Profile

Character Details

Full name: Molly Hayes
Aliases: Bruiser, Princess Powerful
Canon from: Runaways
Canon type (movies/books, etc): Comic
Age (approx if not sure): 12
Gender: Female
Link to picture of character (if possible): http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/thumb/e/e7/Molly_Hayes_%28Earth-616%29.jpg/200px-Molly_Hayes_%28Earth-616%29.jpg


Character history: A group of villains in Los Angeles known as the Pride made an alliance with the Gibborim, a race of evil giants. They were promised a place the perfect world after the destruction of humanity. However, there were only six places for the twelve members. One couple, upon finding themselves expecting, planned to give up any seat earned for their child. It was agreed that all the members of the Pride would have a child in order to do the same. Molly is the youngest of the children, as her parents were mutants and thus had difficulties conceiving.

The children, of course, were oblivious to these dark goings on and knew only that once a year, they were expected to play together while their parents had their “charity meetings”. When Molly was eleven, the meeting coincided with changes in her body that no one wanted to talk to her about. She got somewhat distracted from the changes when they decided to spy on their parents and witnessed the ritual murder of a young woman. Realizing your parents are supervillains does tend to be distracting, after all.

The other children initially planned to deal with the situation without young Molly. However, their parents caught wind of the plan and threatened to kill Molly if they didn’t surrender. Molly was initially doubtful of their claims that their parents were evil, but the truth became apparent in the ensuing struggle. As did the nature of Molly’s abilities when she pushed Karolina’s mother through a wall.

The children wound up running away from home, leading to the older kids being wanted in connection with Molly’s kidnapping. As their parents controlled the entire town, they had to take refuge in a cave that Chase called the hostel. They also adopted aliases, with Molly’s being Bruiser despite her own desire for Princess Powerful.

Karolina, Nico, Alex and Chase went out to steal food and came back with another teen. Gert’s dinosaur didn’t like him, and Molly had to use her power to get the dinosaur off. This meant that she slept through all the ensuing adventures in which the newcomer turned out to be a vampire. She awoke just in time to witness him bursting into flames from Karolina’s alien blood.

Since the older children were now wanted criminals and there was an Amber Alert on Molly, disguises were necessary. The older kids went with just disguises. Molly opted for a mask and cape made from old bedsheets. Through some events where my copy of the second trade is exasperatingly MISPRINTED, the kids were able to obtain all the artefacts they needed to read the history that led to the rise of the Pride.

In the midst of their history lesson, the LAPD (on the Pride’s payroll) showed up to make their lives difficult. This was when the kids learned that there was a mole among them. Nico accidentally caved in the hideout in the ensuing battle. Fortunately, Molly was able to punch an escape tunnel, starting with a fit of frustration with the entire situation.

Molly finally got a chance to play with the big kids when they decided they all would have to work together if they were going to have any chance of defeating their parents. The moment selected was the ritual of offering the soul of the murdered girl to the Gibborim. Molly wound up playing the key role of squishing the box containing the soul, depriving the Gibborim of the energy they needed. In response, the Gibborim incinerated the mole, Alex. The Gibborim went after the Pride while the surviving children fled the scene in a robotic frog. Right about then, the Avengers FINALLY bothered to show up. Social Services took in the children, placing Molly in an X-Corporation embassy. However, the children were unhappy with their new lives and ultimately opted to run away again.

With the power vacuum left by the death of the Pride, every two bit villain attempted to step into Los Angeles. The runaways took it upon themselves to keep them out as part of their desire to clean up their parents’ mess. Their lives got even more interesting when Gert’s future self arrived to instruct them to kill Victor Mancha so he wouldn’t grow up to kill every hero on the planet. The group reckoned that having a supervillain as a father was no reason to kill someone their age and took him in instead. Molly once again got to participate in a battle as a full member of the team. Molly was frequently assigned to go with Victor early on, possibly because she was strong enough to take him down if he turned.

The superhero Cloak took the kids on a road trip to New York City. Where Molly was promptly left behind in a church. Molly was not impressed. Then Iron Man, Captain America and Wolverine showed up to apprehend everyone in connection to an attack on Cloak’s partner. Molly responded by tossing Wolverine out the door and into the snowbank. And she used to think he was COOL.

After returning to LA, Molly became separated from the rest of the team in a battle. She woke up in the sewers, having been captured by a mysterious figure known as the Provost. He required the children to steal for him. Molly didn’t much like this idea, and came up with a plan to steal his wand and defeat him. Nothing stays solved for long though, and a younger version of Alex’s father, resurrected by Alex’s gaming buddies staged a plan to kidnap Molly. During the kidnapping, they tried to convince her that her parents were heroes and her friends villains. She didn’t go for it. The others were led to believe that Molly was intended as a new sacrifice, when she was actually bait to lure in Nico. Fortunately, “Nico” was actually Xavin in disguise, and the real Nico rescued Molly. However, Gert died in the chaos. ANGST FOR ALL!

Okay, this is getting SLIGHTLY RIDICULOUS. I’m going to skip the next couple trades, because, well, I apparently didn’t grab them when I sat down to write this. And skip ahead to the most recent one I have. In which the Runaways are hired by Kingpin to steal an artefact. Which turned out to have been built by Chase’s parents. They were confronted by the Punisher, who Molly punched in the stomach. She was very upset to discover he didn’t have powers and she had used powers on him. They wound up having to use the device to evade Kingpin. Which vaulted them back in time to 1907, where they found themselves embroiled in a battle for control of New York while trying to find another artefact to take them home. Some things never change.

While in 1907, Molly befriended a factory girl around her own age with superpowers. Much to Molly’s delight, they wound up bringing her back to the 21st century with them, meaning that there is finally someone her own age on the team.

Character personality: Molly is full of preteen bravado. She is always very insistent that she is most definitely not a baby, and wants to be treated as a full member of the group. She gets very frustrated when the older runaways try to shelter her from the worst of things.

That said, she is very much still a child. Even in the midst of all the danger, she wants to have fun with her life. She sometimes fails to fully grasp the seriousness of the situation early in canon, though obviously that diminishes as time goes on. Still, she enjoys playing and generally being adorable, and still gets excited by sugary cereals. And she does take more enjoyment than she probably should from dangerous situations. She hasn’t entirely lost her sense of adventure, despite learning that adventure really isn’t always fun.

The fallout of having her parents turn out to be supervillains and the Avengers prove to be less than reliable is that Molly has fairly major trust issues. She tends to be quite comfortable with meeting other kids, but unfamiliar adults make her very nervous.


Physical description: Molly is used to being smaller than everyone around her, mostly due to being younger than everyone she spends regular time with. She has shoulder length dark hair and brown eyes, which glow pink when she uses her powers. She wears an assortment of adorable hats.


Magical powers or special skills: Look! Look! I actually have a real answer to put here! Molly has super strength due to being a mutant. She can lift rather impressive quantities. She also seems to have a degree of invulnerability when she uses these powers.

Any crimes committed in canon: vigilantism, kidnapping, assault, theft, breaking and entering


Crime incarcerated into Glaxcin for (this can be any crime of your choosing, especially if the character is not a criminal in their canon): Assaulting Wolverine