Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.
The PRIDE (Promoting Resilience, Independence, Dedication & Excellence)
Appearances: Runaways
A cult/secret society based in Los Angeles formed by wealthy couples and bound to the service of an ancient figure named Jonah in exchange for a number of boons which led them to obtain wealth and social status. They use the cover of a charity organization.
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In General
- Adaptation Expansion: They get a lot more focus in the show than they did in the original comicbook arc. Also, each individual parent gets their own development and characterisation, rather than in the comic where each couple shared a personality with one parent typically getting most focus.
- Adaptational Heroism: Most members are much more sympathetic than their comic counterparts. In the comics, their only real redeemable quality was that they loved their kids, but even that felt like an Informed Attribute. Here, it's revealed that the majority of them were tricked into joining PRIDE and are blackmailed to stay in. The less sympathetic parents are Leslie, who knew everything from the start, and Tina and Victor, who like what they get in return too much to quit.
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed; in the comics, "Pride" wasn't an acronym.
- Affably Evil: To varying degrees. The Yorkeses are a completely straight example, while Victor averts this outright.
- Archnemesis Dad: The children start to see their fathers as this (and their mothers as Evil Matriarchs) after they witness the PRIDE sacrificing an innocent girl.
- Being Evil Sucks: They're constantly under Jonah's thumb, always looking over their shoulders, their marriages are suffering, and their kids hate them.
- Big Bad Ensemble: While they technically work for Jonah, the parents' desire to get their kids back and investigation into his plans leads them to eventually turn on him.
- Big Bad Wannabe: They're pretty consistently played by the Magistrate, and have their resources usurped by Morgan.
- Deal with the Devil: Jonah granted them favors and wealth and now they must perform yearly human sacrifices to him.
- Dragon Ascendant: With the Magistrate seemingly gone, the parents are free to spend the second half of season two trying to bring their children home.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Wilders are black, the Minorus are Japanese, the Yorkes are Jewish, the Steins and the Deans are white and the Hernandezes are Latino.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: They do still love and care for their children, and the spouses all clearly care about each other.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: They kept their activities a secret from their kids.
- Family-Values Villain: They frequently express typical parental attitudes in between being ruthless supervillains.
- Forced into Evil: How they see themselves after realizing Jonah needs human sacrifices from them.
- Fun with Acronyms: "PRIDE" here stands for Promoting Resilience, Independence, Dedication & Excellence.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: While the parents themselves represent the "bad", the Gibborim alien being behind it all and the rest of his family, sans Karolina represent the evil.
- The Heavy: As Jonah is a Hidden Agenda Villain for the first season, the parents are the ones the teens are trying to expose. They take this role again in the second half of Season 2, with Jonah seemingly dead. While he and the rest of the Gibborim are still around and are still the Big Bads, they're free to work in the background and manipulate the Pride as they try to bring their kids home.
- Heel–Face Turn: All surviving parents in Season 3. However, see also Karma Houdini.
- Human Sacrifice: They sacrifice someone, usually a teenage runaway, to Jonah on a yearly basis.
- Karma Houdini: By the end of season 3 both Catherine and Robert are dead and Janet only exists in A.I. form, but the rest have undergone a Heel–Face Turn...however, they haven't served any form of penitence for their earlier immoral actions, like jail time, and are also seem to be more or less on good terms with their children once again.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Despite still committing morally questionable deeds, the members of PRIDE are more sympathetic than their leader Jonah. While Jonah is outright willing to harm kids and browbeats them into following his Evil Plan, the parents express varying degrees of regret at the group's actions and take steps to protect their children.
- Meaningful Name: Catherine notes that the members of PRIDE consider themselves, more than a family, "a pride".
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Even if they're all in on an Evil Plan, it's clear that the relationships between some of its members are strained. Tina in particular appears to dislike the Yorkeses and its implied to have caused the deaths of the Hernandezes, while Victor detests his wife's affair with Robert.
- Also season 2, where they continue working together to stop Jonah. And later when they try to get their kids back home.
- Unholy Matrimony: Deconstructed. All of them but the Yorkeses are suffering varying levels of marital strain from their villainy.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: They believe Jonah's talk of a renewable energy source under L.A. and that justifies their actions. However, only Molly's parents realized that whatever is down there is not only "alive" but finding it can activate a fault line that can cause massive earthquakes. Given that a viewfinder into the future shows a ruined Los Angeles, the Pride have no idea how Jonah is using them to unleash something horrible.
- Villain with Good Publicity: All of them are seen as well-liked rich people by the general public, but are secretly supervillains.
- Wealthy Philanthropist: To the public, "PRIDE" is a generous charity group that gives back to the community. "Kingdom" focuses on a charity gala to celebrate their funding of a new school.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: None of them are happy about having to kill people, but they consider it a necessary means towards a benevolent end: Jonah has led them to believe he's drilling for a unique, renewable energy source. They're rather alarmed to discover there's something alive down there...
The Gibborim
See Cosmic Threats
PRIDE Members
The Wilders
Catherine Wilder
Catherine Wilder
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Angel Parker
Appearances: Runaways
Alex Wilder's mother, a successful lawyer.
- Alas, Poor Villain: She's killed while trying to atone in the prison and after her attempt to redeem herself is rejected by her son note . What makes this even worse that the prison guards let it happen.
- Amoral Attorney: In a flashback, she and Geoffrey plotted to have his innocent best friend act as Geoffrey's Fall Guy so Geoffrey could get out of prison quickly and sell some property to Jonah. Also, she is a member of a cult that uses Human Sacrifice, and Alex mentions that trying to take legal action against their parents won't work because Catherine will get them out of it.
- Character Death: She finally turns herself into the authorities in season 3, but is ultimately stabbed to death in prison.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She's okay with somebody else sacrificing themselves at Jonah's demand. She's not, however, okay with kicking the dog for good measure.Tina: No offense, Janet, but the team can survive without you. It's not like you really brought anything to the table.
