Drew Pearce Gives An Update On Marvel's 'Runaways'

A couple of years after Iron Man set the cinematic world on fire and ushered in a new era of Marvel dominance, plans were underway for one of the major follow-up films to based on the cult favorite comic, Runaways. Development was far enough along that Peter Sollett (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) was on board to direct from a script by Drew Pearce. In fact, Marvel loved Pearce's work so much that they immediately put him on as co-writer of Iron Man 3. The drawback was that Runaways was then put on the shelf, and to this day very little has been heard of it since.

While talking to THR, Pearce reveals the reason why Runaways was delayed, and it's a pretty good reason to be honest. Plus he expresses hope that it could be part of Marvel's Phase Three framework...

Pearce: "We were really close to being made, and then this movie started to happen called 'The Avengers. Oddly, it pulled focus from the unheard-of brand Runaways, and it really did kind of consume the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's there. Maybe it'll be a Phase Three movie. I really hope so, I'm really proud of it and I think it'll be a brilliant film, but I think it all depends what Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel, what his master plan is."


Runaways is one of Marvel's smaller properties but at the time the comic was being published back in 2003 it was one of their hottest, and maintains an extremely loyal group of fans clamoring for the team's return. Created by Brian K. Vaughn (Y: The Last Man), the series focuses on a group of Los Angeles kids who learn their parents are secretly supervillains. Stealing weapons and utilizing their inherited abilities, they run away from home and have their own adventures, frequently running into the Avengers and the X-men. Joss Whedon loved the comic so much that he wrote a six-issue time travel storyline in the series' second volume.


Runaways was my favorite comic at the time, and back when the film was announced it excited me far more than Captain America or Thor could ever hope to. My thought has always been that Runaways would work better as an animated film or TV series, but I'll take whatever I can get. Hopefully Whedon will put that influence of his to good use and make this thing happen.