History ComicBook / Runaways

** [[ComicBook/RunawaysRainbowRowell Vol. 5]] (2017-2021)

* ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'': An AlternateUniverse Runaways miniseries written by [[Webcomic/{{Nimona}} ND]] [[ComicBook/{{Lumberjanes}} Stevenson]], featuring Molly Hayes and a completely different group of characters like [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Valeria Richards]], [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Amadeus Cho]], Characters/{{Cloak and Dagger|MarvelComics}} and [[Characters/MarvelComicsBuckyBarnes Bucky Barnes]]. The mini-series followed their adventures across Battleworld after discovering their school in TheCity is really an AcademyOfEvil, prompting them to [[RecycledPremise run away]]. For tropes about this series, go [[ComicBook/Runaways2015 here]].

!!This series provides examples of:

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The sewer that the kids escaped through after their first hostel base got destroyed was big enough to fit about four kids across plus a dinosaur.
* AbuseDiscretionShot: The first panel with Chase Stein in it is the one where he's getting punched in the face by his father, but this is the last time we actually see him being abused. Similarly, when Klara, another abuse survivor joins the team, we only see her abuser in a single panel, with the artist preferring to show her ordeal via the ever-growing collection of bruises on her face when she talks to Karolina and Molly.
* ActOfTrueLove: Xavin poses as their beloved Karolina and hands herself over to a group of Majesdanians who blamed Karolina for the destruction of their homeworld, protecting both Karolina and the other Runaways from the Light Brigade's retribution.
* ActuallyADoombot: Played with. [[spoiler:We're set up to think that Dr Doom is Victor's dad. Then it turns out to be a Doombot, but one controlled by a completely different supervillain instead of the real Doom.]]
* AdoptingTheAbused: the team ended up in New York City in 1907, where they intervened in a fire that would have killed an entire factory full of child laborers. Upon finding out that one of the children they saved, Klara, had an abusive home life, Karolina and Molly decided to make a special project of rescuing her, eventually convincing the others to take Klara with them when they returned to the present.

* AgeDownRomance: In "Dead-End Kids," a series of circumstances cause the team to be sent back in time to 1907, where Victor falls in love with a local girl, Lillie. It's ultimately revealed that the whole sequence of events was set in motion by Lillie's older self, who remembered Victor as the love of her life and thus hoped that he would be convinced to bring her younger self into the present.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Played with. Despite Gert's initial shock, no one seems to mind that Molly is a mutant, although the latter's parents are seen in a flashback defending themselves from an angry mob after being outed as mutants.
* AllYourPowersCombined - In the final battle of the original series, [[spoiler:Alex ends up in control of Chase's fire-blasting gauntlets, Nico's Staff of One, ''and'' Gertrude's psychic connection to Old Lace. All of which would have been much more helpful if he weren't secretly working for his parents. He had no way to take Molly or Karolina's inborn abilities, but it's still a pretty impressive accomplishment for somebody with no powers of his own]].

* AlternatePersonalityPunishment: The second series opens with the Runaways hunting down Victor Mancha because his alternate-future self killed an alternate-future version of Gert. Thankfully, they soon realized how unfair this was and decided to conscript him to their team instead.

* AndIMustScream: Happens to [[spoiler:Gert's parents, who are cursed to know everything that will happen to themselves and their daughter, up to and including the deaths of all three of them, and witness it all while being unable to change their actions]].
* ApologeticAttacker: Karolina when the first Hostel is attacked by the LAPD.

* AppetiteEqualsHealth: Towards the end of the last arc, Klara is seen eating and drinking, showing that she is recovering from the various injuries and ailments that she suffered in the previous two issues. Of course, not long afterwards, she ends up vomiting it all up after developing motion sickness while riding around in the Leapfrog. Poor girl can't catch a break!
* ArrangedFriendship: The team originally only tolerated each other because their parents were all ostensibly old friends who insisted on all the families gathering together once a year (as a cover for the parents performing an annual blood sacrifice for wealth and power).
* ArrangedMarriage: Xavin and Karolina had one set up by their parents.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Klara's origins as a factory worker in the 1900's who escaped a factory fire is obviously inspired by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which happened in 1911, four years after the Runaways went back in time. Of course, ComicBookTime being what it is, the year they went back might now be 1911 rather than 1907.

* BanishingRitual: Nico uses a "scatter" spell to temporarily banish the Light Brigade from Malibu. Unfortunately, it has the side-effect of making the Runaways unable to cooperate while the spell is active.
* BeatPanel: In the second issue.
--> '''Molly''': Duh. S...E...X. I'm not a ''baby''.
--> Alex and Gert look at each other
--> '''Gert''': Fine. Come on, kid. Let's go powder our noses.
--> '''Molly''': That's code for pee, right?
** For reference, Alex and Gert were talking about whether or not to tell Molly that they found out that her parents were supervillains. She tells them she already knows what they're whispering about, before delivering the sex line.
* BedTrick: When Karolina is dating Xavin, but also has her crush on Nico, Xavin tried [[VoluntaryShapeshifting appearing as Nico]] because she thought that this was what Karolina really wanted and that it would help Karolina deal with her emotions. It did not work; Karolina thought it was "some kind of sick test". Xavin, not being from around here, is somewhat baffled.

* BeleagueredBoss: Alex is the OnlySaneMan on a team that includes a DumbJock, a SoapboxSadie, a temperamental airhead, and a CuteBruiser. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he ''intentionally'' built the team this way; they were supposed to die fighting their own evil parents so that he and his parents would reap all the benefits of the DoomsdayPlot for themselves.]]
* BetrayalInsurance:
** Chase gives Nico a list of LogicBomb questions that will shut Victor down if he ever does the FaceHeelTurn that a friendly time traveller warned them about.
** Nico even mentions during the Secret Invasion story that she has a spell on hand to ''stop Xavin's heart'', and it was highly likely that she was going to use it when the group assumed that Xavin was betraying them.
* BigBad: For the first seven volumes, the Gibborim, who set the Pride's plan into motion in order to return to power.
* BigBadEnsemble: It's complicated. The Pride are made to appear like a BigBadDuumvirate, but two of the couples, [[spoiler:the Deans and the Hayes family]], were planing to [[spoiler:betray the others]]. However, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Alex]] knew of the plan, and [[spoiler: manipulated the kids to run away in order to stop it]]. Too bad he was [[spoiler:killed by the Gibborim]] not long after TheReveal.
* BigBookOfWar: The Abstract, a book given by the Gibborim to the Pride. It contains info about everything related to them, including their future. It can only be read with a special ring that decodifies it.
* BigNo:
** Played entirely straight on numerous occasions, but also probably the only instance of a robot shouting "[=NOOOOO10100101=]!" upon defeat.
** The first major BigNo takes place when Wilder screams it after [[spoiler:Alex is burned to a crisp by the Gibborim after [[TheReveal he admits to being]] TheMole [[TheReveal for the Pride]] and, "like an adult," taking responsibility for the girl's lost soul]].
* BigotWithABadge: When the heroes went back in time to 1900's New York City, they encountered a ''lot'' of bigoted cops, including the proto-superheroes Daystick and Nightstick, whose sole line in the series is hurling racist abuse at Japanese-American Nico. (Nightstick [[DeathByRacism is shown being torn apart by a werewolf]] later.
* BilingualBonus: Victor does this on two accounts. The first is the Spanish swearing he manages to sneak in. The second is his binary rambling after Chase flips his safety switch. The stream of ones and zeroes out of his mouth? They spell W-T-F.
* BlackRepublican: All three of the minority couples (Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, Tina and Robert Minoru, and Dale and Stacey Yorkes) in the Pride were conservatives... because they were all hypocrites, preaching a "pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" ethos when all three couples gained their wealth and power through [[DealWithTheDevil a deal with the Gibborim]].
* BluffWorkedTooWell: Early in Volume 2, Nico and Chase con a low-level MGH dealer named Pusher-Man into believing that the Pride is planning to expand to New York in order to dissuade him and his bodyguard from killing them for poking around in his business. In the last arc of Volume 2, this comes back to bite them in the ass when they're summoned to dinner with ComicBook/TheKingpin, who informs them that because of their bluff, Pusher-Man tried to deny Kingpin his cut of his profits, and Kingpin killed him.
* BoundAndGagged: [[spoiler:Chase]] uses Nico's own staff to tie her to a chair with chains, then later tries to silence her with a "Be quiet!" spell. It only sort of works -- Nico can still talk, just not above a whisper.

