History Tearjerker / Runaways

* The AdultFear present in this series is pretty damn scary. Realizing that your parents are highly dangerous crooks who give absolutely no shits about you and are going to exploit the hell out of out you simply for their own gain is hard to take. Then becoming runaways and having no idea how to survive on your own (even with having jobs, it'd still be hard to make ends meet since people aren't looking for teens to have full-time jobs, excepting of course some...shadier jobs).

** The Wilders watch as [[AdultFear their son is incinerated for standing up for them.]] Geoffrey spends his last few moments [[BigNo screaming in grief.]]

* Volume 3, Issue Six ends with [[spoiler: Xavin giving themself up, masquerading as Karolina, so Karolina will be able to stay on Earth with the other Runaways. Xavin willingly went with the Majesdanians in place of Karolina. The flashback shown makes it even more heartbreaking, Karolina doesn't want Xavin to go and they share one last kiss. Made worse because Xavin has never been seen since (and Volume 3 was released in 2009).]]

* The AdultFear present in this series is pretty damn scary. Realizing that [[spoiler: your parents are highly dangerous crooks]] who give absolutely no shits about you and are going to exploit the hell out of out you simply for their own gain is hard to take. Then becoming runaways and having no idea how to survive on your own (even with having jobs, it'd still be hard to make ends meet since people aren't looking for teens to have full-time jobs, excepting of course some...shadier jobs).
** Even worse, their parents ''do'' care about them... which is the entire reason they [[spoiler:continue with their plan to help the Gibborim destroy the world. So their kids can inherit it.]] And later, [[spoiler:the Yorks parents are willing to blow up a chunk off New York in the past, after learning that Gert died.]]

** Right before the kids take off in the Leapfrog, we see the Yorkes calmly and solemnly standing by as the base collapses, making no attempt to follow. It's quite likely that Dale and Stacey accepted that Gertrude could never forgive them for their atrocities, and that [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy she'd be better off without them.]]

* Alex [[spoiler:may have been a traitor, but Nico still didn't feel he deserved to die. She even tried a Resurrection spell to bring him back but it didn't work.]]

* Gert's [[spoiler:death in Issue 18 of Volume 2.]]
** Made worse for Chase since [[spoiler:he saw her future-self die in the 1st Issue of Volume 2 and was working to prevent that. Instead, she died even earlier.]]
** And then there's [[spoiler:Old Lace's sudden cruel death in the "Homeschooling" arc, and Chase's subsequent HeroicBSOD where he's doubled over on the floor.]]

* Victor [[spoiler:loses his mom shortly after he finds out he's the son of Ultron, so not only did he have the experience of finding out he was related to a villain and was programmed to be one in the future, but he loses the only other family he has.]]

* The third series had a hell of a DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Chase is critically wounded, Old Lace is dead, and Nico has decided to flip off the only person with any interest in helping them. Klara points out how dire their situation is, and all Nico can do is offer halfhearted platitudes about how things will get better; the next page shows Klara curled up in a little ball of misery, suggesting that such platitudes did not work, and the very last page shows ''Chase on life support''...]]

* Just seeing Nico alone and struggling to light a stove to cook noodles is a farcry from someone who had been part of two hero teams, both of which cared about her.

*** If that wasn't bad enough, they sent Chase a box of Victor's personal affects, only for Chase to open it and find his head.

** Gert and Victor's relationship is hitting a rough patch, as Victor falls into the same trap he did during his relationship with Nico, trying too hard to be indispensable to her and instead coming off as clingy. Meanwhile, Gert is deeply regretting going back to school, as she's out of touch with what high school is like; she's astounded when one of her classmates explains "shelter-in-place" drills.

* Issue 10: Karolina’s break up with Julie.

* Alex’s return and everyone’s reactions to it, especially Chase and Nico, who absolutely do not trust him and want him gone. And it soon becomes clear he never really grew beyond age sixteen and desperately wants his parents back so he can be a kid again.

