearly annoyed that the media would rather focus on Karolina instead of him, and he proceeds to set her up to die. - It's All About Me: All those past members of the J-Team who died? As Doc views it, they were necessary sacrifices to keep the J-Team, and more importantly himself, relevant in the eyes of the public.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's not a large jerk, but he can be insensitive and self-centered regarding his desires over the genuine well-being of his wards. Nonetheless, he's got a couple of reasonable points with his decisions:
- Sure his choice for excluding Gert regarding her pudginess is pretty harsh (with Matthew noting body positivity as a counter-reason), but Gert possesses no Stout Strength, athletic ability or any skill or proficiency with a weapon. Heck, she doesn't even show interest in improving herself or in the J-Team for that matter. Doc's exclusion of her makes perfect sense in that regard, especially since the others are willing to change and train for it (such as Nico learning to actually fight with her staff.)
- His choice for the reality TV angle and promoting the kids as media stars is viewed in a negative light, but as noted, Heroism Won't Pay the Bills and it's not like they have the connections like the Avengers or Fantastic Four to get their finances. Nor would they be the first team to try the approach (look at West Coast Avengers before them in their latest iteration and even the Fantastic Four was started by Reed to help the team deal with their powers.) The Runaways for their part seem to be somewhat aware that they are being marketed at the very least (if Gert's comments on them being teen idols is to be taken and the promotions going on), but the actual details remain unknown. As of Issue #29, it comes off as more as a necessary action fueled by financial desperation.
- Kid Hero: He was only about sixteen years old when he and his friends went to fight crime.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gert gets into his computer and sees all the files on the previous J-Team members had details on plans to exploit their image and their deaths, revealing he basically set up many of them to die to either improve the J-Team's image or increase the team's market value. It also turns out Ashley, the criminal he's got the guys going after at that very moment, was SPF of Matthew's team and it's strongly implied Doc's forcing her to attack Karolina.
- My Greatest Second Chance: A variation of sorts. He views the Runaways as probably the strongest form of the J-Team ever and is looking to portray the whole thing as a "rising from the ashes" story for television. It's implied he sees it as his best (and possibly final) chance to achieve his ambitions, whatever they may be.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Possibly. He has an honorary doctorate degree (probably why he began calling himself Doc Justice), but we don't know in what.
- Older Than They Look: He looks like he is only around forty, with a streak of gray in his hair being the sole indicator of age, but he's been at this for nearly fifty years. According to Matthew, his real age is the only thing he'd fire Matthew for revealing.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He doesn't want Gert on J-Team because she's overweight and wouldn't look good on magazines or TV. Then he adds that the "good-looking girls" need to shed a few pounds too.
- Team Dad: He acts as such to the team, taking them in and encourages their growth and capabilities. Granted, it's revealed that his motives for doing so are not entirely altruistic... plus his relationship with his actual son Matthew is a bit complicated.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: A variation of sorts. Doc Justice and his team are well-known enough to the people of Los Angeles to be famous and for someone like Victor to admire, so he's not entirely derelict and past examinations shows they were always more localized heroes, which was his goal, given how he wanted to be the "Captain America of Los Angeles." On the other hand, he has the behavior of a man longing for the past and looking at the past tragedies of the team, one gets the impression that he resents that he and the J-Team were not as famous or well-known as he perceives they could've been. Granted, it's implied this behavior has been worse in part because of financial difficulties and his word-choice indicated that the J-Team have lost some prestige, likely with the rise of more modern superhero teams and their successes.
Matthew Caniglia
The second Kid Justice, and Doc Justice's long-suffering yet loyal assistant. He's also his son with his mother being the late first Princess Justice.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Gives one over to Gertrude regarding her behavior in Issue 29:Matthew: Is that what this is, Gert? Concern? Or are you just... jealous. Because you didn't make the team. All of this cynicism and bitterness won't keep your friends close to you, take it from me. It will just push them further and further away.
- Beleaguered Assistant: He can be pretty exasperated by his boss and tries giving better advice though at the same time does seem to understand where Doc is coming from. The heavy implications that Matthew is Doc's son gives an extra layer to do this, showing Matthew is concerned with his father's emotional well-being and trying best to support him yet also rein him in.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The final issue of "Cannon Fodder" reveals that he either used to be, or still is, in a relationship with Ashley Pearson.
