Gibborim

• Core Identity: The Gibborim are an ancient and immensely powerful trio of giant humanoid deities who sought to reclaim a primordial Earth as their paradise by engineering the destruction of humanity through a Faustian pact with a cabal of super-villains known as The Pride.
• Key Takeaways:
• Role in the Universe: The Gibborim serve as the secret, cosmic patrons of the criminal organization The Pride and are the primary overarching antagonists for the original Runaways team. They represent a forgotten, pre-human power that views modern civilization as an infestation on their rightful property.
• Primary Impact: Their pact with The Pride directly led to the formation of the Runaways. The discovery of their parents' annual human sacrifice to the Gibborim is the cataclysmic event that forces the teenagers to flee their homes and become heroes, defining the entire premise of the series.
• Key Incarnations: In the Earth-616 comics, they are literal god-like giants. The Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation, seen in the Hulu's Runaways series, completely replaces them with a family of exiled, light-based aliens from the planet Majesdane, led by the charismatic and manipulative villain, Jonah, who serves an identical narrative function but with a distinctly different origin and motivation.

The Gibborim made their first, albeit shadowy, appearance in Runaways Vol. 1 #1 in July 2003. Their full, physical debut occurred later in the same series, in Runaways Vol. 1 #17. They were co-created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona. The creation of the Gibborim was integral to the central high-concept pitch of Runaways: “What if your parents were evil?” Vaughan and Alphona needed a threat so significant and terrifying that it would justify a group of powerful super-villains willingly sacrificing innocent lives. A pact with ancient, world-destroying gods provided the perfect motivation. This elevated The Pride from simple criminals to players in a cosmic, apocalyptic scheme. The series was part of Marvel's Tsunami imprint, an initiative aimed at attracting new readers, particularly fans of manga, with unique storytelling and art styles. The Gibborim's mysterious, almost Lovecraftian nature in the early issues perfectly suited the series' tone of teenage paranoia and the slow unraveling of a dark conspiracy. Their design, with ethereal glows, immense stature, and unsettling six-fingered hands, created a visually distinct and otherworldly menace.

The origin of the Gibborim is a tale of cosmic antiquity, differing profoundly between the comic books and their television adaptation.

The Gibborim are the last three survivors of a race of ancient, powerful beings known as “the six-fingered souls.” Eons ago, long before the rise of humanity, they arrived on a primordial Earth. They found the planet to be a serene, untouched paradise and intended to nurture it into their eternal Eden. However, their claim to the planet was contested by other powerful entities, including the nascent Elder Gods and potentially the Celestials. In a cataclysmic war for control of the planet, the Gibborim were defeated and banished from Earth, forced into an exiled slumber. Millennia later, in 1985, they were psychically contacted by six pairs of ambitious humans in Los Angeles: the master thieves Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder; the time-traveling mutants Dale and Stacey Yorkes; the mad scientists Victor and Janet Stein; the dark sorcerers Robert and Tina Minoru; the alien invaders Frank and Leslie Dean (of Majesdane); and the telepathic mutants Gene and Alice Hayes. The Gibborim, still immensely powerful but unable to physically manifest on Earth, offered these twelve individuals a deal. This pact formed the basis of The Pride. The Gibborim promised to grant them 25 years of unparalleled power, wealth, and dominion over Los Angeles. During this time, The Pride would become untouchable, their every ambition fulfilled. In exchange, The Pride had to perform an annual ritual sacrifice of an innocent soul—the “Rite of Blood.” This ritual served two purposes: it sated the Gibborim's hunger and slowly transferred life energy to them, building the power they needed to break through the dimensional barriers and return to Earth. The final part of the pact was the most sinister. At the end of the 25 years, the Gibborim would return and cleanse the Earth of all humanity, restoring it to the paradise they had lost. The Gibborim promised that six of the twelve members of The Pride who had served them most faithfully would be spared the apocalypse and granted eternal life to rule alongside them in this new Eden. The other six would perish with the rest of humanity. This clause was designed to sow discord and ensure The Pride's absolute loyalty through competition. The children of The Pride, the future Runaways, were an unforeseen complication, initially viewed by their parents as assets who could inherit their power but ultimately seen by the Gibborim as little more than potential fuel for their return.

