To be upfront about this, prior to this series, I knew literally nothing about the Runaways. I kind of said the same thing about Jessica Jones before her Netflix series, but I at least knew who she was in the comics thanks to her being an Avenger. When the book originally started back in 2003, I had been aware of it and heard a lot of praise, but I didn't really have any interest, mostly because it didn't fit the superhero mold. While I don't read a wide variety of Marvel books, there are always the crossovers where heroes from different corners came together. Even then, Runaways has always seemed to stay in their own little corner, which is probably a good thing.
Runaways has been a property Marvel has wanted to bring to MCU even during Phase One, originally intended as a movie before reworking it into a series on Hulu, similar to how Inhumans was going to be a movie before moving to TV. Where Inhumans failed though, Runaways actually succeeds with its first season, with great performances all around and the kind of quality you would expect from the Marvel Netflix series that even those going in blind like myself should love.
For those unaware of the premise, Runaways focuses on a group of high school friends who discover that their parents are involved in some kind of secret murderous cult. While we had Spider-Man as our first teenage hero in the MCU, I feel like Runaways does a better job at depicting high school life, and having multiple protagonists who represent different cliques. There's also the fact that much like its comic source, it doesn't fit the superhero mold, which is its greatest strength. We have variety with our main characters in both their social standing and what they're able to bring to the team. The show and young actors do a brilliant job with the portrayals of and relationships between these characters and the struggles they go through, not only together as they deal with what they know about their parents, but with the everyday internal struggles any teenager goes through. While they're shown as capable, they're not immune from making mistakes, which is realistic.
Speaking of realism, while the show is about the kids, it's just as much about their parents, whose cult front is the charity foundation, PRIDE. While they're technically the villains, they're reluctant villains at that. They're all very well rounded characters, which is a benefit most villains have had from MCU TV series. Some you will like right off the bat and others you won't, but as the series goes on, you'll see there are good and bad qualities in each of them. You'll love them, cheer them on, hate them, and get pissed at them; it's quite a roller coaster with these characters. If there's anyone in PRIDE who creeps me out (not to mention the rest of the parents), it's their leader Jonah, played by former Doctor Doom, Julian McMahon. Despite being the most villainous character of the show, that doesn't take away from his performance and the kind of fear he exhibits.
There's one element from the Runaways comics that's kind of out there that you might not have expected to transition to live action but it's there: Gert has a psychic connection with a dinosaur genetically engineered by her parents, which she names Old Lace at the end of the series. I think we can thank Old Lace's inclusion to the show's budget, which was probably higher than the Netflix series, leading to the other characters' powers being present as well. But when it comes to Old Lace, despite being a ferocious creature, she's as much a member of the team as the rest of them, and it will make you wish you had your own pet dinosaur.
As everything Marvel puts out could fit in with another genre, like Ant-Man being a heist film and Guardians of the Galaxy being a space adventure, Runaways is a teen drama, at least at its core. With other genres like horror and different types of sci-fi bleeding through, the show is able to mix it all together in a coherent way.
I'm sorry if I'm being vague when it comes to characters and plot points, but if you're reading this review and know nothing about the Runaways, I wanted to write this in a way that I could recommend the series but you can still go in blind like I did. I had a hell of a good time watching Runaways and I really look forward to the second season that was announced.
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