* CassandraTruth: Played with. Most people don't believe the Runaways when they claim that their parents are a cabal of supervillains (in famously meta-crime free LA). Those who do are [[CorruptCop with the cabal]], unable to help because of extenuating circumstances, or are too incompetent to do anything about it.
* ChangelingFantasy: "Evil real family" subversion. The kids' parents weren't just boring Californian rich people, they're also supervillains with a world-ending EvilPlan.

** Alex, the original team leader, is first seen playing an MMORPG. He's shown to be a brilliant strategist who struggles when other players don't take the game as seriously as he does. This ends up foreshadowing a major plot twist: [[spoiler:he dies after betraying the team, because he fails to anticipate that his teammates would all stick together rather than any of them breaking off and joining him to save themselves]].

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played with. The kids had no idea of their parent's activities, but were understandably left fairly bitter by the aftermath.
* CivilWarVersusArmageddon: In the "Dead-End Kids" arc, New York City is embroiled in a gang war between the xenophobic Upward Path and outright criminal Sinners. Meanwhile, a precursor to [[BigBad The Pride]] intends to wipe out the whole city in order to kill off the Runaways.
* CliffhangerCopout: Issue 24. The kids have finally dragged Chase back, they've beaten their foes once and for all, and they're tired and weary as they arrive home... to find ComicBook/IronMan and a bunch of mooks waiting. In Issue 25, they begin by... meeting with the Kingpin.

* ClothingDamage: Volume 3 Chapter 11, Nico's top gets destroyed by [[spoiler:Klara's plants going berserk]]. [[{{Stripperiffic}} Not that there was much there to begin with...]]
* CoaxThemOutOfTheCloset: Played with in one arc, where openly-gay Karolina becomes concerned about the welfare of a young "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Wonder]]" named Klara, because she realizes that Klara is like her... because Klara has emotion-based powers, like Karolina does, and she and Molly try and get Klara to open up about these powers.

* CombatStilettos: Nico, on at least one occasion.
--> '''Victor''': Holy... did you see how high I jumped?
--> '''Nico''': Yeah... did you see how high my stilettos are? (Kicks him in the face) Look closely.

* CourtMartialed: This is [[spoiler:Xavin]]'s apparent fate; they deliver themselves to the Majesdanian Light Brigade and are taken away to answer for their role in the destruction of Majesdane. Since there is presumably no civilian government left, the trial is likely to be a court-martial.

* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: [[spoiler: Gert gives Chase CPR after he nearly drowns. He's in no shape to move immediately afterwards, but recovers quickly enough to hotwire the Leapfrog and interrupt the big fight]].

* CrimeConcealingHobby: Philantrophy, in this case. The main characters' rich parents are supposedly part of a charity group, but this is a front for their world-ending plan involving HumanSacrifice.

*** ''Avengers AI'': Where Victor is recruited to join the team by his "brother", the Vision, and "grandfather", Hank Pym.

* DanceOfDespair: In the "Homeschooling" arc, Karolina and Chase share a slow dance, depressed over the recent losses of their respective partners.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Molly once had an issue revolve around her and some kidnapped children.

* DealWithTheDevil: The Pride struck a deal with the HalfHumanHybrid descendants of fallen angels -- [[spoiler:they sacrifice one innocent a year to restore the Gibborim's power, and their children are guaranteed a spot in paradise]].
* DefectorFromDecadence: The kids after finding out that their comfortable lives are based on murder and a plan to destroy the world.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Klara and the primary cast grew up a century apart, and there are occasional conflicts over different social norms. Karolina is shocked at abuse Klara deals with, while Klara freaks out when she sees Xavin (who chooses to be black in human guise and chooses to be a woman for Karolina) and Karolina kissing. Molly, meanwhile, ([[ObfuscatingStupidity seemingly]]) completely misses the implications of Klara saying that she does not enjoy her "marital duties". ("He makes you do ''chores''?")

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Victor using a neighbour's unprotected Wi-Fi to pirate music may or may not have caused a plane to crash into the Malibu house [[spoiler:killing Old Lace, though Chase survived]].

* DittoAliens: Mrs. Dean makes a comment about how all the Skrulls look alike to her.
* DoubleStandard: Happens in-universe, when Nico has a dream that her parents are slut-shaming her for having been with three guys thus far in her life. She points out that it's unfair to consider her a harlot while her father was implied to have had several girlfriends before ''he'' got married.

* DrFakenstein: Chase's parents, Victor and Janet Stein, are a pair of {{Mad Scientist}}s. Victor himself is named directly after [[Franchise/{{Frankenstein}} Victor Frankenstein]].
* DramaticIrony: There's plenty of examples of this throughout the series. One example would be when Excelsior was discussing the titular team; they assumed that, since his parents were scientists, [[DumbJock Chase]] was the brains behind the group.
* DrivingStick: Karolina has her drivers licence, but cannot drive a stick shift. Hilarity ensues (and much cursing about the impossibility of stick shifts) when she has to drive Chase's van.
* EarlyPersonalitySigns: PlayedForLaughs where Molly cheerfully reminisces about the time she beat Alex at a board game and he threatened to throw her down a well. She notes that this is a ''way'' less funny story since Alex nearly killed them all for messing with his plans.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The original Hostel was an entire mansion underground, though some of the Pride facilities are more standard versions of this setting.
* TheElitesJumpShip: The master plan and major plot driven by The Pride. They plan to destroy the world on behalf of a trio of fallen angels, all while ensuring that their own children get to live in the paradise that the angels promised to build in the ruins.
* EnergeticAndSoftSpokenDuo: The third ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series paired MotorMouth Molly with ShrinkingViolet Klara.

* EvilLearnsOfOutsideContext: In the "Dead End Kids" arc, the team gets stranded in 1900's New York, where they are some of the most powerful and technologically-advanced people available. This aggravates things between the two super-powered gangs that are already there, sparking them to a war.
* EvilPowerVacuum: LA throughout Volume 2; with the Pride gone, minor supervillains are pouring in, wanting either to replace the Pride or simply take advantage of an easy target.
* ExactWords: For the first half of Volume 1, members of the Pride keep commenting that they do what they do to leave a better world for their children, implying that they are some kind of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. We eventually find out that they are out to leave a better world for their children ''and only for their children'' - the entire rest of humanity, including themselves, are going to be dead.