In the MCU continuity established in Hulu's Runaways, the Gibborim do not exist. Their role is filled by a completely different entity: Jonah and his family, who are exiled royalty from the planet Majesdane. Decades before the series begins, a Majesdanian royal vessel crash-landed deep beneath the Earth's surface in the area that would become Los Angeles. The ship was piloted by a family of four: Jonah (the Magistrate), his wife, his son, and his daughter. The crash critically injured them and embedded their ship deep within the planet's crust. In their natural state, they are beings of pure, living light, but the crash destabilized their forms. To survive, they required host bodies and a constant source of life energy. Jonah, the only one to escape the wreckage initially, sought out humans who could help him. He found a young, ambitious scientist named Victor Stein and his colleagues, who would later form the Pride. Jonah presented himself as a benefactor, a being of immense power and wisdom. He offered them incredible gifts: he cured Leslie Dean's cancer, funded the Steins' research, provided the Wilders with real estate opportunities, and so on. In exchange for this prosperity, he required their help in a “charity” project through their organization, PRIDE (Philanthropic and Rites-based Indoctrination for the Development of Endeavors). This was a cover for an annual ritual that sacrificed a runaway teen. The life energy harvested from these sacrifices was not to empower ancient gods, but to heal Jonah and his family, keeping their decaying human host bodies alive. His ultimate goal was far more direct than the Gibborim's: to excavate his buried ship. The ship's launch and subsequent terraforming of Earth would kill most of the human population but create a new home for his family and the Majesdanian race. This change from abstract gods to a tangible alien villain serves several narrative purposes. It creates a more personal antagonist in Jonah, directly ties the central conflict to Karolina Dean's alien heritage (as Jonah is her biological father), and grounds the sci-fi elements of the story in a more conventional (for the MCU) alien invasion plot rather than a cosmic/magical one.

The nature, goals, and powers of the Gibborim and their MCU counterparts are fundamentally different, reflecting the distinct cosmologies of their respective universes.

• Mandate & Goal: The Gibborim's sole, unwavering purpose is to reclaim Earth. They view humanity as a temporary, parasitic species defiling their sacred garden. Their plan, “Project: Paradise,” involves a complete planetary genocide to “purify” the world and restore it to its primordial state. Their actions are not born of malice in a human sense, but from an ancient, proprietary sense of ownership and a desire to undo what they perceive as a cosmic mistake.
• Structure & Key Members: The Gibborim are a triumvirate, the last of their kind. While not individually named in their initial appearances, they consist of:
• A powerful male entity.
• A powerful female entity.
• An androgynous or non-binary entity.

> Together, they form a complete, self-contained unit. They operate in perfect unison, communicating telepathically with their servants through a sacred text called the Abstract. This book not only contains their prophecies and instructions but also serves as a magical viewing portal, allowing The Pride to witness their patrons and receive orders. Their physical forms are that of colossal, glowing giants with pale skin and six fingers on each hand, a defining biological trait of their race.

• Powers & Abilities: The Gibborim's power is immense and god-like, though its full extent is never shown. Their known abilities include:
• Pact-Making & Empowerment: They can forge magical pacts that grant mortals vast wealth, superhuman abilities, advanced technology, and extended lifespans. This is the foundation of The Pride's power.
• Life-Force Absorption: They subsist on and are empowered by the life energy of sacrificed souls. Each sacrifice brings them closer to being able to physically manifest on Earth.
• Telepathy: They can communicate across dimensions with their followers, primarily through the Abstract.
• Apocalyptic Power: They claim the ability to wipe out all human life on Earth, likely through immense energy projection or environmental cataclysm, to initiate their terraforming.
• Vulnerability: Their primary weakness is their reliance on the pact. They are trapped in their dimension and require the willing participation of their human servants to gather enough power to emerge. They can also be angered and act rashly; when Alex Wilder attempted to betray the pact's terms, they incinerated him without hesitation, demonstrating a strict adherence to their own rules.

