The Pride

• Core Identity: In a pact of dark ambition, The Pride was a secret cabal of six super-villainous married couples who controlled Los Angeles for over two decades, annually sacrificing an innocent life to a race of ancient demigods in exchange for wealth, power, and the promise of a future paradise.
• Key Takeaways:
• Role in the Universe: The Pride served as the clandestine rulers of the West Coast, operating as the ultimate authority in Los Angeles's criminal and legitimate spheres. They were bound by a supernatural contract to the elder beings known as the gibborim, serving as their earthly agents while preparing for a promised apocalypse.
• Primary Impact: Their most significant and tragic legacy was the creation of their own arch-nemeses: their children. Upon discovering their parents' horrific secret, the children banded together to form the runaways, a teenage super-hero team dedicated to stopping The Pride and atoning for their sins.
• Key Incarnations: In the original Earth-616 comics, The Pride are depicted as unequivocally evil, having knowingly and willingly entered their pact for selfish gain. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series, they are portrayed more sympathetically as individuals who were manipulated, coerced, or trapped into their arrangement with a singular, manipulative entity named Jonah.

The Pride first appeared in Runaways Vol. 1 #1 in July 2003. The group, along with their heroic children, was co-created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona. The series was part of Marvel's Tsunami imprint, which was an effort to attract new readers with storytelling styles influenced by manga and independent comics. Vaughan's core concept was a revolutionary twist on the classic teen sidekick trope. He famously pitched it with the simple, compelling question: “What if you found out your parents were super-villains?”. This premise immediately set Runaways apart from other teen hero books. The Pride was not a typical gallery of unrelated villains; they were a complex, interconnected community of families whose evil was deeply personal and familial. Their creation provided a powerful, high-stakes emotional core for the series, forcing the young protagonists to rebel not against a distant, abstract evil, but against the very people who raised them. The success of The Pride as villains is intrinsically linked to the success of the Runaways as heroes, making their introduction a landmark moment in modern Marvel comics.

The origin of The Pride differs significantly between the primary comic universe and its live-action adaptation.

In 1984, six married couples were mysteriously summoned to a secluded location in the Hollywood Hills by three ancient, powerful beings known as the Gibborim. These beings, the last of a race of elder gods who had ruled Earth before the rise of humanity, were weakened and sought to reclaim their dominion. They offered the twelve chosen humans a pact: the couples would serve them for twenty-five years, during which time they would be granted immense power, wealth, and complete control over the city of Los Angeles. In return for their service, The Pride was required to perform an annual human sacrifice, known as the Rite of Blood. The life force from this victim would feed and strengthen the Gibborim. The Gibborim promised that at the end of the twenty-five-year period, they would cleanse the Earth of all humanity and create a new paradise. Six of the twelve members of The Pride would be granted eternal life in this new world, while the other six would perish alongside the rest of mankind. The couples, driven by greed, ambition, and a desire to build a legacy for their children, unanimously accepted the deal. They divided Los Angeles among themselves, each family carving out a specific niche of control:

• The Wilders became the city's crime lords.
• The Yorkes became its time-traveling antiquarians and scientists.
• The Deans became its metahuman celebrities and alien liaisons.
• The Steins became its foremost scientific innovators and weapons manufacturers.
• The Minorus became its masters of dark magic.
• The Hayeses became its telepathic mutants, controlling the populace's minds.

For two decades, their reign was absolute and unchallenged. They performed the Rite of Blood annually, luring a runaway or vagrant to their deaths. Their pact remained a perfect secret until their children, led by alex_wilder, accidentally witnessed the ritual, shattering their lives and setting them on a path of rebellion.

In the MCU continuity (designated Earth-199999), as depicted in the Hulu television series Runaways, the origin of The Pride is a story of manipulation rather than pure ambition. The organization, known as PRIDE (Promoting and Inspiring Dreams through Excellence), presented itself publicly as a charitable foundation. Its formation was orchestrated by a single powerful being named Jonah. Years before the series begins, Jonah, a member of the alien Gibborim race, crash-landed on Earth. Mortally wounded and requiring a constant source of life force to survive, he discovered a glowing energy source deep beneath Los Angeles. He founded the Church of Gibborim with Leslie Dean, seducing her and other future members of The Pride with promises of fulfilling their deepest desires. Unlike their comic counterparts who sought power, many MCU members were tricked or coerced.

