‘Runaways’ Makes Major Changes to Molly

Though Marvel’s Runaways has a lot of differences from the source material to its new series on Hulu, few characters have been altered like Molly Hernandez.

Actor Allegra Acosta spoke with ComicBook.com about the changes made from Molly Hayes, the young mutant member of the team, and why it works well for the new series.

Warning: Spoilers for Marvel’s Runaways below.

“At first I was like, ‘oh, they changed Hayes,’” Acosta said. “But you know what? It’s amazing that they changed it to be a Latina character so I can represent a broader range of my ethnicity. And since we’re such a ethnically diverse cast, I think it’s really important to represent that.”

Shoe spoke about changing the character from being a mutant, a term and concept they’re not allowed to use because the X-Men rights belong to 20th Century Fox.

“It’s funny that we’re not allowed to say the ‘M word,” Acosta said. “But we’re just kids who happens to have [superpowers] and I enjoy not being [a mutant] but a kid who happens to have a [superpower].”

In the first episode, Molly experiences discomfort that her adopted parents Stacey and Dale Yorkes attribute to puberty. She ends up leaving a cheerleading tryout to go to the nurse, where her first sign of super strength comes out.

“It was really funny because when we were doing the table read, we all started cracking up because everyone thought it was my period,” Acosta said. “But initially I think it was her changing her form and her strength, and it was like ‘ARGH!’ You know, like bursting into bubbles, with a mixture of a little hormones.

“But I think it was really beautiful how they did it in a way how she’s growing up but also how she’s changing and developing secret powers.”

She spoke about the change to her character’s backstory, where the Hernandez parents die when Molly is younger and she then gets adopted by the Yorkes.

“I think throughout this season, Molly’s extremely curious,” Acosta said. “Especially through the time of this dilemma, their parents are evil and now she has superpowers… She’s trying to discover it because no one’s listening to her, they kind of put her away because she’s the youngest one. And that’s why she really yearns to be a part of the group, because she has no parents to fall back on.

“So she takes matters into her own self. She might cause trouble, she might not, you have to just see it. But you’ll see that arc, you’ll see some flashbacks… Just in the first two episodes, it’s more action derived for Molly. And in the next episodes you’ll see more about her and more of her story.”

Fans who watched the first three episodes might have seen the flashbacks she mentioned, and it sounds like we’re in for more discovery.

New episodes of Marvel’s Runaways premiere Tuesdays on Hulu.