Catherine: Is that really necessary? - Heel–Face Door-Slam: In season 3 her guilt for estranging Alex finally catches up to her and she turns herself into the authorities as penance for killing Darius as well as her other crimes with Pride. She is then fatally stabbed by malevolent cellmates.
- Hello, Attorney!: In a flashback, Geoffrey and Darius make comments about how attractive she is.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Examined in season 2, tying into her Iron Lady tendencies. She believes in the good of this trope when she murdered Darius for the good of her family as she perceived Darius to be a loose end and a threat to her family. Murdering him only made things exponentially worse; as not only has she further estranged her son from both parents, Geoffrey also can't trust her for doing in one of his boys from his old days. Quite a couple scenes in which Geoffrey lays down the cards and admits he can't trust her show Catherine quite scared and nervous.
- Iron Lady: She is very cold and resolved in all her actions, especially the very illegal ones, but she does care about her husband and son. Season 2 shows some downsides to a character like this; as her murder of Darius drives a violent wedge between her and Geoffrey. Coincidentally, after doing this, instead of maintaining and resuming control of her family, it's driven them further apart with her now having problems with Geoffrey.
- More Deadly Than the Male: Geoffrey has some lines he won't cross and a lingering code from his criminal days. She doesn't. Darius acknowledges this when he meets her in the hotel room, noting that he always that Geoffrey was the one to watch out for, but it's actually been her all along.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: While she tries reaching out to Alex before she goes to prison, he seemingly rebukes her attempts at reconciliation and tells her to go to hell. Unbeknownst to both her and the viewers at the time, this is actually The Magistrate's Son possessing Alex and impersonating him (and doesn't actually care about her crimes, given he himself is a sociopath), meaning the real Alex never got to say goodbye.
- Would Hurt a Child: The only thing that saves Molly from a mind wipe, which is also said to have negative side effects, is her quick thinking, but Catherine was more than ready to do it in order to protect their secrets.
Geoffrey Wilder
Geoffrey Wilder
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Ryan Sands
Appearances: Runaways
Alex Wilder's father, a real estate developer and former high-ranking member of the Crips.
- Adaptational Heroism: He questions the actions the PRIDE does and doesn't enjoy them. His comics counterpart was basically a Kingpin expy.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: A far cry from the cold, distant crime lord of the original comics. He longs to be closer to Alex, and clearly regrets raising his voice to his son.
- Bald of Evil: He sports a bald head.
- Beard of Evil: A cult member with a short beard.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's soft-spoken and never needlessly unpleasant, but he'll threaten the life of someone's grandmother if that's what it takes to get them to back off. When Alex starts disrespecting his authority, he explodes at him and threatens him, until he calms himself and tries to apologise.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the head of a construction/real estate company, and is implied to be unafraid to use its resources and influence for PRIDE.
- Gangbangers: He used to be a member of the Crips, a Real Life predominantly African American gang originating in Los Angeles.
- Henpecked Husband: Catherine is a bit more dominant over him. Though unlike Robert and Tina, they never had apparent marital problems.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Poster boy for this trope and a trait he shares with his wife. Once Geoffrey has his priorities, he makes sure his assets are well taken care of and anything else is an afterthought.
- Klingon Promotion: In the past, he had rose to a leading role among the Crips by murdering his leader, Osiris.
- Knight Templar Parent: He's notably less reluctant in sacrificing Andre than when he sacrificed Destiny, likely because the boy helped Darius in kidnapping his son.
- Reformed Criminal: How he appears to the outside world — he's a former gangster who went clean and made it big in real estate. Of course, the outside world doesn't know that he's a part of a murderous cult.
- Scary Black Man: He's a large and imposing former LA gangster and member of a murderous cult. That said, take away his past and his involvement with the PRIDE and Geoffrey seems like a fairly nice guy who cares deeply for his wife and son.
- Self-Made Man: It's mentioned that he grew up in "the hood," and is now extremely successful in real estate. This is just a lie, however, as he only managed to leave his life of crime thanks to Jonah's influence.
- Token Good Teammate: Like the Yorkeses, he is disturbed by what he had to do for the PRIDE. That said...
- Would Hurt a Child: He's the one who provides the final sacrifice for the PRIDE; a boy not much older than his son.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Shortly after Jonah declares that the Wilders have no more part to play in his grand plan, Jonah abducts Geoffrey to use as a Human Sacrifice. Fortunately, the kids are able to save him in time.
The Minorus
Tina Minoru
Tina Minoru
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Brittany Ishibashi
Appearances: Runaways
Nico Minoru's mother, a "tiger mom" and the ruthless CEO of Wizard, a high-tech firm.
- Boom Stick: The Staff of One can be used to fire projectiles if prompted to do so.
- Broken Bird: The death of Amy has left her emotionally scarred and distant. It becomes even worse when she finds out that her husband is having an affair with Janet Stein.
- Cannot Spit It Out: According to Robert, she's never able to properly express her grief over Amy's death.
- Celebrity Paradox: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) establishes that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exists in the MCU. Brittany Ishibashi played Karai in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Is the CEO of Wizard, a tech company, and uses the influence and wealth that comes with the role for PRIDE's gain.
- Decomposite Character: As a result of the creators of Runaways disregarding Tina's appearance in Doctor Strange (2016), there are now two Tina Minorus in the MCU: the CEO of Wizard and member of PRIDE, and the Master of the Mystic Arts.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She warms up to Nico when she teaches her how to use Staff of One.
- The Dreaded: Within the PRIDE. Though they don't know definitely, the rest of the group strongly believes she's responsible for the Hernandez's deaths, leaving the Yorkes terrified of her and Geoffrey disgusted with her, and when Victor is shot, they all immediately assume she's responsible for it.
- Education Mama: She pushes for her daughter's academic success.