* FateWorseThanDeath When Nico [[spoiler:casts a spell on Gertrude's parents, trapping them in their own bodies with the knowledge that their daughter will betray them, kill them, and then die herself in a few short years. But they're unable to act or speak as if they knew, unable to do anything to stop it. As Nico puts it, for the next few years, "They'll be screaming inside."]]
* FastballSpecial: Almost name-dropped when Victor asks Molly to throw him at [[spoiler:the Gibborim]].
* TheFagin: Provost fits this trope to a T, getting runaway kids to steal for him.

* FamilyValuesVillain: While their styles of parenting range from hands off to strict/abusive, the supervillain parents [[VillainsOutShopping maintain normal upper middle class lives when not involved in villainy]] and have typical expectations of their children being successful. They want to make the world a better place and believe they are doing what is best for their kids... by letting the Gibborim destroy and remake it so their kids can live in paradise. The series is practically the poster child for EvenEvilHasLovedOnes[=/=]EvilParentsWantGoodKids.
* FantasyKitchenSink: The Gibborim exploited this for all it was worth when picking the Pride. Time-travelers, magicians, glowing aliens, mutants, scientists and {{Badass Normal}}s, all in one group.

* FirstKiss: The first one in the series is between Nico and Alex. Later on in Volume 1, we get a KissOfLife between Gert and Chase, which soon becomes the real deal.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater:
** Happened first with [[spoiler:Geoffrey Wilder]] when his younger self was transplanted to the present but made moot at a later point of the story because his [[EasyAmnesia memory was erased]].
** Klara is from 1907, and has some difficulty adjusting to the 21st century.

* ForWantOfANail: Discussed when the team travels back in time, as they want to get back to the future by changing as little as possible. It turns out they're in a StableTimeLoop.

* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Karolina Dean is driven to out herself as a lesbian in front of all of her friends in an attempt to get Xavin to leave her alone. Xavin is nonplussed, saying that gender is fluid for their species.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Chamber confronts Molly, she asks him who he thinks he's fooling with that fake accent. [[spoiler:The very end of the arc reveals that this isn't the real Chamber, but someone using an artifact of the Minorus' to impersonate him. Later still, it's revealed to be a time-displaced Geoffrey Wilder, who calls Molly out on it, telling her that he knows she's smarter than she's acting.]]
* FrameUp: One of the opening salvos between The Pride and The Runaways is to frame them for all their murders.
* FridgeHorror: InUniverse, Molly says that when she once beat Alex at Chinese checkers, he threatened to throw her down a well...which is a lot scarier now that she thinks about it, [[spoiler:since Alex turned out to be TheMole and was working with their parents]].

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Karolina's reaction to Molly's complete misunderstanding of what Klara's "marital duties" actually are.
* GenderBender: When Xavin finds out Karolina is a lesbian, and that is why they can't be together, they nonchalantly informs her that Skrull can change their gender as easily as humans can change their hair, and [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifts]] into a woman.

* GenerationalMagicDecline: Nico's family has dabbled in magic for centuries, but according to her ancestor, the Witchbreaker, the magical talent was already beginning to diminish sometime during her own era (the 1900s), and she herself is a hostage of the Upward Path, and thus she decides to subject Nico to TrainingFromHell in the hopes of keeping the family business alive.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Invoked to emphasize the Pride's MoralMyopia. Chase's mother refused to give up her baby, [[HypocriticalHumor claiming she wasn't a monster]]...while she and the rest of the Pride were about to sacrifice an innocent girl.
* GoshDangItToHeck: It's not uncommon to see the occasional $#%@, but Nico at least tries to get Molly to say "heck" instead of "hell."

* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Abstract, a book given by the Gibborim to the Pride. It contains info about everything related to them, including their future. It can only be read with a special ring that decodes it.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Gibborim in the inital run. They provided the Pride with their power in exchange for their services, namely performing rituals [[spoiler:so the Gibborim will have the power to wipe out humanity]].

* HandWave:
** The logistics of living as runaways (where do they get food, etc.) are mentioned every now and then, but usually just gilded over. Though it is implied that as they start using abandoned Pride [[SupervillainLair bases]] as "The Hostel" that these places were already fully stocked with supplies, and possibly money, should the Pride themselves need to hide out there.
** Frank Dean's explanation of how the Abstract works:
--->'''Dean:''' It's magic, mutant. If you think about it too hard, your '''brain''' will explode.
* HappilyMarried: All six couples in the Pride, despite being supervillains.
* {{Hellfire}}: Nico casts it as a spell at least once. One of them is mocked by Spider-Man, as he dodges it.
--> '''Spider-Man:''' Ah, hellfire. When regular fire just simply won't do.
* HehHehYouSaidX: In Issue # 4 of the first volume, Nico complains of having [[ItMakesSenseInContext "a giant rod stuck inside [her] body."]] Even being half unconscious doesn't stop Chase from snickering about that one.
* HellishLA: Los Angeles is the squatting ground for the Gibborim, a trio of fallen angels who intend to wipe out all of humanity. To this end, they installed the Pride, a cult-like criminal organization that performs human sacrifices in exchange for being given the resources to corrupt every significant organization in the city. Even after the Pride are defeated, the city is still a mess, crawling with supervillains and the odd supernatural monster.

* HouseSquatting: The third series saw the team break into Chase's parents' old summer house in Malibu. In order to fend off any nosy neighbors, they had Xavin pose as their wealthy single dad.
* HorribleHousing: At one point, after getting driven out of California, the team ended up being so hard-up for living quarters that they stayed in an actual tenement in 1900's New York City (it's a long story.) They had one room for all six of them, and had to put of a bedsheet to separate the boys and girls.
* HorrorHippies: Frank and Leslie Dean initially look like a pair of friendly aging hippies, but are in fact a pair of alien criminals who also happen to be members of the Pride, a combination between a doomsday cult and an organized crime syndicate.
* HowDareYouDieOnMe: Chase [[spoiler:has this reaction to Gert's death]], going so far as to nearly offer himself to revert it.
* HowDidYouKnowIDidnt: Played seriously with [[spoiler:Karolina's blood killing Topher]] in volume one, because [[spoiler:she had no idea it would happen and honestly wanted to die]].

* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: A random thug tries to do this to Karolina in the 1907 arc. Fortunately, she blasts the crap out of him in the next panel.

* ImpliedRape: Klara was a child bride before the Runaways rescued her, having been subjected to "marital duties". Even Molly, the youngest of the group, quickly figures out what that means.
* ImprovisedImprisonment: Chase's uncle suddenly shows up at the Runaways' house after it's been crushed beneath vines. Since the Runaways as a policy don't trust any adults related to them, they decide to hold him captive while deciding what to do with him, but since there isn't anywhere they can hold him, their makeshift solution is to force him to sit down while Molly holds a large rock over his head.

* JustAMachine: Xavin initially acted dismissive towards Victor, because they viewed him as merely a robot. Justified due to Skrull attitudes.