- Berserk Button: He gets snappy and defensive when Gert begins making comments regarding the fate of his friends from his time as Kid Justice. Given how he asks the Armor-Piercing Question, it's implied that things went down uglier than just their potentially tragic deaths.
- Kid Hero: He was the second Kid Justice. He had to beg Doc to take him on. Given how he's Doc's son and what happened to his mother, it makes sense why he'd have to beg Doc to join up.
- Meaningful Name: His surname, Caniglia, is only one letter off from canaglia, which means "villain" in Italian.
- Mission Control: He acts as this for Doc and later on for the entire J-Team. It's implied that this happened after his time as the second Kid Justice. His conversation with Gertrude implies the circumstances that led up to it were pretty painful.
- Undying Loyalty: Matthew is pretty loyal and defensive of his boss when talking with Gert. Justified given how Matthew is Doc's son.
Princess Justice
A moniker held by four different women before Karolina - Sarah Jo Caniglia, Natalie McClure, Jen Gaines, and Melinda Cass - all of them blondes.
- Generation Xerox: Every girl who's ever held the mantle has been blonde and each of the first three eventually became one of Doc's wives.
- Replacement Goldfish: Every time the Princess dies, Doc Justice hires another one.
- You Are in Command Now: The fourth Princess Justice, Melinda Cass, became Doc Justice for a year when Doc disappeared.
Mister Swift
The token black member of the original team, and also the second one to die on a mission. His real name was James.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted, but only because the original Princess Justice died before he did.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: After his death, Doc Justice found another black dude named James to replace him, albeit with the codename "Trench".
- Token Minority: Every iteration of the team has had a single black member. He was the first.
Blue-J
A young, blue-clad member from the team's second incarnation. May have been the girlfriend of the original Kid Justice, given the similar costume design. Her real name was Jennifer Moore.
- Loyal Animal Companion: She was accompanied by her German Shepherd.
SPF
A member of the second iteration of the team, and one of the few who had actual superpowers. Her real name is Ashley Pearson. Now a wanted eco-terrorist.
- Face–Heel Turn: Since leaving the team, she's become a supervillain. Or possibly not; there are hints that she's being blackmailed.
- Man of Kryptonite: Matthew states that she has the ability to absorb solar energy, which makes her the perfect counter to Karolina.
- Meaningful Name: Her codename "S.P.F." hints at her powers — she absorbs sunlight, making her capable of hurting Karolina.
- Power Incontinence: Matthew not only states that she's unable to stop absorbing solar energy once she starts, he also states that absorbing it is painful for her.
- Stripperiffic: Her costume was essentially a bunch of thin straps wrapped around her body and a mask. When Nico tried out the costume, Gert joked if anyone was gonna shoot at Nico she should draw attention to her nipples since they're mostly protected.
Others
Cloak And Dagger
A pair of superheroes who gained their powers after being forcibly given drugs. Like the main characters, they were once teenage runaways and avoid the Adults Are Useless theme that pervades the series. Cloak has a mystical cloak that allows him to draw others into a hellish dark dimension. He can also teleport himself and others through the dark dimension and become intangible. He has a hunger for light that he gets either from Dagger or from the people he absorbs. Dagger has the power to generate blades of light that can, according to Nico, show you your sins. Cloak and Dagger are enlisted by Lt. Flores, a Pride agent in the NYPD, to find his bosses' children. Realizing who the Runaways' parents are, Cloak and Dagger promise to bring the Avengers to LA, but are captured by the Pride and have their memories telepathically wiped.
Later on, Cloak is accused of trying to kill his partner Dagger. While being pursued by the Avengers, Cloak is hit on the head and regains his memory. He seeks out the Runaways and asks them to investigate the attack on Dagger, claiming that he was framed. Dagger's attacker turns out to have been a Stalker with a Crush who used Mutant Growth Hormone combined with the drug that gave Cloak his powers to impersonate him.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Cloak has darkness-related powers but is nonetheless a good guy.
- Eldritch Abomination: The main characters see these when Cloak teleports them to New York using the Darkforce.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Hayeses wipe their memories after encountering them, so they never do get the Avengers to help out the Runaways.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Dagger's costume dips heavily into her cleavage; her scanty costume is even lampshaded by other characters.
