‘Runaways’ Reveals If SPOILER Really Died

After last week’s episode ended with a bang from a gunshot, the latest installment in Marvel’s Runaways showed PRIDE attempting to deal with the fallout of the Stein’s family squabble.

During Victor’s particular brand of parenting gone bad, he ended up getting into a fight with Chase and attacking his son with the Fistigons they invented. But before he could deliver the killing blow, Janet shot him in the chest.

In the eighth episode of the season, the rest of PRIDE gathered and attempted to figure out a way to save the technological genius without Jonah finding out, but that didn’t exactly work as planned. The parents’ mysterious benefactor showed up with his magic matter-converting box in tow, demanding to sacrifice Janet in order to revive her husband.

After all, Janet shot him so it’s her mistake, despite all of the years of abuse she’s endured while her “friends” looked the other way.

Jonah choosing Janet for the sacrifice caused a chain of events that saw her lover Robert Minoru attempt to take her place, which forced Tina Minoru to use her staff to destroy the box and save her husband’s life. So, with only one box, there’s no way to save Victor’s life through the same method they used to revive Jonah.

Victor’s heart stops beating and though it seems like he’s taken his last breath, the parents place the body in the box — Jonah explains that the residual energies from the box’s power source would keep his body preserved so they can hope to revive him in the future. Victor remains, not dead but not alive either, in what is quite possibly the most literal interpretation of Schrödinger’s Cat on a television show.

“You will definitely see him again,” said showrunner Stephanie Savage while speaking with EW.

But Josh Schwartz also teased that Victor would be significantly changed when he shows up once again.

“No one goes through Jonah’s personal medical care completely unchanged,” said Schwartz.

Jonah explicitly stated that Victor is the least expendable of all the PRIDE members, as it is his tech that revived him and also is necessary for whatever is required at their dig site.

And though it seems impossible to bring Victor back to life, Jonah has proven to be more than capable of miraculous feats. We’ll see what he has up his sleeve when Runaways returns next Tuesday for its penultimate episode on Hulu.