In Marvel Comics, the Runaways roster had a few core members with other teens coming and going from the group in new volumes of the story. With only three seasons of the Hulu live-action television series, it doesn’t seem like fans will get to see additions to the group of super-powered teens.
The main cast of Runaways features six teens, though there were a few more additions over the course of the series. Not everyone has special powers, but they certainly all have special skills. Each member of the Runaways has a place in the group, from least to most powerful.
Alex Wilder
Leading off the list is one of the few members of the group who has no superpowers to speak of. What Alex lacks in superpower, however, he makes up for in intelligence and connections.
Alex is something of a tech wiz, able to figure out his way around security systems and firewalls with relative ease. He also made some powerful friends in local gangs, so if he ever needed a hand with less than legal activities, he knew where to go. Of course, none of that compares to the sheer power the rest of his friends have when confronted by an enemy.
Chase Stein
Like Alex, Chase Stein doesn’t have superpowers. Unlike Alex, however, Chase does give himself a bit of an edge in a fight.
Chase has a similar working knowledge of technology as Alex does. The two would probably be unstoppable if they worked together instead of preferring to insult one another. Unlike Alex, however, who usually uses his talents to observe, Chase uses his to create. Throughout the show, he completed x-ray goggles, the fistigons, and even eventually perfected time travel.
Molly Hernandez
Molly is one of the first of the Runaways to realize she’s not exactly the average human. With glowing eyes and some strong emotions, she exhibits super strength.
Molly has shown that she can hold up the columns that act as support beams in a building, pick up cars, and more. The only downside to her ability is that it wears her out very quickly. Molly is able to use short bursts of strength, but she can’t sustain it for long. Once she’s worn herself out, she needs sleep and she needs food. That need to refuel after only using her powers for a short time is what lands her so low on the list.
Xavin
Xavin is a late addition to the Runaways. She joins the group in season two and leaves during season three before they begin their confrontation with Morgan le Fay. She appears to be a formidable fighter, though the fans don’t see her in action much.
What we do learn about her during her time on the show is that she’s a trained soldier, responsible for protecting the royal family of aliens, and that she’s willing to physically fight for Karolina, her little sister, and her mother. The one power on display of hers in the series is that she’s a shapeshifter. Xavin can take on the appearance of anyone, though she doesn’t appear to be able to copy any of their abilities.
Gert Yorkes (And Old Lace)
On her own, Gert isn’t especially powerful. In fact, if it wasn’t for one very special connection, she probably would have been at the bottom of the list instead of Alex. That connection does exist though, and it makes Gert one of the most powerful members of the core group.
Gert has a telepathic connection to her very own dinosaur that she named Old Lace. As a result of the connection between the two, Gert can see what Old Lace sees and actually speak with her. She can also get Old Lace to do things she wants the dinosaur to do, like run away, attack people, or more. The downside? Gert feels Old Lace’s pain. When Old Lace knocked herself out running into a tree, it made Gert pass out as well.
Karolina Dean
With an alien biological father who is a being made of light particles, Karolina Dean has some interesting DNA. Unlike her father, she doesn’t have to inhabit other people’s bodies to appear human since her mother is a human being. A human appearance hides some seriously alien powers.
Karolina is able to use her power to actually project light energy from herself. Not only does it have the effect of turning her skin into a rainbow of colors, but it also means she can fly and knock people off their feet. We see that her half brother can actually use his light energy in a solid form as well, which means we’ve likely only scratched the surface of what Karolina can do with her powers.
Tandy Bowen
Tandy Bowen is better known as the Dagger half of the Cloak and Dagger pairing. She briefly joined the Runaways to help them for a trip to a different dimension. While appearing in the series, and offering to team up again, Tandy got to exhibit a few of her abilities.
One of Tandy’s most interesting powers is her ability to see people’s deepest hopes. All she has to do is touch them to see. She can also affect what she sees, like a waking dream, stealing hope from others if she wants to. Tandy’s most often used power, however, is creating daggers of pure light to use against enemies. She can also create even more powerful balls of light to incapacitate her enemies.
Tyrone Johnson
Like Tandy, Tyrone is one of the titular Cloak and Dagger heroes. Also like Tandy, he only briefly appeared in the third season of Runaways. Tyrone outranks Tandy because his “cloak” is what really holds the power in their appearance in the series.
Tyrone is able to use dark energy, the opposite to Tandy’s light, to transport objects, and even people, to a new place. For the Runaways, he brings them all to a different dimension and tries to help them through it, but that isn’t all. In order to appear on the show in the first place, he teleports himself and Tandy to their home. Tyrone can also see people’s deepest fears. Just as Tandy can access people’s hopes with a touch, Tyrone can access their fears.
Nico Minoru
Of all the Runaways in the series, Nico Minoru is hands down the most powerful. Though she doesn’t know how to use all of her abilities just yet, she’s got magic on her side.
The Staff Of One is her primary tool right now, which allows her to do just about anything, even the seemingly impossible. Of course, there’s a catch. She can’t use the same phrase to activate the staff’s power more than once. Though she hasn’t been able to use magic without the staff in the present day, the series did show fans a possible future where Nico didn’t need the staff to harness her magic, so her power will only grow.
Nico is also the only one of her friends who is proficient in forms of martial arts, which she could use even if she couldn’t do magic. Likewise, she knows her way around a few different weapons, including a sword.