• Geoffrey Wilder was a gang leader who wanted a way out for his family.
• Catherine Wilder was a lawyer looking for influence.
• Dale and Stacey Yorkes were brilliant bioengineers given unlimited resources.
• Victor Stein was a tech genius promised the tools to cure his son's future illness.
• Janet Stein was trapped in an abusive marriage and sought an escape.
• Tina and Robert Minoru were grieving the death of their first daughter, Amy, and were promised a way to cope.
• Frank Dean was a fading actor given a new purpose in the Church.
• Gene and Alice Hernandez (the MCU equivalent of the Hayeses) were geologists who discovered Jonah's dig site and were forced to join.

Jonah required them to perform sacrifices to rejuvenate him. He convinced them that their children would be spared a prophesied cataclysm. The parents were largely unwilling participants, trapped by blackmail, fear, and a desperate love for their children. Their first sacrifice was a disaster, leading to years of guilt and internal strife. This version of The Pride is far more fractured and morally gray, with their villainy stemming from desperation and a series of tragic compromises rather than a straightforward lust for power.

The purpose and organization of The Pride varied dramatically between the two main continuities.

The mandate of the comic book Pride was clear and brutally simple: serve the Gibborim, rule Los Angeles, and secure a future for themselves and their children in the new world. Their structure was that of a council, a sinister board of directors for an entire city. Each family held an equal share of power and was responsible for a specific domain of influence, ensuring no single couple could dominate the others. This balance of power was crucial to their long-term stability. Their primary activities included:

• The Rite of Blood: The annual sacrifice of a young victim to feed the Gibborim. This was their most sacred and important duty.
• Criminal Dominion: Managing all organized crime, from drug trafficking to advanced technology theft, within Los Angeles.
• Public Deception: Maintaining their public personas as wealthy, philanthropic citizens to avoid suspicion from law enforcement or heroes like the avengers.
• Internal Politics: Constant, low-level scheming against one another to ensure their own family would be among the six survivors chosen by the Gibborim.

^ The Pride of Earth-616: Membership & Roles ^

The MCU's version of The Pride operated under a far more desperate mandate: to keep Jonah alive and healthy through a steady stream of sacrifices while he completed his mysterious “dig” project beneath the city. Their public-facing organization, PRIDE, was a legitimate and well-respected charity, providing them with the perfect cover. Their structure was less a council of equals and more a collection of unwilling conspirators beholden to Jonah. Jonah was the undisputed leader, with Leslie Dean acting as his second-in-command and high priestess of his church. The other families were essentially high-level employees, providing their unique skills to the cause in exchange for Jonah's protection and patronage. The internal politics were defined by fear, resentment, and shifting alliances, with many members actively seeking a way out of their arrangement.

The Pride, by its very nature, did not have “allies” in the traditional sense. Their relationships were built on contracts, coercion, and mutual self-interest.

• The Gibborim (Earth-616): Their most crucial relationship was with their patrons, the Gibborim. It was a purely transactional arrangement: souls for power. However, The Pride lived in constant fear of their masters, knowing that failure would result in their own destruction. The Gibborim were not partners; they were ancient, cosmic landlords demanding their rent.
• Jonah (MCU): In the MCU, the entire organization revolved around Jonah. He was their benefactor, their leader, their captor, and their god. He provided them with wealth and purpose but also held their lives and secrets in his hands. Their alliance was one of absolute dependency, tinged with deep-seated terror and resentment.
• Corrupt LAPD (Earth-616): The Pride had the Los Angeles Police Department firmly under their control. They bribed and blackmailed officers, including a high-ranking detective named Alex Poole, who helped them cover up the disappearances of their victims and hunt down their children.

• The Runaways: The Pride's single greatest enemy was a threat of their own making: their children. The conflict between The Pride and the Runaways is one of Marvel's most tragic and personal. It was a generational war fought not over ideology, but over the fundamental betrayal of the parent-child bond. The parents genuinely loved their children and believed their actions would ultimately save them, creating a painful dynamic where they would hunt, fight, and attempt to capture their kids, all while claiming it was “for their own good.” The children, in turn, had to fight the people they once loved and trusted above all others.
• Each Other: While they presented a united front, The Pride was rife with internal conflict. The central tension of their pact was that only six of the twelve would survive. This led to secret alliances and betrayals. The Deans and Hayeses, being non-human, formed a pact to eliminate the human members, believing their genetic superiority made them more worthy of survival. This internal strife proved to be a critical weakness that their children exploited.

