Even Joss Whedon had a run on the series so it could possibly get a respectable budget if the right people end up attached. The Runaways was set to release this year however Marvel placed it on hold to focus on releasing the Avengers.
The Runways centers on the story of a group of teens who discover their parents are super villains and decide to take their tools and runaway. My favorite character Nico steals her parents magical staff called the Staff of One, which disappears into herself and is summoned again when she bleeds. The Staff of One creates a magical effect based off any word the user speaks and is so powerful Dr. Strange once mentions her as a candidate for Sorcerer Supreme. Then we have Alex Wilder the defacto team leader who steals his parents magical book depicting the history of The Pride (their parents gang) and a secret group of beings called the Gibborum who The Pride follow which are working to destroy all life on the planet. Next up is Carolina Dean who discovers she is a member of an alien race called the Majesdarians. Lest we not forget Molly Hayes that finds she is a mutant with vulnerability and insane amounts of strength however being the youngest of the group using her powers wears her out quickly and often causes her to fall asleep after. The slightly chubby purple haired Gertrude Yorke discovers a dinosaur named Old Lace who she has a psychic link with. Finally Chase Stein steals a pair of gloves with energy projection and a vehicle which can leap great distances which he adapts to using quickly.
Here starts a spoiler warning if you plan to read the story skip ahead
The group discovers an abandoned building they dub The Hostel which they call home. They eventually stumble upon a robbery and decide it is their responsibility to stop given the powers they now possess. Eventually Alex and Nico start to form a relationship as do Gert and Chase. Eventually they decide they must stop their parents to save the world. However once they arrive they find Alex has other plans. Now possessing Chase' gloves Alex captures the rest of The Runaways with the exception of Nico and plans to sacrifice them in order for Nico along with their parents and himself to be spared to repopulated the Earth. The Runaways manage to stop them leaving Alex, their parents and The Gibborum for dead.
Eventually Gert dies and Chase receives the psychic link to Old Lace. Klara finds she is set in an arranged marriage to a skull named Xavin in order to stop a war between the two races and Xavin joins the team. They also meet a cyborg named Victor who is the child of Ultron who is supposed to destroy the Avengers in the future. At first the team distrust him but decide if he joins them it may cause him to choose a different path.
End spoiler alert
I certainly recommend reading the series if you haven't already.
If the movie was done right it could garner huge fans in demographics that CBMs often don't pull in. It could bring in the family friendly Disney crowd and still maintain the action and character we all love so much. Given the right touch I can even see teenage girls falling in love with a realistic teenage cast who have the same dating, friendship and family problems we have all had.
Given the focus on character development, advances in sfx and the fact that the characters powers could be fairly easy to execute this may be the first time it is possible to go straight from the big screen to the small without loosing the cast and the magic the big screen gives us. If successful this could open the doors for bigger more ambitious projects and even guest appearances from some of our favorite characters.
So what do you all think could this be what finally puts our heroes into a weekly format or is this wishful thinking. As usual sound off in the comments.
-acidbath-
A special thanks to comic2film for the helpful advice.