How 'Marvel's Runaways' plays with themes of light and darkness in Season 3
The glory of good superhero narratives is that they can take their metaphors and make them blindingly literal — and then have those metaphors be punched in the face by heroes who make questionable but inspiring fashion choices.
'Marvel's Runaways' explores themes of darkness and light by including two main season antagonists — the Gibborim, a family of aliens composed of bright glowing energy, and Morgan Le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley), who uses the Darkhold's black magic to summon the Dark Dimension to Earth.
It's not subtle. It's superheroic. In what can feel like a season-long set-up to the 'Cloak & Dagger' crossover, Season 3 of 'Marvel's Runaways' subverts the concepts of light and darkness whenever it can, much in the way of 'Cloak & Dagger'.
Light, naturally associated with hope and inspiration is turned to something to be feared when wielded by the Gibborim. It's the darkness inside Nico (Lyrica Okano) that’s able to keep the Runaways safe, and that banishes the Gibborim once and for all.
Darkness takes many forms this season, and Nico wields nearly all of them. There is the power inherent to her, of course, which she’s been struggling to keep under control - but there’s another kind bubbling to the surface.
Nico's up against the idea that she might have to kill to keep her family — the world, even — safe. It's up to her light-empowered girlfriend, Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardener) to ask Nico where the line is — where is the place Nico stops before being lost to the darkness completely?
The darkness is something Karolina has to deal with herself. It’s not just something that can be banished, it's not outright evil — the darkness is a part of Nico.
In fearing it, or trying to control it, both Nico and Karolina make the darkness something more terrifying than it actually is — Karolina literally so, as the Dark Dimension brings her worst fears to life: a monstrous version of Nico who wants nothing but Karolina’s love.
All the ugly darkness in Nico's soul manifested quite literally. It's a darkness that Nico is tired of being afraid of by the time Morgan makes her way to the real world.
Traditionally Wicca, which focuses on the lighter side of magic or the right-hand path, Morgan helps Nico turn more towards magic's darker side — the left-hand path of the occult.
A path that embraces hedonism and taboo practices. Nico seems to find that the darkness isn’t something to be shied from, but neither indulged in, either. In the Three-Years-Later timeline, we see that she’s found control of her magic by exploring a healthier middle ground.
The 'Cloak and Dagger' episode saw hope being gained in darkness too, as Gert's (Ariela Barer) greatest fear showed her who she's afraid of losing, and in doing so helped her see who she cared about the most, leading to a reconciliation between Gert and Chase (Gregg Sulkin).
It's Dagger's (Olivia Holt) light that gives the episode its most worrying moment of all, teasing Alex's ambitions of taking the Runaways' powers for himself.
Shadowy smoke is Morgan's magical signature, and one of the more memorable images is Karolina protecting Nico from that darkness in a bubble of light.
Light fights dark all through the season, but there are moments — between Cloak (Aubrey Joseph) and Dagger, and Karolina and Nico, where we see the two come together that's stronger for the combination.
There's no definitive takeaway from the season's examination of the two forces, but the show does provide a lot to think about. The final season of 'Marvel's Runaways' is streaming now on Hulu.