- Running Gag: The anger of Moral Guardians over Cloak and Dagger's origin story, thinking that it glorifies drug use.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Molly thinks Dagger is Cloak's wife; Cloak corrects her, referring to her as his companion.
Marianella Mancha
Victor's mother.
- Alliterative Name: Marianella Mancha.
- Character Death: Ultron kills her for failing to keep their son's origins a secret.
- Deal with the Devil: She helped Ultron to rebuild his body in exchange for a child. What Ultron didn't tell her is that he planned to use said child to destroy the Avengers from the inside (though at that point she didn't know about Ultron's true nature.) At some point she quotes this trope verbatim.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Courtesy of being Mexican, she'll often drop Spanish phrases in dialogue.
- The Plot Reaper: If Victor was to join the Runaways, she has to be taken out of the picture somehow.
The Upward Path
- Lillie: "They ain't the Sinners, but neither are they saints. Us as has to make a living have run afoul of them — and not all come out alive."
A group of superheroes from 1907. Their methods cause some Deliberate Values Dissonance with the main characters. They use torture as well as allow civilians to join them in combat, two things most superheroes in the 21st century do not do.
- The Adjudicator: A religious, gun-wielding superhero whose appearance is likely inspired by The Punisher."I fight to end this injustice."
- Black Maria: A superheroine with a nun-inspired costume. The nature of her power is unknown but involves her touching the heads of her victims, causing a halo-like light to shine around them. A similar halo also appears around her own head.
- The Difference Engine: A superhero who is either a robot or a man in Powered Armor. He can fire explosive shells from arm-mounted cannons and contains an advanced (for the time period) computer. His primary weakness is water."Magic is a thing of the past. I'm the Difference Engine. I'm the future."
- Nightstick: A superhero with a police-inspired uniform. He is often relied upon to control his hot-tempered partner, Daystick.
- Daystick: A superhero with a police-inspired uniform. He plays the Bad Cop to Nightstick's Good Cop (or Slightly-More-Levelheaded Cop).(To Nico): "Don't ye be callin' us [Sinners], chink! We's the Upward Path, the city's protectors, and we'll kick you all the way back to Mott Street with the other burny blowers!"
- The Witchbreaker: A magician with a miko-inspired costume. She tortures witches, aiming to bring out their true potential. She is Nico's great-grandmother. She also appears to have some knowledge of the future concerning her descendants."Every generation weakens. Until the world turns on them, as it will on yours."
- Ethnic Magician: Witchbreaker's costume is based on that of a Miko, and she's a Japanese magician.
- Knight Templar: They're heroes but they don't draw any distinction between the villainous Sinners and the petty criminals of the Street Arabs.
- Nuns Are Spooky: Black Maria is drawn as very dark and shadowy. She also rarely speaks.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Daystick is a superhero but he's very racist as shown in the above quote.
- The Quiet One: Nightstick has no spoken lines.
- Rabid Cop: Daystick loses his temper at Nico without provocation and dresses like a policeman.
- Steampunk: The Difference Engine is a robot modeled after one of the world's earliest computers.
- Thank the Maker: Difference Engine's "For Babbage's
sake..." - Tough Love: Witchbreaker is concerned about her descendant's success and subjects her to Training from Hell.
- Training from Hell: Witchbreaker's preferred method of training Nico."The more pain you learn to take..."
The Street Arabs
A group of superpowered "Wonders" who live on the streets. They remain neutral between the Sinners and the Upward Path but have done jobs for both sides.
- Eddie Gunnam/The Swell: The leader of the Street Arabs. An otherwise ordinary man who obtains an enchanted walking stick that brings him good luck. He pried the stick from the hand of a dead man who had been struck by lightning five times. The stick was destroyed when it blocked a bullet from Kid Twist that otherwise would have killed Eddie."No more scroungers' work for Eddie Gunnam; not with a' power of this."
- Lillie McGurty/Spieler: A young girl who is able to fly if she hears music, even if that music is in her own head. She falls in love with Victor, who begs her to come with them in the future. She refuses, afraid, and her regretful future self in the 21st century arranges to have the Runaways transported back in time, setting in motion the whole Dead End Kids arc."Regret? It is my meat and drink. My air, my everything. The faces fade, the names get jumbled, but regret... regret never ages."