- Evil Sorcerer: She's a cold, standoffish woman who uses the magical Staff of One.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The rest of PRIDE, mostly the Yorkes and Janet, either fear, dislike, or just simply tolerate her. When Jonah demands that one of them sacrifice themselves to save Victor, Dale admits that he wouldn't mind it'd be Tina. However, after it's revealed Leslie killed Gene and Alice and that her daughter was murdered they regret their behavior towards her.
- Grand Theft Me: Is possessed by a Gibborim, the daughter of Magistrate/Jonah, after Jonah's ship is destroyed.
- Happily Married: Doesn't show it and while the marriage in season 1 is hitting some rocks; she truly loves her husband. Upon his death, Tina learns that Robert DID Get the secret spell from Morgan's book to ultimately defeat him. In absolute gratitude and memoriam, she calls him a brilliant man.
- Ice Queen: She’s very cold to Nico and the members of the PRIDE that she dislikes. In actuality, the trope is played with. To enemies and people she dislikes, she is the trope played straight. Whenever it's someone she loves like her family that is the cause of her pain, she cries and shows vulnerability and distress. She may be a "tiger mom" and a ruthless CEO, but she's still human and takes betrayal to heart.
- She tries this act in season 2 when she gives Nico the Staff of One; saying that if she walks away from them; they're enemies and the bond is severed. Tina legitimately thought she could intimidate her daughter into submission; but when Nico walks away, Tina is shocked. Robert chews her out for it while Tina just says "I didn't think she'd actually walk away!"
- Immune to Mind Control: She was able to cast a spell from the Darkhold without it driving her insane. Granted, she cast a spell from a recorded image from the Darkhold, so perhaps it would have been quite different if she read from the book directly.
- It's All About Me: Tina is the walking definition of self-obsessed. Her range of thought is limited to what she wants, how much she is grieving Amy, and anger that no one cares about her as much as she does. Likewise, she seems to view herself as the leader of the PRIDE, despite obviously being just seen as the attack dog within the group.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: She's not just proficient with the staff; she capable in martial arts as well.
- Lady of Black Magic: Cold, elegant, and able to use magic through the Staff of One. Nico evidently takes after her in this regard.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: She explains to Nico that the Staff of One works scientifically, implying it is one of Jonah's gifts, but Nico simply chalks it down to "high-tech magic". She also says the Staff's technology is "unparalleled". Season 2 somewhat retcons that the Staff of One is magical.
- Mistaken for Gay: By her own daughter, no less. When Chase tells Nico his mother was having an affair, it's Tina who first comes to Nico's mind and not her dad. Invoked by the Gibborim who possesses her by flirting with Janet to mess with her, much to the latter's annoyance.Nico: What? My mom and... your dad?
Chase: No, my mom and—
Nico: Oh my god! And my mom!? - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tail end of Season 2 shows Tina...absolutely enamored with technology that still pales to her Staff of One, her hair down and a vicious sweet tooth. This is indicative of possession from an alien after the ship exploded.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her older daughter Amy died a few years before the series begins. Unlike Robert who tried to pick up the pieces and move on, Tina never did.
- Parental Favoritism: Clearly favored Amy over Nico, even forbidding the latter to enter the former's room after her death.
- Pet the Dog:
- She teaches Nico how to use the Staff of One in “Metamorphosis”, and actually chuckles to herself when Nico uses it to mute her.
- She saves her husband's life in "Tsunami" (despite Robert cheating on her) when she destroys the box the PRIDE uses for their sacrifices after Jonah orders one of them to step in and save Victor's life.
- Schrödinger's Canon: Though she technically appears in tie-in material to Doctor Strange, Runaways co-creator Josh Schwartz said the series won't address the events of that film, nor will she be established as being a current or former Master.
- Secret-Keeper: She knows Leslie was responsible for the deaths of Gene and Alice Hernandez.
- Sexless Marriage: Robert calls her out of having shut him out after their older daughter's death. She does attempt to reconnect with him while on a date, but he brushes her off because he’s having an affair with Janet Stein and is planning to leave her.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In season three, she's possessed by the alien Daughter, exhibits bizarre behavior, forces the creation of an expensive teleportation device, murders the scientists who worked on it and then vanishes into the Dark Dimension for six months. When she returns, Tina is actually surprised to learn that all that nearly drove Wizard into bankruptcy and so she has been removed as CEO for Morgan.
- Token Wizard: While the rest of PRIDE are either scientifically inclined or are savvy fighters, Tina is the only one among them who has any experience in sorcery, having learned it at a Wizarding School before procuring the Staff of One. This is a quality she shares with her daughter Nico.
- Would Hurt a Child: Zig-zagged. Almost drowns Molly by icing over a swimming pool she falls into. But the Heel Realization of how this makes her look in front of Nico makes her break off the attack and give up the Staff of One to Nico.
Robert Minoru
Robert Minoru
Species: Human
Portrayed by: James Yaegashi
Appearances: Runaways
Nico Minoru's father.
- Adaptational Wimp: Unlike the comics, TV!Robert has no magical abilities and cannot employ the Staff of One. That said, he's a more-than-capable fighter as demonstrated below.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: He's efficient in hand-to-hand combat.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Subverted. Jonah all but tells him and Janet Stein they were pretty much expendable in "Tsunami."
- Character Death: Morgan kills him for real in season 3 after he's broken from her spell and tries to help his family thwart her Evil Plan.
- Henpecked Husband: His frigid wife treats him like a borderline useless underling and potential booty call. Unlike most examples of this trope, Robert has enough backbone to plan to leave Tina to be with Janet.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He was ready to sacrifice himself to revive Victor in order to spare Janet after Jonah orders the PRIDE to do it.
- Hidden Depths: Robert isn't a magician and comes off more emotionally available compared to Tina, but he's trained in hand-to-hand combat and is very technologically savvy. He also admits that his greatest strength is being underestimated.
- Shown off with gusto in his Dying Moment of Awesome. Once control over him is weakened, nobody thought he of all people would use special recording lenses to record the spell needed to vanquish Morgan. He showed exceptional foresight knowing full well he wouldn't be able to leave with the Darkhold, so he just recorded it. Tina laments this after his death, calling him a brilliant man.
