Proposing something new in the superhero genre is getting more and more complicated nowadays. Every channel wants their Daredevil, but only few of them are audacious (or creative) enough to give it a go. Often the sheer weight of the original material from the comics smothers any attempt at adaptation. Recreating comic characters IRL and presenting them to an audience that knows nothing about them is running the risk to piss off purists or, worse, to actually denature their essence.
Image: Hulu
Hulu, however, is not a network. It doesn't have the constraints CW has with Arrow for instance. It offers less censorship, more artistic freedom as well as a looser broadcast schedule that allows producers to take their time. Instead of launching the first series and then announcing the second one only a week later, Hulu took the decision to release three episodes of Runaways at a time. The pilot episode is gone: the foundations of a successful series (we hope so anyway), are built right under our eyes, slowly but surely.
Nico, Molly, Gert, Chase, Karolina and Alex are all attending the same high school. They used to form a tight-knit group, but something happened. Life came between them and each went their own way. Something is going to reunite them though, when they discover their parents are conducting strange cabalistic rituals.
Image: Hulu
Marvel’s Runaways' script by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage is very well written. There are loads of elements that could tip the series over to the plain ridiculous (aliens, time-travel, parents wearing ritualistic togas - ew -, a girl with glowing skin and even a velociraptor), but despite all this, the series manages to keep its balance and is well anchored in today's reality.
The writers managed to follow this contemporary angle mainly because the comics themselves are fairly recent: they were created in 2003 by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona and the last volume was released in 2015. They managed to inject a kind of comics spirit into this demanding series. Take Molly for instance: having her superpower (super strength) reveal itself on her first period is a kind of miracle, especially when the majority of such teen series never dare broach the topic. Marvel’s Runaways superheroes are, in fact, just regular guys.
Another strong point of this series is its cast. We welcome its diversity and its lack of clichés, which make it easier for the audience to identify with the characters. Some people will probably grumble "ethnic quotas are lame", but in fact they are needed: presenting something else for a hero than the standard, predictable six-pack white guy allows viewers to better connect with the show.
Image: Hulu
The Runaways comics understood this and the series is respecting the original authors' vision. Schwartz and Savage, who worked on The OC, Gossip Girl and Chuck, know how to create adolescent characters and have mastered the trick of making a somewhat geeky universe accessible to all. The Runaways' powers, which reveal themselves gradually, also symbolise them growing up, a metaphor the series uses with subtlety.
The only low point of the series might be its rhythm though. The first episode focuses on presenting the characters, while the second one is a kind of repeat of the first, but seen from the parents' point of view. This approach would have been difficult had the character not been so well crafted.
Producers also chose to cast well-known faces (such as James Marsters, Spike in Buffy the vampire slayer) on the parents' side, while the teens are played by relatively unknown actors.
So far so good though, the gamble has paid off, and if it carries on this vein, Marvel’s Runaways could soon become a cult series indeed.
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