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Now imagine that, about five seconds after discovering this, you find out that they are actually super''villains''. Imagine you discover this when you see them kill a teenage girl and place her soul in a jar. Suddenly, you and your friends are in a very different situation. Your parents are supervillains and you are next in line to the family name.
 
This is how we are introduced to the [[Marvel Comics (Creator)|Marvel Comics]] series ''[[Runaways (Comic Book)|Runaways]]''. Chase, Alex, Nico, Karolina, Molly, and Gert are old acquaintances. Once a year, their rich parents meet up and hold a charity meeting, and they are stuck in the family room to play while the parents discuss grown up stuff. But one year, when the parents were having their meeting, Alex discovers a secret passageway which allows them to see what really happens in their meetings. They discover their parents are a [[Legion of Doom|secret organisation]] called The Pride.
 
After discovering this, the children run away from home and set up a hideaway called The Hostel. During their escape, one by one, they [[New Super Power|discover powers and abilities]] that they have inherited from their parents. But will they use these powers to become heroes, or will they follow in their parents' footsteps?
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With these new powers, a team of supervillains working for their own mysterious goals, and a large superhero community that is convinced it knows what is best for these kids, these friends are thrown into the [[Marvel Universe]] to survive however they can. Even if that means they are on the run forever.
 
Not to be confused with ''[[wikipedia:The Runaways chr(28)filmchr(29)|The Runaways]]'', a film starring [[Dakota Fanning]] and [[Kristen Stewart]], or the [[The Runaways (Music)|real-life band]] that the film is based on. To avoid this confusion, the upcoming film has been retitled ''Small Faces'', which ironically is the name of [[The Small Faces (Music)|another band]]. A [http://smallfacescasting.com/ casting call] has gone out for a movie based on the series.
 
