Sorcerers, Scientists, And Snarky Teens: Who’s Who On ‘Marvel’s Runaways’

Actor: Rhenzy Feliz
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: Alex is the brains of the group, his strategy skills honed through hours of playing video games online. He’s the first Runaway we meet, too, and he’s definitely the most serious kid in the group.
Codename: None
Powers: None, but Alex is a genius with a knack for strategy.
In The Show: The show retains Alex’s status as the first Runaway we meet and the unit’s guiding force, although Hulu Alex is friendlier than his comic book counterpart.

Actors: Ryan Sands (Geoffrey) & Angel Parker (Catherine)
Affiliation: The Pride
In The Comics: Geoffrey and Angel are stern parents and the leaders of the Pride, a position that makes them the Runaways’ main archenemies. 
Occupation: Crime lords
In The Show: The Wilders aren’t exactly crime lords in the show. Instead, Geoffrey is a self-made businessman with a tough background and Catherine is a lawyer. While they’re at the forefront of the Pride’s dealings, they are (like most all of the parents) more fleshed out and sympathetic.

Actor: Lyrica Okano
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: Newly goth teen Nico is kinda the older sister of the group, taking on a leadership role even though she’s still trying to figure out who she really is.
Codename: Sister Grimm
Powers: Nico summons the Staff of One any time her blood is shed, allowing her to cast any spell imaginable–but only once.
In The Show: Nico’s moodiness comes partly from the fact that she’s dealing with the trauma of losing her older sister, a sister that doesn’t exist in the comics. She’s also a burgeoning witch, retreating to the beach to work on spells.

Actors: Brittany Ishibashi (Tina) & James Yaegashi (Robert)
Affiliation: The Pride
In The Comics: As with all of the parents other than the Wilders, the Minorus didn’t get super specific personalities. These sorcerers are definitely more cold and calculating in the comics, willing to do battle with their daughter the minute they learn she’s discovered their evil secret.
Occupation: Sorcerers
In The Show: Tina is a Steve Jobs-esque tech innovator, with her smart home technology embedded in the Minoru household. James’ main storyline involves an affair with another member of the Pride, Janet Stein.

Actor: Virginia Gardner
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: Karolina is the hippie daughter of free-spirited, vegan actors and Hollywood socialites. She’s overeager and a people pleaser.
Codename: Lucy in the Sky
Powers: As a Majesdanian, Karolina’s natural state is a luminous, rainbow-colored being that can fly and fire solar energy as concussive blasts.
In The Show: Karolina’s still the same bright and bubbly blonde California girl, except she’s a 2017 California girl and not a 2003 California girl. That means she’s now a social media celebrity and the face of her mother’s Scientology-esque religion, the Church of Gibborim.

Actors: Annie Wersching (Leslie) & Kip Pardue (Frank)
Affiliation: The Pride
In The Comics: The Deans are actors and an active presence in the Hollywood scene, known for being one of the few actor couples that have made their relationship work. They’re also alien gun-runners, so, they have varied interests. 
Occupation: Intergalactic arms dealers/actors
In The Show: Frank Dean is still an actor in the adaptation, but he’s a bit more washed-up than his comic counterpart. His wife Leslie is the leader of a culty religious group, the Church of Gibborim.

And by the way, the word “Gibborim” comes from the comics, but there they were a race of ancient giants that roamed Earth before the rise of humanity. Whether or not those giant godlike beings will appear in the show remains to be seen.

Actor: Gregg Sulkin
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: Chase is a loudmouth lacrosse player who constantly downplays his tech genius in favor of his bro-y attitude. He frequently clashes with Alex, the team’s de facto leader.
Codename: Talkback
Powers: None, but Chase utilized a number of his father’s inventions in battle, including a pair of X-ray goggles and his flame-throwing Fistigons.
In The Show: Chase is the same hunky lacrosse player he was in the comics, but he’s a little more up front about his technical skills. Instead of finding the Fistigons like in the comics, they’re actually Chase’s idea and design. The show also gives Chase a protective streak, making him a bit more likable than the previous iteration.

Actors: James Marsters (Victor) & Ever Carradine (Janet)
Affiliation: The Pride
In The Comics: Both of the Steins are mad scientists in the comics, with Victor being a cranky, abusive dad to his teenage son Chase. 
Occupation: Scientists
In The Show: Victor’s abusive behavior remains unchanged from the comics–actually, it may be even worse. His appearance has been updated, as Marsters plays him in a suit with a flashy flair. Janet’s changed a bit as she’s not a practicing scientist in the show.

Actor: Ariela Barer
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: Gert is the snarky realist (and pessimist) with a riot grrl ‘tude, but she also becomes the heart of the team. She’s the most ready to believe her parents are evil, especially since they–as she puts it–already lied to her about the existence of Santa Claus and God.
Codename: Arsenic
Powers: Gert possesses an unbreakable mental bond with a genetically engineered Deinonychus named Old Lace. Get it? Arsenic and Old Lace?
In The Show: Gert’s still a fully politically-engaged teen, one with a mission to topple the patriarchy in-between classes. The most noticeable adjustment to her character is her totally obvious (though she doesn’t admit it) crush on Chase Stein. That’s a development that original Runaways creator Brian K. Vaughan didn’t introduce in the comic until well into the run.

Actors: Kevin Weisman (Dale) & Brigid Brannagh (Stacey)
Affiliation: The Pride
In The Comics: Dale and Stacey are swashbuckling scallywags from hundreds of years into the future. Dale even has a righteous mustache, thus enhancing their steampunk aesthetic. 
Occupation: Time-traveling criminals from the far future
In The Show: Unfortunately Kevin Weisman isn’t rocking a handlebar mustache. Dale and Stacey are, by far, the most changed of the Pride parents. Instead of being time-travelers, the pair are hippie bioengineers. Instead of plucking a genetically-altered dinosaur watchdog from centuries in the future like in the comics, these Yorkes’ created the dino in their basement lab. Dale and Stacey are also way nicer than any of their colleagues and they have dreams of running away from the madness with their daughters Gert and Molly.

Actor: Allegra Acosta
Affiliation: Runaways
In The Comics: An excitable pre-teen with a giddy appreciation of superheroes, Molly is actually a mutant in the comics (you know, like the X-Men).
Codename: Bruiser, although she prefers Princess Powerful
Powers: Molly possesses super-strength, although using her powers quickly tires her out causing her to either need rest or a dose of caffeine.
In The Show: Molly’s just a little bit older on the show than she was in the comics, but she’s no less naive and upbeat. The major difference, though, is the source of her super-strength. Molly can’t be a mutant in this Marvel Studios-produced show, since Fox owns the film rights to the concept of mutants and that complication ripples out to affect some of Marvel’s TV shows.

The murkiness with mutants also means that Molly’s parents have been written out of the show. In the comics, Molly Hayes’ parents are telepathic mutants named Gene and Alice. Instead of adapting those characters and dealing with the hassle of explaining how they’re not mutants, the show killed off Molly’s parents and added her to the Yorkes family unit. They’re not forgotten, though, as TV Molly is searching for information about her long dead parents.

Where to stream Marvel's Runaways