- Immune to Mind Control: Everyone who has read from the Darkhold became obsessed with it to some degree, all except Robert. He simply recorded what he saw. Though, Morgan was able to control him with an enchanted trinket, so there's that...
- More Expendable Than You: Robert offers himself to revive Victor in lieu of Janet, because he blames himself for being unable to protect Amy.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Tina eventually forgives him for his affair after she stopped him from committing sacrifice to revive Victor. Robert tells Nico he's happy that Tina actually gives him a second chance.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His older daughter Amy died a few years before the series begins. Unlike Tina who shut down emotionally, Robert still tries to maintain a bond with his other daughter Nico.
- Sexless Marriage: He and Tina haven't had a very active sex life for some time, part of the fallout of Amy's death. She tries to change that, but Robert has already moved on to Janet by this point and isn't interested.
- Token Good Teammate: One of the least villainous members of the PRIDE, especially contrasting his wife. Notably, his urging for Janet to leave her husband for him isn't out of selfishness, but because he wants to get her away from her abusive husband.
- Uncertain Doom: The last we see of him in season 2 is being critically injured with glass shards in his neck. As Tina has been possessed by a Gibborim it's implied he's been left to die, as he isn't seen among the potential sacrifices either. Season 3 ultimately reveals him to be alive but hospitalized in a coma. When Morgan le Fay escapes from the Dark Dimension, her first act is to revive him due to requiring him for her Evil Plan.
- Underestimating Badassery: His greatest asset is that no one sees him coming. He looks like a meek man when in actuality he's PRIDE's best fighter, and with Tina being the dominant force in their relationship, no one expects him to assert himself, when in reality he's the only one who manages to out-fox both Jonah and Morgan le Fey.
The Yorkeses
Stacey Yorkes
Stacey Yorkes
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Brigid Brannagh
Appearances: Runaways
Gert Yorkes's mother, a bioengineer.
- Adaptational Curves: Slimmer than her comic counterpart.
- Adaptational Heroism: To an extent, the Yorkes come across as the most sympathetic of all the parents. They consider giving up the PRIDE's plan, dote on their daughters, engineered a dinosaur to protect the family, and are perhaps the most honestly loving couple of PRIDE.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: As far as Gert's concerned, her parents' biggest crime is listening to Weird Al. For pleasure.
- Can Not Tell A Lie: The Yorkes are both absolutely terrible at lying, something Gert angrily points out to them when they try to deceive her.
- Composite Character: She and Dale inherited the Hayeses' role as both the outsiders and as guardians of Molly.
- Deadlier Than The Male: She's a lot more ruthless than Dale when it comes to trying to get their daughter back.
- Grand Theft Me: Is possessed by a Gibborim, the wife of Magistrate/Jonah, after Jonah's ship explodes.
- Granola Girl: She has a lot of odd tastes and opinions and comes across as somewhat of a latter-day hippie. She even recommends Molly to masturbate if she's experiencing menstrual cramps.
- Happily Married: She and Dale are the only members of PRIDE that have no apparent marital problems.
- Jewish and Nerdy: She is a Jewish bio-engineer, complete with her own Nerd Glasses.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: She and Dale had medical education before turning into bio-engineering.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Despite being a demure Jewish hippie mom and the least villainous member of PRIDE, she seems to swear more than any of them, including the street-hardened gangsta.
- Token Good Teammate: Like Geoffrey, she's disturbed by PRIDE's actions, though she keeps her doubts and guilt to her husband.
Dale Yorkes
Dale Yorkes
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Kevin Weisman
Appearances: Runaways
Gert Yorkes's father, a bioengineer.
- Adaptational Curves: Slimmer than his comic counterpart.
- Adaptational Heroism: To an extent, the Yorkes come across as the most sympathetic of all the parents. They consider giving up the PRIDE's plan, dote on their daughters, engineered a dinosaur to protect the family, and are perhaps the most honestly loving couple of PRIDE.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: He's blond in the comics.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He and Stacey are stereotypical New Age parents, giving their daughters lots of freedom and unwelcome advice about using orgasms to help with menstrual cramps, but when the shit hits the fan and they realize Pride knows about their escape plan and Gert confronts them about it?Gert: Really? Just like I didn't understand you guys were lying about the hedgehog? Maybe you guys finally
Dale: You know what, Gert? This attitude needs to STOP. The sarcasm? The snide remarks? Though admittedly you got them from me, I have had enough. - Composite Character: He and Stacey inherited the Hayeses' role as both the outsiders and as guardians of Molly.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his amoral acts, he draws the line at Offing the Offspring, as mentioned in Papa Wolf below.
- Faux Affably Evil: Despite being a willing member of an evil cult, this man is fueled by pure undiluted dorkiness - much to the annoyance of some of the more serious players.
- Happily Married: He and Stacey always seem to be on the same page.
- Jewish and Nerdy: He is a Jewish bio-engineer, complete with his own Nerd Glasses.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: He and Stacey had medical education before turning into bio-engineering.
- Papa Wolf: When the PRIDE was arguing about who should be sacrificed to save Victor, he snaps and grabs a gun when Gert and Molly were suggested as potential sacrifices.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: He tries to humorously speak like a black man in a dialogue with Geoffrey. The latter is not amused.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He becomes genuinely scared shitless when his wife starts acting more erratic, cold and ruthless (unknown to him, she's possessed by a Gibborim). Eventually, he decides to just up and leave PRIDE. And he kidnaps his daughter (and Old Lace) in the process. That last one isn't winning him any points. ...Yet.
- Token Good Teammate: Like Geoffrey, he's disturbed by PRIDE's actions, though he keeps his doubts and guilt to his wife. His doubts eventually win him over as he leaves PRIDE in the Season 2 finale.