- Tristan: A man with incredible strength fitted with mechanical wings. He is in love with Lillie, but she puts him firmly in the friend zone. He is badly scarred while stopping a bomb planted by the Yorkes. He remains with the future Lillie in the 21st century, giving her message to Victor right before the Runaways go back in time.(To Victor): "I'll kill you before I let you take [Lillie] from me!"
- Creeper: A tiny man with a close bond to Hoyden. He often rides on her shoulder. He is killed by Kid Twist."I say what Hoyden said, mainly because she said it."
- Dead George Pelham: A brain-eating zombie. He is impervious to most kinds of physical harm.(To Kid Twist):"I'm partial to brains myself. But you just emptied your gun into a dead man so I doubt this'll be much of a meal."
- Megan the Hoyden: A tomboyish young girl whose power is super speed. She is killed by Kid Twist.Creeper: "This coming from the girl that put six bulls in the hospital for callin' her a tom."
- Yellow Kid: The "most notorious" member of the Street Arabs. He is seen generating blasts of yellow light during a fight, though it is unclear what they do. His profile in the Runaway's Secret Invasion tie-in says that his thoughts generate words on his shirt and that he was seen in a Manhattan bar nearly a century after "Dead End Kids." A Shout-Out to the very first comic strip character.(On his shirt) "Eat dis ya bums!"
- Jacob: A fiddler who lives with the Street Arabs. He plays to allow Lillie to fly. He has no known powers though the appendix of the Secret Invasion issue says his music has "unique qualities."
- Professor Duck: A Chinese scientist who crafted Tristan's mechanical wings. He is not a Street Arab but is liked and respected by them. It is unclear if he has any powers but he was able to recognize a time travel device from the future.
- Ambiguously Human: While it could be assumed that many of the "Wonders" are mutants, Tristan and Lillie in particular live to their mid-110's, which is possible but unlikely for a normal human.
- Big Bad Slippage: Tristan and Lillie's lives were ruined by a gang war, so they spent a century trying to develop Time Travel to undo the damage, ironically leading to them causing the gang war in the first place by sending the Runaways back in time.
- The Big Guy: Tristan is bloody enormous.
- Brain Food: Dead George, being a zombie, eats brains.
- Fiery Redhead: Lillie is a high-spirited, excitable redhead.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Tristan had a pair of metal wings affixed to his back and managed to survive a massive bomb explosion without losing any limbs or appendages. It can be assumed he probably has a healing factor.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Creeper's power is apparently being very, very small. He is probably like that permanently as he has never been shown at any other size.
- Just Friends: Lillie's view of her and Tristan's relationship. Tristan has a different view.
- Love Martyr: Tristan is obsessively loyal to Lillie in the hopes that she will return his affection.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Tristan nearly kills Victor after realizing that there's something going on between him and Lillie, but stops when they discover a bomb waiting to kill everyone.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Dead George is very obviously a zombie, but no one ever calls him that.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Dead George is (obviously) stated to be "dead", looks rather emaciated, and has a liking for brains, but otherwise he seems completely normal.
- Public Domain Character: The Yellow Kid, who is widely considered to be the first comic strip character.
- The Slow Path: After Lillie turned down Victor's offer to join her in the future, she spent the next 100 years trying to figure out a way to send him back in time.
- Smug Snake: Eddie greatly overestimated his value to the Sinners, and both he and his entire group paid dearly for it.
- Tomboy: Megan the Hoyden wears boys' clothing and has short hair.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: All the terrible things that happened in 1907 was an indirect result of Old Lillie's machinations in 2007.
- Winged Humanoid: Tristan has a pair of gigantic metal wings affixed to his back.
Nevaeh
Karolina's roommate at Pomona College.
- Ambiguously Brown: Her race isn't specified, but she appears to have Asian features, and her wall has a Namaste poster on it, suggesting that she is of Indian or Southeast-Asian descent.
- The Ghost: She is mentioned in issue #3, but doesn't appear on-panel until seventeen issues later.
- Naturalized Name: "Nevaeh" is a relatively recently-appearing name, only becoming widespread after 2000, so it's possible that she adopted the name.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Her name is "Heaven" spelled backwards.
Van
Chase's new love interest, an employee at the local Haul-Mart.
- Ambiguously Brown: She has brown skin.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: She is a plus-sized love interest for Chase who also happens to have colored hair, much like Gert, Chase's previous love interest.