Check out [[Runaways (Comic Book)/Characters|the character sheet]] to learn more about the individual runaways.
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{{quote| '''Victor''': Holy...did you see how high I jumped?<br />
'''Nico''': Yeah...did you see how high my heels are? (Kicks him in the face) Look closely. }}
* [[Competence Zone]]: Anyone over a certain age is useless, even super heroes. [[Spider-Man (Franchise)|Spider-Man]] managed to get a cool big brother spot, though, and [[Cloak and Dagger (Comic Bookcomics)|Cloak and Dagger]] 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.
* [[CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable]]: {{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.}}
* [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]: Averted. Molly is actually quite happy to discover she's a mutant. Similarly, {{spoiler|Victor doesn't at all seem to mind finding out that he's a robot, although that might be because he was too busy being traumatized about the circumstances around the revelation}}. Only Karolina is upset by her non-human origin, but even then it only takes a few seconds for her to be distracted by how awesome her powers actually are.
* [[Cute Bruiser]]: Molly is ''the'' [[Cute Bruiser]], in that her code name is "Bruiser" and she is adorable.
* [[Crossover]]: ''Runaways'' has its own plotlines, but it seems like it is also open house for every other Marvel character to appear.
** Not to mention in two out of the three [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]] (''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' and ''[[Secret Invasion]]'') they were involved in they were forced to team up with the ''[[Young Avengers]]''. The remaining one (''[[Mystic Arcanna]]'') was a solo adventure of Nico's.
*** Recently, after their own ongoing series was 'put on haitus' they have appeared in ''Daken:[[Dark Wolverine]]'' where {{spoiler|Chase explains what happened after he was hospitalized in a car accident with "I got better"}} and ''[[Avengers Academy]]'' where {{spoiler|Nico reveals she saved Old Lace by shunting him into a paralell universe which has the same magic signature as Reptil's amulet}}
* [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]]: Molly once had an issue revolve around her and some kidnapped children.)
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Everyone, but mostly Gert.
* [[Deal Withwith the Devil]]: Well, with the [[Half-Human Hybrid]] descendants of fallen angels.
* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: 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, completely misses the implications of Klara saying that she does not enjoy her "marital duties". ("He makes you do ''chores''?")
* [[Department of Child Disservices]]: Portrayed as incompetent in the series. Karolina, for instance, is placed with drug-addicted foster parents who don't notice her disappearance.
* [[Depending Onon the Artist]]: Especially striking with recent Chase and Victor. Some people didn't even recognize the latter in Pichelli's rendition.
* [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]]: Seriously. Victor using a neighbour's unprotected Wi-Fi to pirate music may or may have not caused a plane to crash into the Malibu house {{spoiler|killing Old Lace, though Chase survived.}}
* [[Discount Lesbians]]: Karolina and Xavin. Karolina is the traditional embodiment of the trope, an alien, whereas Xavin (Who is also an alien) compounds the issue by also being a [[Gender Bender|shape-shifter]].
* [[Distracted Byby My Own Sexy]]: Played with. When Karolina is fighting Lightspeed of Excelsior, they stop to compliment each other on their beauty. Used to [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshade]] the resemblance between the two characters in both their powered and non-powered forms.
** Not the first time that their similarities have been pointed out. Karolina's powers got the Runaways mistaken for [[Power Pack]], of which Lightspeed was a member.
* [[Ditto Aliens]]: Mrs. Dean makes a comment about how all the Skrull look alike to her.
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* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: The original Hostel was an entire mansion underground, though some of the Pride facilities are more standard versions of this setting.
* [[Even the Girls Want Her]]: Karolina's not alone in finding Nico attractive. Some goth girls and the evil witch from Nico's Mystic Arcana tie-in are seen expressing sexual interest in her.
* [[Everything's Better Withwith Dinosaurs]]: Old Lace
* [[Evil Parents Want Good Kids]]
* [[Evil Power Vacuum]]: LA from volume two onwards: with the Pride gone, minor supervillains are pouring in, wanting either to replace the Pride or simply take advantage of an easy target.
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* [[First Kiss]]: The first one in the series is between {{spoiler|Nico and Alex}}. Later on in Volume 1, we get a [[Kiss of Life]] (see below) between {{spoiler|Gert and Chase}}, which soon becomes the real deal.
* [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]]: Used twice. Happened first with {{spoiler|Geoffrey Wilder}} but made moot at a later point of the story because his [[Easy Amnesia|memory was erased]]. Now current with {{spoiler|Klara}} who is still adjusting.
* [[Fun Withwith Acronyms]]: Karolina's code name, "'''L'''ucy in the '''S'''ky with '''D'''iamonds", referencing [[The Beatles (Musicband)|The Beatles]] song.
* [[Gender Bender]]: When Xavin finds out {{spoiler|Karolina is a lesbian, and that is why they can't be together,}} he nonchalantly informs her that Skrull can change their gender as easily as humans can change their hair, and [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshifts]] into a woman.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Chase's not-so-subtle joke regarding his girlfriend in Volume 2, Issue #1.
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{{quote| '''Spider-Man:''' Ah, hellfire. When regular fire just simply won't do.}}
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: The "blue screen of death" is referenced by name. Also a more literal example than most cases, as {{spoiler|Victor is actually a cyborg.}}
* [[How Dare You Die Onon Me!]]: Gender flipped with {{spoiler|Chase's reaction to Gert's death.}}
* [[How Did You Know? I Didn't.]]: Twice - 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}}. Played for laughs in volume three.
* [[Human Aliens]]: Majesdanians in their powered-down form look just like H. Sapes. Powered up, they look like humans in a particularly overlit nightclub.
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* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Nearly all the collected editions have titles that reference songs.
* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Karolina and Nico.
* [[Irony]]: Early on in the series, the Runaways encounter a {{spoiler|vampire}} who dupes them into thinking he's in the same situation as they are. When he {{spoiler|gets Nico alone and tries to turn her, he gets stabbed through the chest with her staff. When she seems surprised that he hasn't dusted, he tells her "Whedon got it wrong," and that the only thing that would kill him is sunlight.}} [[Joss Whedon (Creator)|Joss Whedon]], of course, later joined the writing staff.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Chase, Xavin
