Marvel Studios' RUNAWAYS Movie Came Closer To Happening Than Anyone Previously Realized

Marvel Studios' RUNAWAYS Movie Came Closer To Happening Than Anyone Previously Realized

A very long time ago, Marvel Studios was said to be developing a Runaways movie that, ultimately, was replaced by Marvel Television's Hulu TV series. Now, we have details on how close it came to happening.

By JoshWilding - Oct 23, 2023 11:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Runaways

Marvel Studios first started developing a Runaways project in May 2008, though it wasn't until two years later that Drew Pearce - a relative unknown at the time who was later tapped to work on Iron Man 3 - landed the job of penning the movie's screenplay.

Somewhere along the line, it was scrapped, and Marvel Studios instead decided to take a gamble on Guardians of the Galaxy

Years later, Marvel Television (which, aside from having to ask Kevin Feige permission to use certain characters, was run separately from Marvel Studios and the MCU) started developing a Runaways TV show. 

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage were tapped as showrunners and production began in 2017. Streaming on Hulu, the show largely flew under the radar and had minimal connections to the MCU and the Marvel Universe in general. Even so, it ran for three seasons until Marvel Studios took over TV production in 2019. 

All this time, we've assumed that Runaways was never a project Marvel Studios was overly determined to make. However, talking in the newly released MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios book, Pearce reveals it came incredibly close to becoming a reality. 

After writing his first paid screenplay for Marvel, Pearce started to worry when the focus shifted to The Avengers and continuing the stories of each team member. He'd later get a call with confirmation the movie was dead. 

"Runaways' code name was Small Faces," he recalls, confirming that was a nod to the influential rock band of the same name from the 1960s. "[We had] a production office with the Small Faces logo on it - done in the style of the Runaways logo."

"So yes, it was a real thing. I don't think people understand that, but it was going to be a 'go' movie, you know?"

It's hard not to wonder just how different the MCU might look had this Runaways movie actually happened. By now, those teen heroes would be all grown up and potentially serving in The Avengers alongside characters like Captain America, Spider-Man, and Thor. 

Marvel Studios returning to Runaways seems highly unlikely after it was turned into a TV series, though there continue to be rumblings about certain characters from the show appearing elsewhere. It's been confirmed, for example, that Spider-Man: Freshman Year will feature Nico Minoru, a hero also rumoured to be part of Agatha.

Do you think this Runaways movie should have happened?

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dracula
dracula - 10/23/2023, 11:56 AM
Wonder if they have any plans for Power Pack.
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 10/23/2023, 12:47 PM
@dracula - Eww, God no.
ElvenKingSlayer
ElvenKingSlayer - 10/24/2023, 4:04 AM
@dracula - I see it as a show
mountainman
mountainman - 10/23/2023, 12:02 PM
The Runaways is a cool concept, but it’s just silly to think they’d be A listers even if they would have had a movie. They’d be just as much of Avengers as the Guardians are. Maybe show up for the big team up scenes and that’s it.
ChrisRed
ChrisRed - 10/23/2023, 12:03 PM
I really liked the Runaways show.
Much more than most of the other Marvel TV shows back then including the Netflix ones.
EZBeast
EZBeast - 10/23/2023, 12:12 PM
I legit was just thinking about this show the other day. I remember enjoying the first few episodes but got bored fairly quick however I'd like to check it out again! is it on hulu or d+?
SATW42
SATW42 - 10/23/2023, 12:22 PM
@EZBeast - It was on both, and then was removed from both. It was kind of unceremoniously removed too just this year, which makes me wonder if they want to do something with it and didn't want the confusion.

Fo comparisons sake, Cloak and Dagger is still on Hulu, and they even did a crossover with the Runaways, so specifically dropping Runaways seems to have some kind of intent.

eagc1995
eagc1995 - 10/23/2023, 1:21 PM
@EZBeast - They were removed from both platforms
eagc1995
eagc1995 - 10/23/2023, 1:22 PM
@SATW42 - I doubt it, given they were purged alongside a bunch of other stuff, i think this is just a case of Iger pulling a David Zaslav and removing shows to save money and not pay residuals (as little they paid them anyway)
SATW42
SATW42 - 10/23/2023, 1:27 PM
@eagc1995 - It's the fact that they left Cloak and Dagger up that has me wondering. I mean, you'd think they'd throw the all out, especially since they established a connection between the two.
eagc1995
eagc1995 - 10/23/2023, 2:15 PM
@SATW42 - I really doubt the fact they removed one and kept another really means anything, i don't think they removed Runaways and kept that one cause they have plans to reboot Runaways and do something new.

I think its simply that Runaways just had the bad luck of being a show Iger wanted to purge to save on money.
EZBeast
EZBeast - 10/23/2023, 8:07 PM
@SATW42 @eagc1995 well…[frick]
bl0odwerk
bl0odwerk - 10/23/2023, 12:23 PM
Runaways are trash.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 10/23/2023, 12:34 PM
The show was decent.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 10/23/2023, 12:42 PM
Really milking this MCU book...
JFerguson
JFerguson - 10/23/2023, 12:42 PM
You guys slept on Cloak and Dagger. That show was actually pretty good except for the watered-down, reworked, and confusing origin story.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 10/23/2023, 12:45 PM
marvel72
marvel72 - 10/23/2023, 1:29 PM
Never watched The Runaways but Liz Hurley looked great in it.
dragon316
dragon316 - 10/23/2023, 3:52 PM
Great we should expect dinousar with nose ring
SirDuckAlot
SirDuckAlot - 10/23/2023, 4:05 PM
I forget this and Cloak and Dagger actually happened
ptick
ptick - 10/23/2023, 6:52 PM
The show was actually decent despite them taking *an entire season* to do an origin story in terms of making them actual *runaways.* I actually got into this show more each season. Cloak and Dagger, meanwhile, was the opposite for me. I really liked it at first but got bored halfway through season two - although the two leads were really good with what they had to work with, IMHO.
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