Runaways Season 2: Who is the Benefactor? (Spoilers)

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Finally managed to land my Runaways fix in last week's G-Mart shipment, so I'm now all caught up to issue #5.

I seriously never saw Ultron coming as Victor's "dad." I'm also not entirely sure that he has the same impact as a more recognizable (i.e., "been in a movie") villain, but his appearance was certainly a pants-wetting moment.

So, now that the "Who is Vic's dad?" mystery is done (or is it?), I wanted to get some discussion/argument going on who is the mysterious benefactor of Excelsior, holding out a million dollars to pull the Runaways off the streets?

The possibilities:

Tony Stark: Certainly has the cash and the altruistic motives, but playing mystery man doesn't seem his style, nor does much of his dialog.

Hank Pym: Not one I'd have listed as a first choice until Ultron showed up. Also didn't think he was totally loaded, but maybe he's on an Avengers expense account.

Rick Jones: Certainly would fit in with the teen vibe, and the mention of him as Victor's cell phone ring tone. Unfortunately, also not as loaded as some others.

Captain America: Well, he did reel them in before, and maybe now recognizes that they don't want to be in foster homes. Then again, this is totally not his style.

J. Jonah Jameson: Because the last thing we need is more of those blasted teen superheroes!

So, other guesses? Expansions on the ones I've got?

Anybody?

-- Ed/Ace

[randomguy]

Right up until #5, I had it figured as Victor's father, but since they're obviously not the same guy (er... robot), I believe it's almost certainly Rick Jones. He's travelling by a bus, which just screams Rick Jones, and doesn't seem to me like the kind of thing you'd see from Cap or Tony. He also seems like a fairly young guy in normal clothes from the art, and him wanting to do work related to teenage superheroes makes sense.

Hank Pym's not a bad idea, and I think he could get the cash from one of his inventions or Pym Particle-related projects if he needed to. I wouldn't expect him, but it wouldn't be too far out of left field.

Other possibilities... if Young Avengers wasn't doing it, I might have suggested Jessica Jones, although she lacks the cash for something like this. Another villain would be an interesting play on the arc (maybe one who started with crime in his teenage years?), but I can't hone in on anybody that would make much sense.

So, yeah, I'm going with Rick.

On a sidenote, I thought the Ultron thing was great. I totally didn't see him coming, and although he's not a villain in the very top tier, he's still a big deal. It would have been redundant to make Victor related to Magneto or the Kingpin or Osborne, the Red Skull's dead right now so that wouldn't have worked, Dr. Doom is similarly tied up, and Dr. Octopus would have worked but wouldn't have been nearly as cool. Plus, the story works thematically for Ultron, who has always had all sorts of bizarre familial issues.

[Sandoz]

My early theory was that the benefactor was not a well-known, established Marvel character, but someone new on the scene. Someone with a grudge against The Pride, such as the father of one of the girls they killed for the Gibborim. He would have the classic "eye for an eye" motivation, especially if he, like Darkhawk, thought that the Runaways disposed of their parents so they could take their place. Of course, the more recent issues have been suggesting that this is someone connected to the superhero world, so I'm probably completely off the mark.

Another popular guess is that the benefactor is a resurrected Alex. Nico said her resurrection spell didn't work, but was she totally honest? Was she completely mistaken somehow? We really don't know what happened. Alex knew enough about superheroes to be familiar with Excelsior's members, and maybe he found one of The Pride's secret nest eggs (much like the base under the Tar Pits) that supplied him with the Excel and a ton of cash.

[DarkHawk]

How sweet would it be if its Portal;) Fans of Darkhawk will remember him as that porting dude who had some hawk armor!