The Steins
Janet Stein
Janet Stein
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Ever Carradine, Sorel Carradine (young)
Appearances: Runaways
Chase Stein's mother, who set aside her own engineering dreams and ambitions to be a stay-at-home mom.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: She's blonde in the MCU, but a brunette in the comics.
- Adaptational Heroism: To an extent; she's still part of the PRIDE, but she's one of the less evil members. In the comics, both her and Victor are abusive towards Chase. Here, she's a loving mother to Chase.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Subverted. Jonah all but tells her and Robert Minoru they were pretty much expendable in "Tsunami."
- Character Death: Sort of. Her physical body perishes in season 3, but she "survives" in a sense by uploading her mind to the Algorithm, becoming the A.I. master for Victor's computer systems.
- Damsel in Distress: In the end of Season 2, she's incarcerated alongside Karolina and Chase by Gibborims-possessed Victor, Stacey, and Tina.
- Domestic Abuse: Suffers this kind of abuse from Victor.
- Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Unbeknownst to her, she made love with Victor while the latter is possessed by the Magistrate. In fact, Victor - when he's back in control - can't even remember him making love with her. This is later mentioned by Victor in Season 3 when he attended "Alien Abductee Anonymous".
- Hidden Depths: She actually has a brilliant mind, but had abandoned her studies and career to become a housewife.
- Mama Bear: Despite seeming like a Useless Bystander Parent at first, she graduates to this in "Refraction" after shooting Victor in the shoulder to protect Chase.
- Stepford Smiler: She conceals Victor's belittling of her beneath a smile and a publicly supportive attitude.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Her husband is a terribly abusive man who belittles her often, as pointed out by Robert, whom she is having an affair with.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Janet went to the same college as Victor and was in the same classes as he. However, she ended up becoming a housewife and mother instead of pursuing a career in science.
- Took a Level in Badass: She got a chance to prove her scientific skills and knowledge in the second season.
- Useless Bystander Parent: She clearly loves Chase, but Janet will say nothing or stand to the side as Victor physically and verbally abuses him. Justified, as Victor abuses her as well, and subverted, when after seeing Victor attempt to kill Chase in "Refraction", she pulls out a gun and shoots him.
Victor Stein
Victor Stein
Species: Human
Portrayed by: James Marsters, Tim Pocock (young)
Appearances: Runaways
Chase Stein's father, an engineering genius and CEO of Nemo, an automobile and space transport manufacturing company.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the comics, he was a scrawny, unkempt nerd. Here, he's much more handsome and built.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: His blond hair is darker than that of his comic books counterpart.
- Abusive Parents: He is verbally and physically abusive of Chase.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: To a very minor extent; while still tying with Tina for the most overtly cruel member of the PRIDE and being very abusive towards his family, he's made more sympathetic in this version. It's shown that his abuse stems from his unstable mental state rather than simple cruelty, he visibly tries to restrain himself when around his wife, and when he sees his son working on an invention, rather than get angry, he begins trying to encourage him on the project.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Stein is Jewish surname, but his ethnicity isn't mentioned or referenced nonetheless.
- Berserk Button: He's unpleasant on a good day but the only times he's seen to actually resort to physical violence is when he gets called out on how much of a Jerkass he is. During their moment after he Took a Level in Jerkass he was only angry at Chase for being in the lab without permission but actually tried attacking him once Chase brought up his Domestic Abuse actions. Chase dodging and punching him in retaliation led to Victor trying to straight up murder him.
- Cassandra Truth: In season 3, Victor, Tina and Stacey are possessed by Jonah and two other members of his family. After he is freed from Jonah's control, Victor and Stacey attend a support group for people who claim to have been abducted by aliens. Despite Victor's story being true (and sound a lot less comical than the other attendees) he is accused of lying and mocking the group.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is the CEO of Nemo, a Tesla-like manufacturing company renowned for its innovations, and is not above using the influence and wealth that comes with the position for PRIDE's gains.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Victor tried to attack to his son just for calling him out on the Domestic Abuse. Chase punching him in retaliation led to Victor trying to outright murder him.
- Domestic Abuse: Not only does he has physically and verbally abused Chase, he also belittles Janet and grows angry if she questions him.
- Education Papa: Just like in the comics, Victor Stein is one. In the first episode, he tells Chase that if he were really afraid of him, he'd get an A.
- Expy: James Marsters has stated he was inspired by Vincent D'onofrio's performance as Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin in Daredevil for his portrayal of Victor.
- Evil Genius: He's an inventor involved with an evil cult and an abuser.
- Grand Theft Me: Gets possessed by the Magistrate, a.k.a. "Jonah", following his apparent "death".
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Is extremely irritable, and the slightest thing will set him off.
- Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Inverted, much to his displeasure; he's a brilliant scientist and engineer while Chase favors lacrosse and is starting to slip in school. He is visibly pleased when Chase starts displaying engineering prowess.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: He's made to forget his wife cheating on him.
- Mad Scientist: With both sides played up. He's a Tony Stark-level world-renowned inventor, but he's also shown to have serious mental issues.
- Mood-Swinger: It's implied that Victor's abusive behavior expands and retracts on any given day. After Jonah injects him with his serum, this is taken to extremes, going from being openly light-hearted to trying to murder his own son.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His background as an inventor, groundbreaking engineer, and CEO was based on Real Life magnate, investor, inventor and engineer Elon Musk, who also had cameo in Iron Man 2.
- Pet the Dog: He helps his son build his Fistigons in "Kingdom" and even shows him an old pet project of his (a Zeerust-style time machine that looks as though it was made from an old television). They both bond a little bit during the experience.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: He's seen suffering hallucinations in the early episodes — he hallucinates Destiny after her "death", as well as a kidnapping victim he tied up in the back of his van. He explains that it's the result of malaria he contracted overseas, although there's clearly more to it than that. He ends up revealing that he has a brain tumor.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As a result of the effects of Jonah's DNA wearing off, he grows more volatile than ever and comes close to murdering Chase.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After being healed and woken from stasis in Season 2, he acts a lot more mild-mannered and doesn't once fall back into his Domestic Abuse tendencies. Too bad he ends up getting taken over by the Magistrate shortly after.
