Warning: spoilers ahead for Champions #3!
In the latest installment of Marvel's Runaways, indicating a possible team-up with the Champions in the near future.
In the first issue of Champions' new run, many of the underage heroes of the Marvel Universe met in secret to plan their next moves in the face of the new legislation, including the Champions. However, the US Government's task force known as C.R.A.D.L.E. arrived to arrest them all, having been tipped off by someone who knew when and where the meeting was going to be held. While a handful of heroes managed to escape and go on the run as fugitives, several more were arrested and sent to reeducation facilities. Surprisingly, the betrayal came from Viv Vision herself, revealed to actually be alive after the destruction she was partly responsible for. While her reasons for selling out her team remain partly unclear, much of it has to do with her guilt, not wanting any of her friends to be harmed while trying to save the day as heroes.
Now, Champions #3 from writer Eve L. Ewing and artist Bob Quinn sees Viv in disguise and having made her way to Kansas. Hearing the cries of an elderly woman named Cora, Viv helps restore power to her home, and Cora invites Viv inside, offering food and hospitality as a way of showing her thanks. It's here that Cora uses a particular word to describe Viv, which could hint at the potential future team-up.
While Viv is no doubt running away from her family, friends, and problems, being called a "Runaway" could mean more. In Marvel Comics, the Runaways are a team of powered teens that are constantly on the run from the Pride; formerly their super-villain parents, and now the organization they left behind. While the tease is slim, the wordplay of calling a hero a runaway only for this to strengthen their identification with the team is a hallmark of past Runaways stories. At the same time, the observation doesn't particularly chime with Viv's journey thus far, suggesting it would be stronger as a reason for her to seek out the team in future issues rather than as a pointed moment of reflection.
Added to this is the fact that a variant cover for the first issue of Champions featured some of the Runaways and their pet velociraptor, Old Lace. The Runaways would be the perfect group to team up with the Champions. Not only would the new laws have an effect on them as well, but they've been on the run for much longer than the more public-facing heroes, and could no doubt give them a hand in regrouping. The only fly in the ointment has been the COVID pandemic's effect on Outlawed, which has seen other tie-ins dropped and caused delays in Runaways' ongoing release schedule. Here's hoping the teen heroes can overcome this hurdle in pursuit of an awesome Champions/Runaways team-up!