* [[Just a Machine]]: Victor gets this a lot especially from Xavin early on.
* [[The Kid Withwith the Remote Control]]: Gert
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|Alex, Gert, and Old Lace,}} though as of the last issue it looks like {{spoiler|Gert and Old Lace}} might come back.
** {{spoiler|Old Lace? Yes (''[[Avengers Academy]]' #27-28 contains the story of how). Gert? Not so much}}
* [[Kiss of Life]]: {{spoiler|Gert and Chase's}} [[First Kiss]] (above) is one of these.
* [[Knight Templar Parent]]: 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 [[Deal Withwith the Devil]] to the kids. {{spoiler|Not everyone is planning to honor this arrangement.}} And being a [[Knight Templar Parent]] 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.
* [[Kuudere]]: Gert
* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: 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 [[Fonzarelli Fix|swift smack on the head]] from [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire]], and this is played totally straight.}}
* [[Literal Genie]]: The "Staff Of One"
* [[Logic Bomb]]: Poor {{spoiler|Victor}}; justified in that it's a deliberate failsafe. And the logic bomb itself (and the reset switch) are ''hilarious''.
* [[Looking for Love In All Thethe Wrong Places]]: Nico has a track record of bad guy boyfriends and failed relationships.
* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: {{spoiler|Chase goes off the deep end after Gert dies. He gets better.}}
* [[Mad Scientist]]
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* [[Opponent Switch]]
* [[Opposites Attract]]: {{spoiler|Gert and Chase}}
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]] : Lampshaded with a smug reference to ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' creator Joss Whedon - and how he "[[Your Vampires Suck|got it wrong]]". Ironic, since Whedon eventually ended up ''writing the series''.
** That comment was likely more of a friendly joke. Around the same time Whedon took over Runaways, Brian K. Vaughan took over writing the Buffy comic. They traded.
* [[Perky Goth]]: Nico
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* [[The Power of Love]]: In the recent ''Dead Wrong'' arc
** {{spoiler|Subverted in the case of Victor and Lillie. 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.}}
* [[Pretty Fly for Aa White Guy]]: Chase occasionally calls Alex "bro", much to the latter's irritation. Later, he calls Victor "amigo", getting a similar chilly response.
* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: {{spoiler|Xavin, and Karolina before that}} Though she came back surprisingly fast for this trope.
* [[Reinventing the Telephone]]
* [[The Reveal]]: When {{spoiler|Alex}} admits to being [[The Mole]] (above) for the Pride.
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* [[Sex for Solace]]: Nico has a self-admitted tendency to throw herself at the nearest male in the aftermath of any stressful or traumatic scenario, although she does not progress to [[Their First Time|actual sex]] until well into the second volume of the series. She knows it is not healthy and is not fair to herself ''or'' whomever she throws herself at, but she cannot seem to break the pattern.
* [[Shapeshifting Seducer]]
* [[Shipper Onon Deck]]: Most of the group was this for Gert and Chase. After the two have a fight, Karolina assures Chase that they'll make up and "You two are made for each other!"
* [[Shout-Out]]: Three characters are named after creator Brian K. Vaughan's family. In addition, [[The Who (Music)|The Who]] 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 [[Calvin and Hobbes (Comic Strip)|Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs]].
** And at one point in Volume 2, Issue 6 Nico shouts, [[Pink Floyd (Music)|"Shine on you crazy diamond!"]]
** Don't forget [[Arsenic and Old Lace|Gert's codename and her dinosaur's name]].
** Not to mention ''Karolina's nickname'', [[The Beatles (Musicband)|Lucy in the Sky...with Diamonds]].
** When asked what he was dreaming about, Victor answered '[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep|electric sheep]]'.
** Also, one of the story arcs is called Pride and Joy, which may be a reference to a Stevie Ray Vaughn song.
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** Victor Mancha owns a copy of Rick Jones's ([[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Incredible Hulk]] character) book ''Sidekick.''
*** On top of that the copy is even beaten up as though it was published a while ago (the 90s to be precise).
** In the alternate future of volume 4, Victor as Victorious' appearance and MO is exactly like [[The Incredibles (Animation)|Syndrome]]. Killing all superheroes? A black one piece costume with domino mask and the first letter of his codename? Electricity-based powers?
** When Victor first meets the team, he calls them the [[Teen Girl Squad (Web Animation)|Teen Girl Squad]].
** [[James Dean]] and ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]''.
* [[Sins of Our Fathers]] - Karolina gets hit with this in the first arc of Volume 3.
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* [[Spirit Advisor]]: In one arc, {{spoiler|Alex}} anonymously gives the Runaways a few vital clues from {{spoiler|[[The Nothing After Death]].}}
* [[Steampunk]]: The Yorkes are rife with it, at least as far as their technology is concerned.
* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: A mad scientist named [[Frankenstein (Literaturenovel)|Victor Stein.]]
* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: In the first issue of volume two, two unrelated characters comment on the lack of superheroes in LA, "except maybe [[Wonder Man]], and he don't count."
* [[Super Serum]]: Cloak and Dagger's backstory.
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* [[Time Travel]]
* [[Title Drop]]: Pretty frequently
* [[Tonight Someone Dies]]: Twice so far. The first was the good way to execute this trope--lots of twists and turns before a really meaningful death. The second was more gimmicky and [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him]]. (Protip: the best way to do this is if the death happens near the ''end'' of the arc, rather than the beginning.)
* [[Totally Radical]]: Most notably for the use of 'rents instead of parents.
* [[True Companions]]
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{{quote| "Oh thank God. [[Tempting Fate|I thought I was dead.]]"<br />
"[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|And for once, you were right.]]" *shotgun* }}
* [[You Watch Too Much X]]: When the team discovers Karolina's powers, Alex suggests her that her Med-Alert braclet 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 [[Smallville (TV)|WB shows]], bro."
* [[Your Vampires Suck]]: Ironically aimed at Joss Whedon, who later ended up writing for the book.
 
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