The Pride's primary affiliation was with the Gibborim. They were, for all intents and purposes, a cult dedicated to these beings. Beyond that, they stood as the supreme power on the West Coast, operating above and outside the purview of other criminal organizations like the magia or super-villain collectives. Their control was so total that for over two decades, no other major hero or villain group challenged their authority in Los Angeles, a testament to their quiet and absolute efficiency.

This is the foundational story arc that introduced The Pride and their children. The story begins with the six kids—Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gert, and Molly—gathering for their parents' annual “charity” meeting. Driven by boredom and suspicion, Alex leads them to a secret passage where they witness a horrifying sight: their parents, clad in ceremonial robes, sacrificing a young woman in a mystical ritual. The trauma of this discovery shatters their world. They realize their parents are not just corrupt, but monstrously evil. After gathering evidence and key items from their homes (Nico's Staff of One, Chase's Fistigons, the Yorkes' dinosaur Old Lace), they run away from home, vowing to expose their parents and bring them to justice. This arc masterfully establishes the central conflict and the emotional stakes of the entire series.

This arc marks the climactic, final confrontation between the Runaways and The Pride. The Pride's 25-year pact with the Gibborim is nearing its end. The Runaways hatch a desperate plan, contacting the Avengers for help, but are intercepted by a supposedly reformed Alex Wilder, who claims to be a mole for their side. The final battle takes place at the Gibborim's underwater Marine Vivarium. Here, the full extent of The Pride's internal treachery is revealed. Alex Wilder exposes himself as the true traitor, having been loyal to his parents and the Gibborim all along. He reveals the secret pacts between the Deans and Hayeses, turning The Pride against itself. As the families fight, the Gibborim are finally summoned. Disgusted by the infighting and Alex's attempt to claim all six paradise spots for the Wilders and Minorus, the Gibborim declare all of The Pride unworthy. They destroy the Vivarium and kill Alex Wilder instantly before turning on the remaining parents. The Pride members, in their final moments, use their powers one last time to save their children, ensuring they escape the collapsing structure. All twelve members of The Pride perish, a tragic end to their reign of terror.

Years after their death, a time-traveling, younger version of Geoffrey Wilder appears in the present. He attempts to resurrect his wife, Catherine, and the other members of The Pride using a dark magical ritual. He successfully brings back a version of his wife, but the spell is unstable. The storyline explores the lingering trauma The Pride inflicted on their children, forcing the now-adult Runaways to confront their parents' ghosts, both literally and figuratively. It reinforces that even in death, The Pride's influence continues to shape their children's lives.

• MCU (Earth-199999): As detailed extensively above, this is the most significant alternate version. The MCU Pride is less a unified cabal of villains and more a fractured group of flawed individuals trapped by a manipulative alien. Their story extends over three seasons, exploring their internal conflicts, attempts at redemption, and ultimate downfall at the hands of Jonah and his extraterrestrial family, a fate different and more prolonged than their swift end in the comics.
• Secret Wars (2015): In the Secret Wars: Runaways tie-in series, set on the patchwork planet of Battleworld, a different version of the concept existed. In the domain of Doomstadt, the students of the Victor von Doom Institute for Gifted Youths discovered that the school's headmaster, Valeria Von Doom, was running a brutal final exam where failing students were killed. While not a direct adaptation of The Pride, this group of corrupt and lethal adults in charge of gifted children served as the story's antagonist, echoing the core theme of generational betrayal.
• What If? In the issue What If the Runaways became the Young Avengers?, the story diverges after the Runaways discover The Pride's secret. Instead of running away, they are captured. Iron Lad travels back in time to that moment and “rescues” them, recruiting them into his proto-Young Avengers. The Pride is then defeated by this new, powerful team of teens, altering their fate and preventing their final confrontation with the Gibborim.

• runaways
• gibborim
• alex_wilder
• nico_minoru
• karolina_dean
• chase_stein
• gertrude_yorkes
• molly_hayes
• staff_of_one
• old_lace

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