- Trade Your Passion for Glory: During a softer moment with Chase he notes that he misses actually inventing things and somewhat resents the businessman side of his life.
- Troubled Abuser: He hits both his wife and Chase, but it's indicated that he's under a great amount of stress due to his brain cancer and PRIDE duties.
- Your Days Are Numbered: It is revealed in "Kingdom" that Victor is dying of brain cancer, with which he admits to Chase that he has a great deal of trouble coming to terms.
Former Members
Leslie Dean
Leslie Dean née Ellerh
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Annie Wersching
Appearances: Runaways
Karolina Dean's mother, the head of the Church of Gibborim.
- Adaptational Wimp: As a result of Adaptation Species Change, Leslie doesn't have any Majesdanian abilities.
- Adaptation Species Change: Comic!Leslie is an alien arms dealer from Majesdane. TV!Leslie is just a regular human.
- Ambiguous Situation: She's pregnant midway through Season 2. She belives it's Frank's, likely because she never had sex with Jonah anymore. But Xavin suggests that it's Jonah's.
- The Atoner: Her character arc throughout Season 2 certainly seems to paint her as this, as she gradually betrays Jonah, PRIDE, and Frank all to help her daughter at the Runaways. Though whether it'll stick...
- Church of Happyology: Helps run the Church of Gibborim, which is totally not a cult.
- The Dragon: She basically serves as this for Jonah, when she's not serving as the face for the PRIDE and the Church of Gibborim.
- The Fundamentalist: Jonah's most willing supporter.
- Good Costume Switch: She stops wearing white after her Heel–Face Turn.
- Heel–Face Turn: Through Season 2, it finally begins to dawn on her how much damage Jonah, PRIDE, and the Church have done to her family and everyone else. By the end of the season, she betrayed damn near everyone all to help her daughter and it's cost her nearly everything. She's literally called out as being a Runaway herself as she takes refuge in the hostel along with Xavin.
- I Did What I Had to Do: She murdered the Hernandezes and informed Jonah that Amy might know something, all because she loves him. She didn't know Molly would be with her parents, and she thought Jonah was just gonna scare Amy. Realizing Jonah's also keeping secrets from her, she decides to join the other members of PRIDE in stopping him.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For years, she indoctrinated, radicalized, and brainwashed people in the church of Gibborim. And when she tries to back out and close it down, her husband betrays her to those same people, now intent on bringing her back to the light.
- The Leader: She's the one who leads PRIDE's human sacrifices and serves as the link between Jonah and the other members of PRIDE:
- Light Is Not Good: Her outfits and decorations are all predominantly white... and she's secretly part of a murderous cult.
- Love Makes You Stupid: She's very loyal to Jonah despite being aware of his Bad Boss tendency due to her love for him. It's only after he attacked Karolina and the other kids that she realized how evil Jonah truly is.
- Mouth of Sauron: She acts as a liason between the incapacitated Jonah and the rest of the PRIDE and later,, at his behest, she organizes hem after the embarassment during the charity event.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: Played with. Her father founded the Church of Gibborim, Jonah is hugely important to it and is one of its biggest benefactors, and Frank's celebrity status put the church on the map. But as she asserts in "Refraction", she did all the groundwork and is largely responsible for the way things are run within it.
- Politically Correct Villain: When her daughter comes out to her as gay, Leslie is nothing but supportive, something that is implied to be frowned upon in the Church of Gibborim. Granted, this happens after Leslie becomes wary of the Church's doctrines, but it still shows that she honestly cares for her.
- Sexless Marriage: Her relationship with Frank is complicated. Most of the time, she shut him out from PRIDE's activities and seemingly cheated on him with Jonah. But she's visibly uncomfortable upon seeing that Frank isn't as enthusiastic as usual during the PRIDE gala, saying that he usually "lived for this". She also seems to be more uncomfortable when Frank didn't attend the school's open house. She also gave him a chance to "go ultra" to make him feel special. At the very least, she may care about him as Karolina's legal father who helped her in raising Karolina considering Jonah, Karolina's real father, was never around to raise their daughter.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The PRIDE are all masquerading as ordinary civilians, but she has the biggest public profile as the seemingly benevolent leader of the Church of Gibborim.
- Wife Husbandry: She's heavily implied to be groomed by Jonah since she was a child.
The Hernandezes
Gene and Alice Hernandez
Gene and Alice Hernandez
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Vladimir Caamaño (Gene), Carmen Serano (Alice)
Appearances: Runaways
The parents of Molly Hernandez, who died in a fire when she was young. The two were geologists at Goodman University.
- Adaptational Heroism: Their comic counterparts were not only part of PRIDE, but were also planning to betray the group for their self-interest. Here, they are Token Good Teammate among PRIDE. When they found out the potential catastrophic effects of Jonah's goal they tried to stop it and warn the other members of the group, but got killed by Leslie before they could act.
- However, season 3 reveals a much darker side to them than previously known, having willingly chosen sacrifices for Jonah.
- Adaptational Name Change: Their last name was Hayes in the comics.
- Adaptational Species Change: They are mutants in the comics, but regular humans in the MCU.
- Death by Adaptation: In the comics, they were still alive when the plot started: here, they've been dead ten years prior to the start of the series.
- Fling a Light into the Future: They left Molly a video message about PRIDE's plan in hopes that she could stop what they couldn't.
- Posthumous Character: They both died before the series began.
- Race Lift: They're Caucasian in the comics, but Latino here, like Molly.
Associates and Collaborators
Church of Gibborim
In General
Appearances: Runaways
A religious organization based in the teachings of David Ellehr, its founder and the father of Leslie.
- Church of Happyology: It is a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of the Church of Scientology. They are a "new age" pseudo-spiritual group involved with celebrities, secretive practices and teachings as well as coercitive methods.