• Mandate & Goal: The motivation of Jonah and his family is rooted in survival and restoration, not divine reclamation. Their primary goals evolve throughout the series:

1. Survival: Initially, the sacrifices are purely to sustain their decaying host bodies and keep their light-based forms from dissipating.

2. **Rescue & Escape:** The long-term plan is to excavate their buried spaceship from beneath Los Angeles.
3. **Conquest/Terraforming:** Once the ship is free, their final goal is to activate it. The ship's engine would trigger a geological chain reaction, effectively terraforming Earth into a new Majesdane, a process that would be lethal to all native human life. This is less about "paradise" and more about desperate, colonial-style survival.
*   **Structure & Key Members:** Instead of a trio of gods, the MCU features a family of four exiled Majesdanian royals.
* **Jonah:** The patriarch and primary antagonist. He is charismatic, manipulative, and ruthless. He serves as the public face and leader of the operation.
* **His Wife:** A scientist and the "brains" of the family, she is the one who understands the ship's complex technology and is more cold and pragmatic than Jonah.
* **His Son:** More impulsive and violent, he becomes a significant threat when he possesses the body of Topher.
* **His Daughter:** A more sympathetic member who is weary of their exile and conflict.
> Unlike the Gibborim, this group is rife with internal conflict, secrets, and shifting loyalties, making them more complex and relatable as villains.
*   **Powers & Abilities:** As Majesdanians, their powers are biological and technological, not divine.
* **Bioluminescence & Light Manipulation:** Like Karolina Dean, they can absorb and project solar energy, manifesting as a brilliant rainbow-colored light. This allows for flight, energy blasts, and light-based constructs.
* **Superhuman Physiology:** In their host bodies, they possess enhanced strength, speed, and durability.
* **Rapid Healing & Longevity:** They can heal from nearly any wound, but this ability requires consuming vast amounts of life energy, hence the need for the sacrifices.
* **Consciousness Transference:** Their most crucial ability is to transfer their consciousness from a dying host body to a new one. This requires complex technology and makes them incredibly difficult to kill permanently.
* **Advanced Technology:** Their power is augmented by their crashed ship, its advanced drilling equipment, and other alien artifacts.

The Gibborim do not have allies in the traditional sense; they have servants and pawns bound to them by a contract they have no intention of fully honoring.

• The Pride: This is their most significant relationship. The Pride is a group of twelve super-villains who, in 1985, agreed to serve the Gibborim for 25 years. The Gibborim provided them with the means to become the undisputed rulers of the Los Angeles underworld and beyond. The relationship is purely transactional: The Pride provides an annual soul, and the Gibborim provide power and the promise of salvation for a select few. However, the Gibborim view them with contempt, as temporary tools to achieve their ultimate goal. This dynamic is central to the entire saga, as The Pride's fear of and devotion to the Gibborim is what drives them to commit heinous acts. In the MCU, Jonah's relationship with PRIDE is far more personal and deceptive, built on carefully constructed lies and personal manipulations rather than a formal, ancient pact.

