Victor Edges closer to his Ultron programming in Runaways No. 20
By Alex Widen
Victor Mancha is the son of Ultron! Can he ever escape his roots?
The Defenders have historically been called “a non-team” by Marvel Comics but, in many ways, that title actually goes to the Runaways. Despite an eclectic collection of youths with a variety of skills, powers, and classes, the squad have rarely been involved in fighting crime, or “monsters of the week.” In fact, they’ve done little of this since their second volume. Instead, the Runaways are a collection of oddballs and outcasts in varying degrees of survival from their latest trauma, or battle.
Image by Marvel Comics
In this case, the team are still in “recovery mode” from their battle against the spawn of the ancient gods, the Gibborim. It was a fight which was literally brought to their doorstep, yet involved the fate of the world. Among the team members who struggled through this was Victor Mancha. A cybernetic creation of Ultron, he’s had to fight against “evil programming” and a vision of a dark future since he joined the team. Yet his helplessness to save his new teammate (and girlfriend), Gert, is haunting him. Victor has tried to hold himself back, and is paying the price.
Image by Marvel Comics
Sadly, Victor isn’t the only one carrying baggage from recent events. Fighting dark gods and hanging out with “team traitor” Alex Wilder has drained a lot of the optimism out of Molly Hayes. Now, she just wants to curl into a ball and hide from the world, including school. Historically, Gert was the cynic who never trusted anyone and advocated for isolation. Yet now, having seen her “woke” demeanor become more mainstream post-resurrection, Gert is trying to be a bit more flexible.
Image by Marvel Comics