A new issue of What If…? just came out, and it asked what would have happened if the Runaways had not run away at all and stayed with their parents, the villainous Pride. Marvel is celebrating the 50th anniversary of What If…? comics, and Marvel announced eight one-shot comic books taking place in the world of these alternate universe stories. These books included looks at what would have happened if Cyclops had not left Madelyne Pryor, if the symbiote bonded to Thor instead of Spider-Man, if the Ultimate Universe survived “Secret Wars,” if Jessica Jones was bitten by the spider, if Captain America was thawed in 2099, if Professor X was never born and Cassandra Nova was, and a new spin of “Kraven’s Last Hunt.”
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This week, the issue was titled “What if The Runaways Hadn’t Run Away.” While most of these stories end in tragedy, this one actually didn’t, and it ended with the Watcher making a shocking statement about the teenage superhero team. There is no Earth in the multiverse where they acquiesce to their parents’ plans.
No Variants of the Runaways Ever Allow the World to End
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
The Pride was the covert ruler of Los Angeles’ underworld for a quarter of a century. This villain group in hiding included time travelers, telepaths, aliens, mad scientists, and dark wizards. They pulled all the strings on events in the world for years while living in plain sight with their families. It was their family that led to their downfall when their kids saw their parents sacrificing someone to the six-fingered mystical giant deities known as the Gibborim. The kids ran away and became heroes, eventually stopping their parents’ plan to enact the Rite of Thunder, which would destroy the world. This led to their parents’ deaths, as well as the death of Runaways member Alex Wilder, who betrayed his friends.
However, in this version of the story, the kids didn’t run away when they saw what their parents were doing that fateful night. Instead of running away, they let their parents explain, and their parents told the kids about their destiny. The Runaways didn’t hit the streets, and their parents never framed them for murder. Instead, they trained them to prepare them for their fates and to teach them how to properly use their powers. The parents would rule the world for 25 years, and then their children would inherit the Earth.
However, in the end, these kids would still not be corrupted. Alex was their leader, which was ominous, knowing what he did to his friends in the main timeline. Molly was still the most innocent of the entire team, the youngest, and the one who wanted more than anything for them to be superheroes. Their mission here was simple. They broke Victor Mancha out of a secure prison. Since they had never formed, Victor never became a hero either, and he agreed to help their parents with the mission to kill the Avengers.
However, after they freed Victor Mancha, the rest of the Runaways began to question things. From Victor slaughtering all the guards to his mission to kill the Avengers, only Alex was still intent on fulfilling their destiny. However, in this timeline, he wasn’t betraying the Runaways. He was betraying their parents because he knew the true result of what their destiny would include.
The Runaways Were Not True Heroes in This New World
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
In the main timeline, Alex wanted to help his parents fulfill their destiny of bringing down the world, and he betrayed the Runaways to do so. He died in that final moment when the Runaways won the battle, and the Gibborim killed the Pride and Alex. Here, he was the one who opened his teammates’ eyes. He asked if they were proud and ready for all their next missions, butchering people non-stop so the Gibborim could usher in the new age. He then asked them if they want to live for eternity on an empty planet with only apocalyptic elder gods as company.
This was a case where the ultimate plan of the Pride would never come to pass. Karolina said she wanted to escape to space after her parents died. Gertrude wanted to escape to the past. When Nico asked what they were going to do, he said that they should betray their parents and stop the Gibborim, even if it meant their parents would die. When Chase asked if it would make them heroes, Gertrude said they would save the world so they could then run it. They weren’t corrupted by the Pride, but they weren’t heroes. They saved the world, though. As the Watcher said in the end, “There is no world where the children of the Pride simply acquiesce to their parents’ plans. Their parents always make the mistake of raising them to think for themselves.”
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