* Chase finds out that Victor and Gert are together and is heartbroken. Of course he didn’t expect to resume their relationship right away because of the age gap they have now, with him being 20 and her being 16, but he always assumed that in a couple years they’d pick up where they left off. So seeing her with someone else at the moment just hurts.

* In issue #32, the team returns to the Hostel, but it's far from a happy occasion. Karolina is depowered, Nico is even closer to the point where she'll have to choose between retirement or losing her soul, and everyone else is pretty badly demoralized. Even Gert can't really enjoy being right again, because this time, it's come at such a bad cost for everyone else.

* In issue #29, Gert's increasing unease at the group subbing as the J-Team reaches a head when she finds out more about all the deaths in the previous groups. Matthew takes offense to Gert's snide remarks and asks if she's really worried about her friends or if she's jealous at being put on the sidelines since she has no powers or training. While sitting down to dinner with Victor and the others post-mission, Gert imagines seeing many of the past J-Team heroes (Blue-J, Mr. Swift, Princess Justice I-III, etc.) hovering over Victor, Chase, and everyone else, and Gert is horrified. Yes, she genuinely ''is'' scared her friends are going to die.

* In issue #25, as it becomes clear that the team is going to have to abandon the Hostel, Karolina and Molly break down crying, with an utterly defeated Molly burying her head in Karolina's shoulder. They've both sacrificed their last hopes of normal lives for the team, and now they fear they're never going to get another chance at getting away.

* Alex’s return and everyone’s reactions to it, especially Chase and Nico who absolutely do not trust him and want him gone. And it soon becomes clear he never really grew beyond age sixteen and desperately wants his parents back so he can be a kid again.

* Chase finds out that Victor and Gert are together and is heartbroken, of course he didn’t expect to resume their relationship right away because of the age gap they have now of him being 20 and her being 16 but he always assumed that in a couple years they’d pick up where they left off. So seeing her with someone else at the moment just hurts.

* At the end of Issue 13 of Volume 2, Molly falls asleep on a bench just outside of the team's current base (The La Brea Tar Pits) and dreams about her parents (who are just about to take her to Disneyland). It's clear from the dream that even though she knows that her parents were evil, Molly still misses them.

* Over the course of the 2017 series, Molly has seen her grandmother get arrested, become an outcast at school, lost Klara because of the Runaways' no-parents rule, and had Alex shoot down her hopes of busting her cloned mother out of prison. As of issue #20, she's become so depressed that she doesn't even want to get out of bed.

* Alex’s return and everyone’s reactions to it especially Chase and Nico’s who absolutely do not trust him and want him gone. And it soon becomes clear he never really grew beyond age sixteen and desperately wants his parents back so he be a kid again.

* Issue 11: Somewhat mixed with SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments where the team finally tried to find Klara and bring her back, only to find out she's happy with her new foster dads and doesn't want to leave them. It's bittersweet because even though Klara's in a better place than everyone feared, she's not coming back because she felt she had no stability with the team and was in constant fear of getting killed all the time. The group decides to respect her decision, but Molly has the most heartbroken expression on her face as they leave. To make it even sadder, Klara's the only one out of everyone who's managed to find two adults that want to help her and hasn't succumbed to the belief all adults are potential supervillains.

* At the end of Issue 13 of Volume 2, Molly falls asleep on a bench just outside of the team's current base (The La Brea Tar Pits) and dreams about her parents, who are just about to take her to Disneyland. It's clear from the dream that even though she knows that her parents were evil, Molly still misses her them.

* Issue 11: Somewhat mixed with CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming where the team finally tried to find Klara and bring her back, only to find out she's happy with her new foster dads and doesn't want to leave them. It's bittersweet because even though Klara's in a better place than everyone feared, she's not coming back because she felt she had no stability with the team and was in constant fear of getting killed all the time. The group decides to respect her decision, but Molly has the most heartbroken expression on her face as they leave. To make it even sadder, Klara's the only one out of everyone who's managed to find two adults that want to help her and hasn't succumbed to the belief all adults are potential supervillains.

! Pre-2017