• The Runaways: The Gibborim's ultimate and unforeseen adversaries. As the children of The Pride, they were never meant to be part of the equation. Their discovery of the “Rite of Blood” and their subsequent rebellion directly threatens the Gibborim's centuries-long plan at its moment of fruition. The Runaways represent the ultimate failure of The Pride's bargain—the legacy of love and humanity that their parents tried to trade away for power. The final confrontation between the Runaways and the Gibborim is the climax of the original series, where six teenagers manage to defeat beings that once warred with Elder Gods.
• Alex Wilder: While a member of the Runaways, Alex becomes a unique antagonist to the Gibborim. Secretly loyal to his parents and the Gibborim's plan, Alex manipulates his friends in an attempt to secure salvation for his own family and himself. He offers the souls of his five teammates to the Gibborim in place of his own. The Gibborim, sticklers for the terms of their pact which specified the parents' souls, are enraged by this attempted betrayal and his hubris. They summarily execute Alex, declaring “Even our chosen six were to be our equals. Not our successors,” before being defeated themselves.

The Gibborim are largely self-contained and isolated in their exile. Their only significant affiliation is their master-servant relationship with The Pride. In a broader, historical context, they can be classified alongside other ancient powers that existed on Earth before humanity, such as the Elder Gods (e.g., Chthon, Gaea) and other primordial forces. They were contemporaries and rivals of these beings, ultimately losing the war for dominion over the planet.

The Gibborim's entire story arc in the main Marvel continuity is contained within the first volume of Runaways.

The Gibborim are introduced as the unseen power behind the curtain. The story follows the six children of The Pride who, during their parents' annual “charity” gathering, discover a secret passage in a mansion. They witness their parents, clad in ceremonial robes, performing a ritual murder—the Rite of Blood. Using the Minorus' Abstract, The Pride sacrifices a young woman, her life force visibly flowing into an unseen void. The children are horrified and realize their parents are super-villains. While the Gibborim are only mentioned by name and their full nature remains a mystery, their presence is the catalyst for the entire series. Their existence provides the ultimate stakes and the dark secret that shatters the children's world, forcing them to become the Runaways.

This is the climax of the Gibborim's story. The Pride prepares for the “Rite of Thunder,” the final ceremony to bring their masters to Earth. The Runaways, having spent a year on the run, decide to confront their parents head-on at the Gibborim's underwater temple, the “Vivarium.” The battle is chaotic, with the Runaways fighting their parents. During the fight, Alex Wilder reveals he was a mole all along, incapacitating his friends to fulfill the pact. As The Pride completes the ritual, the three Gibborim majestically materialize. However, they are not pleased. They reveal the truth of the pact: only six of the twelve parents would be saved. When Alex offers them the souls of the Runaways instead, they deem it a violation of their agreement and instantly incinerate him for his insolence. As the Gibborim turn their attention to the remaining parents, Gertrude Yorkes' dinosaur, Old Lace, damages the Vivarium's structural integrity. The ensuing flood and collapse of the underwater lair seemingly destroys the Gibborim and kills the members of The Pride, leaving the Runaways as orphans and the victors.

Though defeated, the Gibborim left a lasting impact. The power vacuum left by The Pride's destruction reshaped the Los Angeles criminal landscape. More directly, in a later storyline, a time-traveling Chase Stein encounters a younger version of one of the Gibborim, who goes by the name “Bo.” This Gibborim is far less hostile and explains that their race was not inherently evil, but the final three were driven mad by grief and loneliness after losing the war for Earth. This adds a layer of tragic depth to their motivation. While they have not returned in their full capacity, their shadow looms large over the Runaways' history as the foundational threat they first overcame.

• Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999): As detailed extensively, this is the most significant re-imagining. The Gibborim are replaced entirely by Jonah and the Majesdanian Magistrate's family. This version changes the threat from divine/magical to alien/technological, creates a direct familial link to Karolina Dean, and features a more complex, fractured group of antagonists with internal power struggles. Their goal is survival and colonization, not divine right.
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance (Video Game): The Gibborim appeared as antagonists in the now-defunct Facebook and mobile game Marvel: Avengers Alliance. Their appearance and backstory were largely faithful to the Earth-616 comics. They were depicted as ancient gods served by The Pride, and players had to confront them as part of a “Spec Ops” mission centered on the Runaways. They were powerful boss characters, cementing their status as a major threat in a wider Marvel context beyond their own series.

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