%%* KissOfLife: [[spoiler:Gert and Chase's]] FirstKiss (above) is one of these.
* KnightTemplarParent: All of the Pride could be said to fit in this category, in that they're planning on giving the reward they earn for their DealWithTheDevil to the kids. [[spoiler:Not everyone is planning to honor this arrangement.]] And being a KnightTemplarParent does not necessarily translate to being a good or bad one in everyday life: the parents range from being informal and friendly (Karolina's) to outright abusive (Chase's) and everywhere in between.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: To preserve their secret, the Pride wipe memories from Cloak and Dagger. At least they use telepathy, legitimizing the trope. [[spoiler:But then Cloak regains his memories after a [[FonzarelliFix swift smack on the head]] from Characters/LukeCage, and this is played totally straight.]]

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The first thing we see in issue #10 (book five) is Wolverine, and Iron Man commenting:
-->'''Iron Man''': A {{Wolverine|Publicity}} appearance? [[SarcasmMode How novel.]]
* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: The eponymous characters are a team of HeroesWithBadPublicity, whereas their parents were [[VillainWithGoodPublicity villains with good publicity]].
* LiteralGenie: The "Staff Of One" carries out the literal meaning of Nico's spells in Vol. 3, and it still keeps the "Only cast the same spell once" rule.
* LivesInAVan: The Runaways have frequently been reduced to living out of their Leapfrog, presumably because it's hard to get a home loan when you're wanted by ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}
* LogicBomb: Exploited. Logic bombs are used as a failsafe against Victor should he turn against the team. The logic bomb itself (and the reset switch) are ''hilarious''.
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Nico has a self-admitted track record of bad guy boyfriends and failed relationships.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Chase goes off the deep end after Gert dies. He gets better]].
* MadScientist: The Steins are evil geniuses who built several gadgets.
* MagicIsFeminine: In the team's first iteration, the only members with powers were Nico (who fought with her family's magical Staff of One), Karolina (who inherited light-based alien powers), and Molly (who had mutant SuperStrength). The other female character, Gert, had a psychic dinosaur, while the two male characters, Chase and Alex, were much more mundane.
* MetallicarSyndrome: {{Averted|Trope}} but {{discussed|Trope}} early, where Chase drives the Runaways around and one of them complains about how uncool his plain white van is; he responds that he got it on purpose because a plain white van is the most inconspicuous vehicle possible.
* {{Miko}}: The costume of the Witchbreaker, who is [[spoiler:Nico's great grandmother]] is based on that of the miko.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: Discussed, while Karolina is mourning one of her friends Xavin points out that [[spoiler:their entire planet was destroyed]]. If one person dying is tragic then a million people dying must be a million times more tragic.
* TheMole:
** A key part of the plot for the comic's first year and half. It is [[TheReveal revealed]] to be [[spoiler:[[MoleInCharge Alex Wilder]]]], by self-admittance. See TheReveal below.
** Towards the end of the first volume, a few members of the Pride start wondering if one of them is on the kids' side, but this is not resolved.
* {{Mon}}: Old Lace is an empathically bonded velociraptor genetically engineered from the 87nd century for Gert. She's at her beck and call.
* MoneyDumb: The Runaways, being teenagers who grew up in wealthy families, are terrible at saving money. The only reason they're still afloat is because Karolina still receives royalties from her parents' old movies.
* MoreDiverseSequel: The original series had only two main characters of color, Japanese-American Nico and African-American Alex, and by the end, Nico was the sole person of color left in the cast. The second series added Latino Victor Mancha and genderfluid Xavin, and confirmed Karolina as a lesbian, creating one of the few mainstream superhero teams that wasn't dominated by white male characters (of which only Chase fit).
%%* MotiveRant: There's super-villains about, they happen.
* MovingBeyondBereavement: The last two arcs of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run involve the team learning to move on from the death of [[spoiler: their teammate Gert]].
* MundaneUtility: Nico using powerful ancient magic to ''renovate a freakin' condo''. "Ocean View!" indeed...
* MutuallyUnequalRelationship:
** Alex has always hated Chase since they were kids. Chase was unaware of this, and thought that they were best bros.
** Karolina had a longstanding crush on Nico. Nico completely missed it, thinking that Karolina was just ''really'' friendly.
** Molly assumes that because she and Gert were the two youngest members of the original team, they would naturally be best friends. Gert find Molly annoying.
** After they started dating, Gert and Chase each suspected that the other would eventually leave them. Gert feared that Chase would dump her for either Nico or Karolina because they were more conventionally attractive, while Chase thought that Gert might dump him for Victor, who was smarter and closer to her age.
** Xavin constantly frets that Karolina might not really love them. Karolina, for her part, seems to at least care about Xavin enough to stay with them and try and work out any differences the two might have.
* MistakenForDisease: In the short story "It's Not Lupus", Molly suddenly falls violently ill, and Nico's initial theory is that she caught some sort of old disease from Klara, who hails from the 19th century and thus is unvaccinated. Except that then Chase falls ill, too, despite Nico putting Molly and Klara in quarantine. The actual culprit is Nico herself, who accidentally cast a spell on Molly and Chase after losing her temper.
* MysteriousBacker: Near the beginning of the second series, a phone calls a group of former teen superheroes for OneLastJob; they call him out on it, but they still take the offer.
* TheNicknamer: No one individual, rather all members of the team toss nicknames around that range in use from one-time teases to regularly calling to Nico as "boss".
* NoJustNoReaction: This exchange from #1:
-->'''Molly:''' Can I ask you a question about girl stuff?\\
'''Gert:''' Under no circumstances.
* NoRomanticResolution: The third series was apparently supposed to end with [[spoiler:Chase being reunited with Gert]], but the series was abruptly cancelled halfway through the last arc, so instead, [[spoiler:he runs into a girl who may or may not be Gert, then gets hit by a car while chasing after her]].

* NunsAreSpooky: Black Maria, a nun-like superheroine from the time travel storyline.

%%* OpponentSwitch: [[spoiler:how the final battle against the Pride goes]].
* OppositesAttract: [[spoiler:Gert and Chase, a nerd and a jock]].

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: The password to get into the Yorkes secret lair is 'PRIDE'. Karolina comments that her mom's AOL password is 'PASSWORD'.

* PettyChildhoodGrudge: Gert Yorkes decided that her parents were irredeemably evil after they got rid of her Vietnamese pot-bellied pig when she was a child. Ironically, they turned out to be actual supervillains.
* ThePowerOfLove: In the ''Dead Wrong'' arc, subverted in the case of Victor and Lillie. [[spoiler:Despite being very much in love with each other, Lillie panics at the idea of going with Victor to the future and stays behind. We later see that she grew up to regret chickening out, to the point at which she tries to warn Victor to bring her with him before he travels through time. She still doesn't go.]]
* PreInsanityReveal: Early on in the "Dead End Kids" arc, Victor is pursued by Tristan, a hideous and seemingly deranged man with giant metal wings who seems to hate him for reasons he can't figure out. [[spoiler:After the team is sent back in time to 1907, Victor meets Tristan's younger self, who's far more normal, or at least as normal as a big dude with metal wings can get. Unfortunately for Victor, Tristan has designs on Lillie, a local girl who becomes smitten with Victor, and he thinks Victor's out to steal "his" girl. Furthermore, the Runaways end up inadvertently causing a catastrophe that leaves Tristan horribly disfigured.]]

* ProfanityPolice: Issue #1 has Alex Wilder playing an online game about the Hulk, Daredevil and other famous heroes. Playing as Captain America, Alex breaks character to voice his displeasure with the campaign, saying that it's "totally retarded."
-->'''Other player:''' And just so you know, it's not cool to use "retarded" in a pejorative manner.