- Light Is Not Good: Leslie uses the church's outreach to runaways in order to obtain sacrifices for Jonah. Later, when Jonah takes over the Church, he uses some of its members as guards and muscle. And there's also the "Crater" facility, where "apostates" are sent to be forcibly re-educated.
- More than Mind Control: Not even Jonah's supposed death can stop their fanaticism, as Leslie found the hard way when she unsuccessfully attempted to dissolve the Church and try to tell them that they've all been lied for years.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: On top of the rest of the more Cultish things they do, it's implied that the Church's teachings forbid homosexual relationships, Karolina coming out of the closet only happens after she loses her faith.
- Room 101: The Church of Gibborim has a room dedicated to "Reconditioning", in which unruly or rebellious members of the church are strapped to a chair for what appears to be brainwashing.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After having bred a bunch of fanatics over several decades, Leslie can't just dissolve the Church without any resistance.
- Unwitting Pawn: If anything, the Church's followers had no idea that they've been worshipping an ancient alien, who isn't even technically a god. In Season 3, however, Leslie said that the fanaticism is the result of Jonah's twisting the Church's original teachings and she reformed the Church to its original uncorrupted teachings afterwards.
Frank Dean
Frank Dean
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Kip Pardue
Appearances: Runaways
The husband of Leslie Dean, a former teen star and public face of the Church of Gibborim.
- Accidental Murder: When he tries to wrestle the gun from Destiny's brother, Oscar, he accidentally sets off a shot and kills the young man. He later puts the blame on Leslie.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Karolina's parents were both criminals exiled from Majesdane (who betrayed their entire planet to the Skrulls in revenge). Here, it seems the bulk of the "evil" traits went to Leslie, as well as Jonah. Frank himself isn't actually part of the PRIDE, having being removed and mind-wiped, and is unaware of the goings-on of the Church.
- He immediately backpedals in Season 2, when he takes the Church from Leslie and sends her to be re-educated.
- Adaptational Species Change: An alien in the comics, human in the MCU.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Goes hand-in-hand with his Adaptational Species Change. Comics!Frank and Leslie was a Majesdanian criminal who was a threat with his powers. The MCU version of Frank is a normal human actor, although he asserts he has some martial arts training from his movies.
- This version of Frank is a White-Dwarf Starlet, whereas in the comics both he and Leslie were currently successful Hollywood stars.
- Church of Happyology: Helps run the Church of Gibborim, and his celebrity status is mentioned as a cause of the Church's prominence. The name alone should raise alarm bells if you've read the comics.
- Composite Character: He betrays the kids to Jonah, apparently taking Alex's role as the surprise traitor.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Overall, Frank was a good man and father who's struggling with his Former Child Star status. After failing to "go ultra", he decides to lay low with his life for a while rather than desperately trying to find his purpose in life. Unfortunately, Jonah appears and tells him that he did go ultra and gives him magical healing gloves to make him feel special. The second he gets a taste of power from the gloves, it goes to his head and he sells out his own daughter for personal gain at the first opportunity, which everyone else has refused to do.
- Decomposite Character: While Frank retains his acting career and marriage to Leslie, many traits of Comic!Frank are absorbed by Jonah - specifically, his status as Karolina's father and his powers.
- The Dog Bites Back: After being mind-wiped and shut out by Leslie Dean and discovering that he's not Karolina's father, Frank got revenge by telling Jonah about the kids behind PRIDE's back. Leslie even lampshades this, asking him how he could betray them like that.
- Dude Where Is My Respect: With his falling career he insists on taking a more active role in the Church, straining his relation with Leslie, who keeps him at arms length. This leads him to collaborate directly with Jonah and later take the Church from Leslie rather than let her shut it down.
- Fate Worse than Death: After Leslie and Karolina effectively put him in his place, the Gibborim faithful shove him into the same box he had intended for Leslie and Karolina, when it's strongly implied he'll be reduced to a mindless husk from various drugs and psychological torture.
- Former Child Star: His career's been languishing since being a teen star.
- Graceful Loser: Initially, he became more humble after failing to "go ultra", saying that "you learned more from failure", but this trait slowly diminishes after Jonah manipulated him. Eventually in Season 2 when Leslie and Karolina reclaim the Church from him. He takes his loss about as gracefully as a frothing jackass could.
- Healing Hands: Jonah gives him a pair of gloves with healing powers.
- Humiliation Conga: Frank never catches a break throughout the series. His wife cheated on him, his PRIDE friends mindwiped and got rid of him off their circle, he discovered that his daughter isn't even his, said daughter dumped him after he double-crossed her, his attempt to take over the Church fails miserably and he ends up getting locked up in their prison with the implication that he'll be reduced into a mindless from various drugs and psychological tortures. By the time of Season 3, neither his wife nor legal daughter ever thought of him for a second.
- Informed Attractiveness: If his agent is to be believed, his face guided hoards of young women through puberty. Even in the present as a Former Child Star, mothers at Karolina's school still ask for his picture and autograph.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: He had an amnesia drug used on him after finding out about PRIDE, apparently with some nasty side effects.
- Locked Out of the Loop: To his dismay, Leslie keeps him unaware of the doings of both PRIDE and the Church of Gibborim.
- Mr. Fanservice: In-Universe example. Frank's agent says a significant portion of the female population discovered their sexuality by masturbating to his picture.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: He's the only parent not involved in PRIDE. He used to be but was mindwiped using a serum concocted by the Yorkeses. Later, he doesn't rejoin them but after Karolina tells her of PRIDE, he rats them out to Jonah.
- Small Name, Big Ego: After Karolina demonstrates her Gibborim powers in front of the faithful and exposes him for the manipulative fraud that he is, he begins shouting his name erratically thinking it'll accomplish anything. It doesn't.
- The Stool Pigeon: After Karolina reveals to him the human sacrifices committed by PRIDE, he ends up ratting the children to Jonah and collaborating with him to spite Leslie.
