'Marvel's Runaways': The story behind Alex's traitorous turn that almost but never quite actually happens
There is a traitor in their midst. Or at least there might be. There definitely will be, one day in the future...only that timeline is now erased. Look, the Runaways may or may not have a traitor, but the traitor they may or may not have is definitely Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz), and the show’s been teasing his darker self all season long. Believe it or not, the whole thing is actually a lot more straightforward in the comics, and fans have been waiting for Alex’s dark turn from the very moment the season was announced.
In the 2003 ‘Runaways’ comic series by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, Alex Wilder is really the one who brings the Runaways together. It’s on his suggestion that the kids spy on their parents, discovering their parents are actually criminal masterminds. It’s his love of superheroes that sees the team fighting crime while on the run, and it’s his leadership that helps the team make the most effective use of their powers. It takes a little while for the team to get used to each other, but ultimately, Alex gains the team’s trust and respect - which is what makes his betrayal all the more of a punch to the gut.
Throughout the series, the traitor had been teased; someone still loyal to their parents, but it isn’t until the Runways final confrontation with their parents that we find out who the traitor is. One by one, the Runaways fall in the conflict, and they pass their powers and abilities to Alex. Nico hands him the Staff of One, Chase gives him the X-Ray goggles and the Fistigons, and Gert even passes her psychic link to Old Lace on. It’s then that Alex reveals that he’s been working for his parents all along, ready to take his team down when the time came. It’s a moment that changed the series forever, and the reveal was homaged in the show when Dagger (Olivia Holt) took a peek into Alex’s hopes.
Alex Wilder died soon after, but after his return (they always return), he has more or less been a villain in the Marvel Universe ever since.
The show has teased possible paths to Alex's betrayal from Season 1, but as the show's story diverted heavily from the comic's, it seemed that Alex might stay on the side of the angels after all. In Season 3, however, it seemed like the show was paving the way for a full-on traitorous turn from Alex. While that did happen - twice in one season, in fact - neither instance really counts, and all that's left is a glimpse at what might have been.
The first time Alex betrays the team isn't really his fault - he is possessed by a malevolent alien entity that controls his every action. The second time, it's an evil version of himself from the future, which doesn't quite count either. You can't throw a tachyon in the Marvel Universe without it hitting an evil version of yourself from a future timeline.
The show was definitely building up Alex's dark turn. Alex was trapped in the Dark Dimension for a long, long time. He spends that time imprisoned by shadow ghosts of people he once knew, who would beat him up on a daily basis to get Alex to embrace his own darkness, and kill a ghostly version of his mother. He finally gives in when it's the only way to save his friends, and later in the same episode, we're given a look into his greatest hope by Dagger - the darkness in Alex appears to have manifested in his desire to take all of the Runaways' powers for himself.
Once returned to the world, we see that Alex still has the shiv he used to kill his mother in the Dark Dimension, but aside from that and a talk with his evil future self, there's no real follow up. In fact, the three-years-later version of Alex appears to be a force for good, working with his father to help the community out. We're given one last tease from his future self for the dark road Alex could go down, but ultimately, the path leading to Alex Wilder, the traitor, is a teased thread that goes nowhere.
The final season of Runaways is now streaming on Hulu.