* ReclaimedByNature: The team's Malibu house becomes buried in rose vines after Klara loses control of her powers in an accident involving a drone crash. What's left of the house ends up being destroyed shortly afterwards when the military invades the house to try and salvage the drone.
* ReinventingTheTelephone: An odd example. When the Wilders need to talk to the other members of the Pride, they use a Video-Phone, presumably just a convenient webcam, but the other couples all use a variant based on their area of expertise. The wizards have a mystical portal, the scientists have a Hologram, etc.

* TheReveal:
** When [[spoiler:Alex]] admits to being TheMole for the Pride.
** While vaguely hinted at earlier in Volume 1, it is revealed that Karolina likes Nico. After [[spoiler:Alex's betrayal]], when Nico claims she's sworn off boys forever, Karolina blushes and is very pleased to hear this. Karolina later tries to kiss Nico, unsuccessfully. It's implied much later, in Vol. 3 #10, that she did eventually get to (maybe).
* RewatchBonus: Rereading the first arc can be quite interesting after the revelation that Alex, who lead the Runaways into discovering the true nature of their parents, is actually TheMole and was using them the whole time.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The Pride have admittedly ''bought out most of California'', allowing them to do pretty much whatever the hell they want.
* SecretLegacy: The kids find out their parents are super villains and all get powers/items of importance from them.
* SecretlyGayActivity: During the "Dead Wrong" arc, Molly and Klara have a picnic together, and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210816093630/https://www.deviantart.com/ceeceeluvins/art/Runaways-series-3-ish-3-pg-13-103951678/ Klara at one point can be seen watching dreamily as Molly plays on the grass]]. Note also that at the time, the entire team was under a spell that rendered them mentally incapable of tolerating each other's presence for more than a few minutes unless another emotion interfered with the spell (like Karolina and Xavin's love for each other or Victor's unresolved feelings for Nico...)

* SinsOfOurFathers: Karolina gets hit with this twice - it is invoked while threatening her at the climax of Volume 1, and in the first arc of Volume 3 features are more drawn-out case (as she's being pursued for her parent's crimes).
* SixthRanger: After the first volume, the gang adds quite a few new faces to the crew: Victor (''Codename: Victorious (Future self)''), Xavin and Klara.
* SixthRangerTraitor: [[spoiler:Topher, when he reveals he's a vampire just out to eat them]].
* SleepingDummy: "[[LampshadeHanging What is our son doing with a male mannequin head in his room?]]"
* SoapboxSadie: Gert. She is first shown wanting to join the Communist Club at her school, and correcting her dads etymology.

* StableTimeLoop: In the time-travel arc. The Kingpin recruits the team to retrieve a device for a client, while Victor is given a cryptic message. The device turns out to be a time-travelling device by the Yorkes that sends the team to 1907. When the time comes for them to return, [[spoiler:the message turns out to be Victor asking Lillie to come with them to the present. Lillie refuses, and the client who orchestrated their time travel trip turns out to have been [[TheSlowPath Old Lillie]], who deeply regretted her choice]]. Thus, Lillie grows up to suffer the same fate.
* StartingANewLife: The third series opens with the team trying to establish a new home for themselves, having been driven out of the Hostel by Iron Man towards the end of the previous series.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: In the first issue of volume two, two unrelated characters comment on the lack of superheroes in LA, "except maybe ComicBook/WonderMan, and he don't count."
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Gert with Chase in the first volume. When they get together, it's much warmer.
* SuperSerum: Cloak and Dagger's backstory has a power-granting drug as their origin.

* SymbolSwearing: Most notably used by Chase at the penultimate issue of the original series, and by Karolina in the climactic battle in the second crossover with Young Avengers.
* TakeThat: When Molly sees Old Lace for the first time, this exchange happens:
-->'''Molly''': You have a dinosaur!
-->'''Gert''': Yeah, but it's a friendly dinosaur. Like Barney.
-->'''Molly''': I ''hate'' Barney!

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler:Alex]] attempts one to bring him back from the dead (though in actuality his friends would be transporting him from a moment before death into the future).
* TheirFirstTime: [[spoiler:Nico and Victor]] lose their virginity to one another, [[SexForSolace even though they immediately regret it]].
* ThrowAwayCountry: Karolina's [[DoomedHometown homeworld Majesdane]] was nuked by the Skrulls. When Xavin wonders why [[spoiler:Gerts']] death affects the team more, Karolina actually mentions that AMillionIsAStatistic.

* TimeTravel: Joss Whedon's arc. Gert's parents are also time travling criminals.

* UnhandThemVillain: Molly dodges this the ''second'' time the team face the Gibborim. "Put her down..and not, like, down your throat."
* UnionsSuck: Played with in the "Dead-End Kids" arc, in which the Runaways are sent back in time to the 1900's and Victor gets involved in a labor strike. On the one hand, the unions have criminal ties and aren't afraid to throw punches, but on the other hand, the cops and the industrialists are far worse, with the cops being xenophobes who enjoy beating up immigrants and the industrialists allowing their own workers to die in unsafe conditions to save money.

* VillainousParentalInstinct: The Pride were initially prepared to sacrifice all life on Earth to the Gibborim for twenty-plus years of obscene riches and power. When they started having kids, however, their modus operandi changed; instead of serving the Gibborim for their own ends, they continued to serve them in order to insure that their kids would be spared when the Gibborim carried out their plan to remake the world.
* VirtuousVegetarianism: Zigzagged. Karolina alludes to this trope when she points out her parents can't be evil because they're vegetarian...but they really are both vegetarian and evil. However, Karolina is a straight example as she's ''also'' vegetarian, and she's very much TheHeart of the team.