- Uncertain Doom: Karolina convinced the Church to imprison him after showing them her powers that made them believe that she's some kind of their religion's goddess and telling them that Frank was trying to twist the Church's teachings to take over the Church. That's the last time we saw him and he doesn't appear at all in Season 3 to the point he appears to be Un-person-ed since absolutely nobody, not even his wife or legal daughter, ever mention him again.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: A former teen star struggling to find direction in his life after a short-lived movie career.
David Ellerh
David Ellerh
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Lee Fraley
Appearances: Runaways
The founder of the Church of Gibborim, father of Leslie and grandfather of Karolina.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: As the Church of Gibborim is based in Scientology, he's based in L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.
- Our Founder: To the Church of Gibborim works on the principles he set out.
- Posthumous Character: He's dead by the time the series takes place.
Vaughn
Vaughn Kaye
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Cody Mayo
Appearances: Runaways
A member of the Church of Gibborim that acts as Leslie's assistant.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He hints at some troublesome past which he was able to move on from thanks to the Church.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He's quite amusingly confused at Karolina and Nico's powers openly being discussed in front of him, even thinking it means Karolina has a flare gun.
- Undying Loyalty: He's a loyal member of the Church keen on following Leslie's orders, including keeping out Frank Dean, her husband, out of Leslie's private meditation room. When the Runaways approach him to ask for his help in rescuing Karolina and tell him of the fate of the missing church members, he dismisses it, though later he aids Molly and Chase to rescue Karolina at Leslie's behest.
Frances and Aura
Frances and Aura
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Heather Olt and Pat Lentz
Appearances: Runaways
Two recruiters for the Church of Gibborim.
- Ambiguously Bi: They were in threesome sexual relationship with David Ellerh in the past. And since they're always seen together, they might be lovers with each other as well.
- Church of Happyology: As Church recruiters, they are amongst Leslie's most devout followers.
- I Was Quite a Looker: A flashback shows younger versions of them naked in bed with David Ellerh.
- Spanner in the Works: They're the reason Robert's plan to kill Jonah is ultimately foiled, once they smash a blunt object on the former's head, knocking him out. Later, they also help Frank take the church from Leslie.
Destiny Gonzalez
Destiny Gonzalez
Species: Human
Portrayed By: Nicole Wolf
Appearances: Runaways
A runaway teenager inducted into the Church and chosen by Leslie to be sacrificed.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She went through a troubled rebel phase when she was younger, culminating in her running away.
- Human Sacrifice: Just like the first issue, the PRIDE's kids witness their parents murdering her, setting off the events of the series. However, the sacrifice failed because of a failure in Victor Stein's machine, so he murdered her.
- The Runaway: She ran away from home before the Church found her.
- Spell My Name With An S: Her name is both spelled Gonzales and Gonzalez on screen.
- Teen Pregnancy: She had a daughter when she was 14.
Other Collaborators
Detective Flores
Detective Flores
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Alex Fernandez
Appearances: Runaways
A detective in the LAPD with ties to PRIDE, particularly Robert and Tina Minoru.
- Age Lift: His comic counterpart was the younger Lieutenant Flores.
- Bald of Evil: He's a corrupt police officer with a balding head.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: AWOL locks him in a meat freezer and turns up the settings, resulting in a brutal, icy death.
- Dirty Cop: He was bribed by the Minorus in the fallout of Amy Minoru's death, which was ruled as suicide. Later, he takes over the case of Destiny Gonzalez and helps Robert and Victor avoid charges after they are found trying to kidnap a homeless man.
- Evil Old Folks: He's a corrupt cop who is already showing signs of age, including baldness and gray hair.
AWOL
Anthony 'AWOL' Wall
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Myles Bullock
Appearances: Runaways
A member of Flores' corrupt strike team in the LAPD.
- Asshole Victim: Quite possibly the biggest in the series. Watching Nico reduce him to a literal nothing was one of the most satisfying moments in the series.
- Boxed Crook: He's a former criminal recruited by Flores to do his dirty (or rather, dirtier) work, such as killing women and children who got in their way.
- The Brute: He is the one who does the dirty jobs, which includes opening fire on people with an AK in broad daylight.
- Dirty Cop: He's shown to be worse than Flores, who isn't even good to begin with.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Nico accidentally tranporst him and his team of crooked cops into the Dark Dimension.
- Filler Villain: Following Jonah's initial apparent defeat, he's the main threat the kids have to face, before Jonah is revealed to have survived and promptly reclaims his status as Big Bad.
- Jerkass: He's a complete dick to almost incomprehensible levels. Not even for one second does he come off as anything more. Even the simple act of picking up food from a restaurant causes him to flaunt his power and threaten people so he can get it for free.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Kills Flores and takes his place after the latter basically told him that he is expendable.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: While he is in no way better (probably even worse), him killing Flores was still satisfying to watch.
- Smug Snake: Understatement of the century. He can't even fake affability or civility for a single second.
- Would Hit a Girl: Has no problem in killing women.
- Would Hurt a Child: Has absolutely no problems with killing children, either, even babies.
Kincaid
Kincaid
Species: Human
Portrayed by: Devan Long
Appearances: Runaways
An employee of Tina Minoru working as security in Wizard Computers.
- Beard of Evil: He sports a rather thick beard.
- Dirty Old Man: While he's not that old, he's in his mid to late thirties, at least, and still hits on Gert (albeit jokingly), who is a teenager.
- Enigmatic Minion: His motivations, history and extent of his knowledge about Tina's activities are unknown.
- Not So Above It All: He plays the Star Wars arcade game with Gert and Earl the Wizard receptionist despite calling them out on it earlier.
- Pet the Dog: His conversation with Amy, where he first calls her out for being dumb enough to try to beat Tina by hacking her systems, then tells her that while he's not going to turn her in, she should do it herself. He also expressed a liking for the Yorkses, telling Tina he didn't think they were bad people.
- Tattooed Crook: He has many intimidating tattoos and is implied to have done unsavory things on Tina Minoru's behalf.