* VoodooZombie: The Rock Zombies. Although they turn out to be not actually undead, but rather people deformed and mind controlled by Magic. And then there's Dead George Pellham from the 1907 arc.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Subverted. The members of the Pride keep saying that they're building a better future for their children, but it turns out that [[spoiler:they literally mean just the six kids they spawned--the rest of humanity will die if all goes according to plan. Plus, the original deal with the Gibborim was that three of the couples would get to live eternally in paradise, so their motivations were purely selfish to begin with]]. Only the Yorkes seem to genuinely think they're doing the world as a whole a favor.
-->'''Stacy Yorkes:''' Before my dolt of a husband totaled our 4-D portico ''permanently,'' we visited ''thousands'' of possible futures, each worse than the last...The next generation deserves something ''new''...and that's exactly what we're going to give them.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** Addressed and played with in [[spoiler:Victor, whom Xavin at one point refers to as "the house android" because they don't understand Vic's relationship with the others at that point, which has actually gotten pretty comfortable]] and Xavin, the Skrull GenderBender.
** In Immonen's run, Victor raises the question of whether or not Klara should be treated as a regular human, since she is clearly something more than human and her powers are endangering the rest of the team. This earns him a DeathGlare from Molly, and the issue is not brought up again.
* WhamEpisode: Quite a few, especially towards the end of each long arc.
** Volume 1, issue 6: [[spoiler:There's a mole within the team]].
** Volume 1, issue 13: [[spoiler:The Pride's true motivations are revealed: their serving three gigantic monsters, possibly fallen angels, known as the Gibborim that want to extingish all life on earth, leaving only the six runaways, originally the six members of the pride the Gibborim favored the most before a pregnancy led to a change of plans, to inherit the earth]].
** Volume 1, issue 16: [[spoiler:Alex is revealed to be the Mole, right after gaining possession of the Fistagons, Chase's goggles, the staff of one, and Old Lace]].
** Volume 1, issue 17: [[spoiler:Alex reveals he found out not only what his parents were doing a year ago, but that the Deans and Hayes planned on betraying the rest of the Pride, and that he manipulated the team into finding their various equipment and/or abilities. Alex is then quickly dispatched and Molly destroys the vessel for the rite of thunder, leading to the Gibborim destroying the Pride and Alex]].
** Volume 2, issue 5 [[spoiler:Victor's "father" is revealed to be Ultron, not Doom as the previous issue suggested, who promptly takes control of him]].
** To a lesser extent Issue 6 revealing [[spoiler:Ultron's plans for Victor, that his love for superheroes was imbedded in him so that he'd become a hero/sleeper agent when he grew up and then slaughter them, as seen in the BadFuture, when a trigger is activated. Also Rick Jones was the one funding Excelsior]].
** Volume 2, issue 12 [[spoiler:The mysterious figures plotting against the Runaways reveal one of the team will die]].
** Volume 2, issue 18 [[spoiler:Gert is KilledOffForReal]].
** Volume 2, issue 27 [[spoiler:The mysterious individuals running the Sinners are the Yorkes]].
* WhiteGangBangers: Parodied in ''Teenage Wasteland'' - Nico complains that the group's disguises make them look the sort of politically correct gang that only shows up in bad TV shows.
%%* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Volume 1, issue #13
* WingShield: The team's onetime ally Tristan survived a massive non-nuclear explosion thanks to the large metal wings affixed to his back.
* WithOurSwordsScene: Given a clever twist when the character who receives the main character's equipment and powers [[spoiler: reveals that they've been the mole all along, and [[InvokedTrope deliberately]] orchestrated the scenario to play out this way]].

** The cover of Vol 2. #15 features Ultron, and he does appear...in a nightmare Victor was having. Strangely enough, the issues in which he ''does'' appear don't feature him on any cover.

* WorstAid: Analyzed and played straight. When it looks like [[spoiler: Chase is dead from being held under the water,]] the other kids all throw out different suggestions to bring him back to life, ranging from sucking the water out to the ''heimlich maneuver.'' They do use CPR, but none of them can remember how many compressions to give him. It does cross over into CPRCleanPrettyReliable territory when it brings him back fully even though his heart had been stopped for several minutes.
%%* YoureInsane
* YouHaveFailedMe: Lieutenant Flores in the first volume's last arc, after an unsanctioned attempt to bring in the kids nearly gets them killed [[spoiler:and destroys the first Hostel]]. Alex's dad is waiting for him [[spoiler:when the cops get him out of the rubble]], and is ''not'' happy.
--> "Oh thank God. [[TemptingFate I thought I was dead.]]"\\
"[[PreMortemOneLiner And for once, you were right.]]" *shotgun*
* YouWatchTooMuchX: When the team discovers Karolina's powers, Alex suggests that her Med-Alert bracelet is made of something that inhibits them. He gets halfway through the word "Kryptonite" before Chase cuts him off. "You've been watching too many [[{{Series/Smallville}} WB shows]], bro."

Brian K. Vaughn made ''Runaways'' to break away from many of the normal superhero conventions. The members do not have costumes, codenames, or a solid team name. While all the members besides Alex ''did'' attempt to adopt codenames, it didn't stick. The series also mocks the idea of {{Catch Phrase}}s, such as "Hulk smash!", "It's clobberin time!", and "Avengers assemble!". They mainly fight in their street clothes and go by their given names, and never do they call themselves "Runaways" (it's what others call them, and that was a {{retcon}}). And though the lineup has changed, there have always been at least twice as many women as men.

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008: Runaways[=/=]Young Avengers'': Another crossover with the ''Young Avengers'' in which Xavin's old mentor is sent to kill Hulkling.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersAI'': Co-starring Victor Mancha, who joins the team created by Hank Pym to take down rogue AIs.
* ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'': An AlternateUniverse Runaways miniseries written by [[Webcomic/{{Nimona}} ND]] [[ComicBook/{{Lumberjanes}} Stevenson]], featuring Molly Hayes and a completely different group of characters like [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Valeria Richards]], [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Amadeus Cho]], ComicBook/CloakAndDagger and ComicBook/BuckyBarnes. The mini-series followed their adventures across Battleworld after discovering their school in TheCity is really an AcademyOfEvil, prompting them to [[RecycledPremise run away]]. For tropes about this series, go [[ComicBook/Runaways2015 here]].

* AlienInvasion: The team gets wrapped up in a ComicBook/SecretInvasion tie-in, along with Hulkling, Wiccan and Speed of the ComicBook/YoungAvengers.

* AllYourPowersCombined - In the final battle of the original series, [[spoiler:Alex ends up in control of Chase's fire-blasting gauntlets, Nico's Staff of One, ''and'' Gertrude's psychic connection to Old Lace. All of which would have been much more helpful if he weren't secretly working for his parents. He had no way to take Molly or Karolina's inborn abilities, but it's still a pretty impressive accomplishment for somebody with no powers of his own.]]

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Discussed, while Karolina is mourning one of her friends Xavin points out that [[spoiler:their entire planet was destroyed.]] If one person dying is tragic then a million people dying must be a million times more tragic.

* TheArtifact: Old Lace's name. It makes sense when the person she has telepathic link to calls her self Theatre/{{Arsenic|AndOldLace}}. After she drops the code name... not so much. It does get a LampShadeHanging though.

* BaldOfAuthority: KnightTemplar example - Geoffrey Wilder fits the dscription to a T and is the defacto 'leader' of the Pride.

* BuffySpeak: Tons of it, especially when Whedon is writing. Not surprising, when Vaghun was a big fan of the TropeNamer, and Whedon is the ''creator'' of said namer.

** Alex, the original team leader, is first seen playing an MMORPG. He's shown to be a brilliant strategist who struggles when other players don't take the game as seriously as he does. This ends up foreshadowing a major plot twist: [[spoiler:he dies after betraying the team, because he fails to anticipate that his teammates would all stick together rather than any of them breaking off and joining him to save themselves.]]

* TheChessmaster:
** Alex Wilder. His mother mentions early on that Alex is a prodigy when it comes to logic and strategy, and Alex proves the truth of those words when he reveals that [[spoiler:he was mapulating his friends from the beginning, all so he and his parents could kill off the rest of the Pride and live forever in Paradise.]]
** Turns out he gets it from his dad. We discover this when [[spoiler: a time-displaced Geoffery Wilder manipulates Alex's old online friends into forming a new Pride]].

* CompetenceZone: Anyone over a certain age is useless, even super heroes. ComicBook/SpiderMan managed to get a cool big brother spot, though, and ComicBook/CloakAndDagger have some competence (because their {{backstory}} is that they were also runaways). This is subverted with Molly. Everyone treats her as naive and weak, needing protection, but she is really powerful and knows a lot more than she lets on.

* CopeByPretending: Molly copes with the fact that her late parents were supervillains by imagining that they're still alive and not evil. This illusion is shattered after [[spoiler:she gets kidnapped by one of her parents' surviving victims. And then she has her heart broken all over again when she discovers that her Mad Scientist grandmother has been trying to make clones of her parents.]]
* CopHater: The team is generally anti-cop, because the cops used to be on the payroll of the Pride. Later members Victor, Xavin, and Klara aren't too fond of cops, either, since Victor and Xavin were tortured at the hands of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}. during ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' and Klara hails from a time when the cops harassed immigrants like her with impunity.

* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: [[spoiler: Gert gives Chase CPR after he nearly drowns. He's in no shape to move immediately afterwards, but recovers quickly enough to hotwire the Leapfrog and interrupt the big fight.]]

** In two out of the three {{Crisis Crossover}}s (''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'') they were involved in they were forced to team up with the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers''. The remaining one (''Mystic Arcanna'') was a solo adventure of Nico's.

*** ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'': Where Victor is the only one alive after Ultron killed off the rest of the Runaways.
*** ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'': Where Nico reveals [[spoiler: she saved Old Lace by shunting her into a parallel universe which has the same magic signature as Reptil's amulet.]] Karolina also begins dating [[ComicBook/PowerPack Julie Power]].

*** ''ComicBook/BattleOfTheAtom'': Where a future Molly Hayes [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn is a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants]]. She turns out to be brainwashed, however.]]

*** ''ComicBook/CloakAndDagger'': The titular heros mistake The Runaways for criminals.
*** ''ComicBook/AllNewXMen'': The Molly Hayes from ''Battle of the Atom'' returns, [[spoiler: along with the rest of the future Brotherhood.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Everyone gets snarky lines, especially with Joss Whedon writing them. Mostly Gert, though. She gets the most.

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Victor using a neighbour's unprotected Wi-Fi to pirate music may or may not have caused a plane to crash into the Malibu house [[spoiler:killing Old Lace, though Chase survived.]]

* DrivingStick: Karolina has her drivers licence, but cannot drive a stick shift. HilarityEnsues (and much cursing about the impossibility of stick shifts) when she has to drive Chase's van.

* EveryonesBabySister: Molly and Klara fill this role, to varying degrees - Molly is ''everyone's'' baby sister, but Klara is more of a little sister to Nico and Karolina, while Chase and Victor treat her more like a Ladette. Oddly enough, the baby sister aura even seems to affect other people in the Marvel universe - for instance, during ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', Speed of the ComicBook/YoungAvengers literally went out of his way to keep Molly and Klara safe during a battle with the Skrulls. While he knew (and played around with) Molly during their previous team-up, Klara was brand-new.

* FaceHeelTurn: Molly Hayes' future counterpart is a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants in a crossover with ''ComicBook/AllNewXMen'' during ''Battle of the Atom'', and again during a story arc beginning in #26. [[spoiler:It turns out she's brainwashed, however]].

* {{Frameup}}: One of the opening salvos between The Pride and The Runaways is to frame them for all their murders.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The Gibborim in the inital run. They provided the Pride with their power in exchange for their services, namely performing rituals [[spoiler:so the Gibborim will have the power to wipe out humanity.]]

** Karolina is gay and [[spoiler:likes Nico. Nico, however, is not -- or at the very least very confused.]]

* KiddieKid: Molly acts younger than her true age, [[TheFakeCutie intentionally]], because it gets her attention and makes her feel loved. Plus, it gets adults to underestimate her. Which is useful, because if the emphasis is on the "cute" in CuteBruiser, then people aren't expecting it when the cute little girl tosses them across the block (just ask ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}). This did lead to a brief storyline in one run where she wonders if she's doomed herself to ''always'' be seen as this by the rest of the group, however, and contemplates whether she should take a friend's FountainOfYouth offer.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: To preserve their secret, the Pride wipe memories from Cloak and Dagger. At least they use telepathy, legitimizing the trope. [[spoiler:But then Cloak regains his memories after a [[FonzarelliFix swift smack on the head]] from ComicBook/LukeCage, and this is played totally straight.]]

* LivesInAVan: The Runaways have frequently been reduced to living out of their Leapfrog, presumably because it's hard to get a home loan when you're wanted by ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Chase goes off the deep end after Gert dies. He gets better.]]

* MetallicarSyndrome: {{Averted|Trope}} but [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] early, where Chase drives the Runaways around and one of them complains about how uncool his plain white van is; he responds that he got it on purpose because a plain white van is the most inconspicuous vehicle possible.

* {{Mons}}: Old Lace is an empathically bonded velociraptor genetically engineered from the 87nd century for Gert. She's at her beck and call.

* MovingBeyondBereavement: The last two arcs of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run involve the team learning to move on from the death of [[spoiler: their teammate Gert.]]

%%* OpponentSwitch: [[spoiler:how the final battle against the Pride goes.]]
* OppositesAttract: [[spoiler:Gert and Chase, a nerd and a jock.]]

* PutOnABus: Xavin and Karolina went through this for a time, leaving in order to get to know each other and get married. They returned and rejoined the team fairly quickly, [[spoiler:then Xavin left and there's no sign yet of their return]]

* SecretlyGayActivity: During the "Dead Wrong" arc, Molly and Klara have a picnic together, and [[https://www.deviantart.com/ceeceeluvins/art/Runaways-series-3-ish-3-pg-13-103951678/ Klara at one point can be seen watching dreamily as Molly plays on the grass]]. Note also that at the time, the entire team was under a spell that rendered them mentally incapable of tolerating each other's presence for more than a few minutes unless another emotion interfered with the spell (like Karolina and Xavin's love for each other or Victor's unresolved feelings for Nico...)

* ShipTease: Nico and Karolina's on-again off-again UnresolvedSexualTension. Of course, Karolina is canonically gay and has expressed her feelings for Nico. Toned down when Xavin enters the picture but comes back full force after they're [[spoiler:PutOnABus while disguised as Karolina to answer for the crimes of Karolina's parents.]] It is even hinted that Nico might have feelings for Karolina and is jealous of Xavin. She seems slightly disappointed to learn that they are still together upon their return to Earth. Nico later tries to undermine their relationship by asking if Xavin's female form is their TrueSelf. She also confesses in a game of "Truth or Dare" that out of all the people she had kissed, Karolina was the best kisser.

** In addition, Music/TheWho get a shout or two: the "hope I die" quotation from Alex, as well as one of the story arcs being called "Teenage Wasteland."
** Not to mention Molly's affection for [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs]].
** And at one point in Volume 2, Issue 6 Nico shouts, [[Music/PinkFloyd "Shine on you crazy diamond!"]]
** Don't forget [[Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace Gert's codename and her dinosaur's name]].
** Not to mention ''Karolina's codename'', [[Music/TheBeatles Lucy in the Sky...with Diamonds]].

* SpiritAdvisor: In one arc, [[spoiler:Alex]] anonymously gives the Runaways a few vital clues from [[spoiler:TheNothingAfterDeath.]]
* StableTimeLoop: In the time-travel arc. The Kingpin recruits the team to retrieve a device for a client, while Victor is given a cryptic message. The device turns out to be a time-travelling device by the Yorkes that sends the team to 1907. When the time comes for them to return, [[spoiler:the message turns out to be Victor asking Lillie to come with them to the present. Lillie refuses, and the client who orchestrated their time travel trip turns out to have been [[TheSlowPath Old Lillie]], who deeply regretted her choice.]] Thus, Lillie grows up to suffer the same fate.

* StevenUlyssesPerhero: A mad scientist named [[{{Literature/Frankenstein}} Victor Stein.]]

--> ''Nico'': Runaways! Runaway!

* VacationCrossover: The second crossover between ''Runaways'' and ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' begins with the Runaways taking a rare trip to New York and getting stuck in the middle of ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. After seeing their fellow Skrulls searching for a supposed "false prince", Xavin quickly deduces that they're looking for Hulkling (the half-Skrull son of a princess) and thus ditches their team in order to find and protect him, forcing the other Runaways to go bail Xavin out.

* VillainDecay: When the Gibborim are first introduced they are powerful, nearly all-knowing fallen angels who were out to destroy the world, and they could've have replaced any members of the Pride, and ultimately kill the entire Pride when they failed them. However, when the Gibborim resurface in the Live Fast storyarc, they are reduced to monsters trapped in a weird purgatory dimension and are completely dependant on mortals bringing them sacrifices just to sustain themselves. And a direct hit from one of their fire blasts (which disentegrated Alex onscreen earlier) merely stuns Xavin this time. Even the kid's mocking attitudes reflect this, with only Victor showing any fear at their presence. And Nico only mentions that they killed Alex as a testament to their power, nothing about them killing the Pride.

** Chase pukes on-panel after [[spoiler:Old Lace saves him from falling to his death after the explosion.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Subverted. The members of the Pride keep saying that they're building a better future for their children, but it turns out that [[spoiler:they literally mean just the six kids they spawned--the rest of humanity will die if all goes according to plan. Plus, the original deal with the Gibborim was that three of the couples would get to live eternally in paradise, so their motivations were purely selfish to begin with.]] Only the Yorkes seem to genuinely think they're doing the world as a whole a favor.

** Volume 1, issue 6: [[spoiler:There's a mole within the team.]]
** Volume 1, issue 13: [[spoiler:The Pride's true motivations are revealed: their serving three gigantic monsters, possibly fallen angels, known as the Gibborim that want to extingish all life on earth, leaving only the six runaways, originally the six members of the pride the Gibborim favored the most before a pregnancy led to a change of plans, to inherit the earth.]]
** Volume 1, issue 16: [[spoiler:Alex is revealed to be the Mole, right after gaining possession of the Fistagons, Chase's goggles, the staff of one, and Old Lace.]]
** Volume 1, issue 17: [[spoiler:Alex reveals he found out not only what his parents were doing a year ago, but that the Deans and Hayes planned on betraying the rest of the Pride, and that he manipulated the team into finding their various equipment and/or ablities. Alex is then quickly dispatched and Molly destroys the vessel for the rite of thunder, leading to the Gibborim destroying the Pride and Alex. ]]
** Volume 2, issue 5 [[spoiler:Victor's "father" is revealed to be Ultron, not Doom as the previous issue suggested, who promptly takes control of him.]]
** To a lesser extent Issue 6 revealing [[spoiler:Ultron's plans for Victor, that his love for supeheroes was imbedded in him so that he'd become a hero/sleeper agent when he grew up and then slaughter them, as seen in the BadFuture, when a trigger is activated. Also Rick Jones was the one funding excelsior]]
** Volume 2, issue 12 [[spoiler:The mysterious figures plotting against the Runaways reveal one of the team will die.]]
** Volume 2, issue 18 [[spoiler:Gert is KilledOffForReal.]]
** Volume 2, issue 27 [[spoiler:The mysterious individuals running the Sinners are the Yorkes.]]

** Much like the original Marvel teen hero, a majority of the series revolves around them encountering B-villains and having teamups. Many of Marvel's most popular heroes have made cameos in the series, most of whom have some idea about what is best for the teens. When Wolverine himself made an appearance it was only a brief one, but was lampshaded by ComicBook/IronMan (Who was also cameoing) who commented that it was the third time this week the two had run into each other. Soon afterwards, Wolverine [[TheWorfEffect was beaten up and thrown through a church door by Molly]] after a series of comic misunderstandings and a request to be allowed to touch his hair (Hey, Molly might be smarter than she looks, but she is still a kid, and he is ''Wolverine.'' You would want to touch his hair, too).
** The cover of Vol 2. #15 features Ultron, and he does appear...in a nightmare Victor was having. Strangely enough, in the issues in which he ''does'' appear don't feature him in any cover.

* StylishSunhats: Played with. Klara's first on-panel appearance in years shows her in a nice sunhat, demonstrating that she's now richer than most of her friends (which is ironic, because she used to be the poorest member of the team).

* ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion: Runaways[=/=]Young Avengers'': Another crossover with the ''Young Avengers'' in which Xavin's old mentor is sent to kill Hulkling.

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006: Young Avengers[=/=]Runaways'': A crossover with the ''Young Avengers'' in which they team up against a brainwashed Noh-Varr.

* CopHater: The team is generally anti-cop, because the cops used to be on the payroll of the Pride. Later members Victor, Xavin, and Klara aren't too fond of cops, either, since Victor and Xavin were tortured at the hands of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}. during ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and Klara hails from a time when the cops harassed immigrants like her with impunity.

** In two out of the three {{Crisis Crossover}}s (''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'') they were involved in they were forced to team up with the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers''. The remaining one (''Mystic Arcanna'') was a solo adventure of Nico's.

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Imagine if your parents were {{superhero}}es! More than that, imagine that, one day, you and your friends discover that your and their parents were a secret organization of superheroes! Sure, they don't cry out for attention like Comicbook/TheAvengers, but that's okay, right?

* CompetenceZone: Anyone over a certain age is useless, even super heroes. Franchise/SpiderMan managed to get a cool big brother spot, though, and ComicBook/CloakAndDagger have some competence (because their {{backstory}} is that they were also runaways). This is subverted with Molly. Everyone treats her as naive and weak, needing protection, but she is really powerful and knows a lot more than she lets on.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Vaughn was never shy about acknowledging the debt the series took from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', enough to welcome Creator/JossWhedon himself to write an arc.

* OffModel: Volume 3. It slowly gets better, but at first it was as if the artist had never seen a non-white person. The exaggerated style did not help things compared to the more solid or anime-inspired styles of the past.

''Runaways'' is unique among superhero stories in that it eschews much of the normal superhero concepts. The members do not have costumes, codenames, or a solid team name. While all the members besides Alex ''did'' attempt to adopt codenames, it didn't stick. The series also mocks the idea of {{Catch Phrase}}s, such as "Hulk smash!", "It's clobberin time!", and "Avengers assemble!". They mainly fight in their street clothes and go by their given names, and never do they call themselves "Runaways" (it's what others call them, and that was a {{retcon}}). Also, possibly the most unique of all, is that unlike most superhero teams, the women outnumber the men. At the start, there are four females, plus a female dinosaur, and two males. While there have been lineup shifts, the female members have ''always'' held a majority and it's been at least double their male counterparts. All of this was due to Brian K. Vaughn's attempt to break down superhero clichés with this series.

** In the alternate future seen in Volume 2, Victor as Victorious' appearance and MO is exactly like [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Syndrome]]. Killing all superheroes? A black one piece costume with domino mask and the first letter of his codename? Electricity-based powers?

In 2017, the series would be relaunched under the penmanship of young adult author Creator/RainbowRowell. See ''ComicBook/RunawaysRainbowRowell'' for details on the new series.

* ''ComicBook/CivilWar: Young Avengers[=/=]Runaways'': A crossover with the ''Young Avengers'' in which they team up against a brainwashed Noh-Varr.