Chase Stein
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| Chase Stein | |
 Chase with Old Lace Cover to Runaways Vol.2, #24. Art by Jo Chen. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Runaways vol. 1 # 1 (July, 2003) |
| Created by | Brian K. Vaughan Adrian Alphona |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Chase Stein |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | Runaways |
| Notable aliases | Talkback |
| Abilities | Skilled pilot and mechanic Telepathic link to a genetically engineered deinonychus, allowing Chase to send it mental commands |
Chase Stein, sometimes known as "Talkback" is a comic book character in the ongoing series Runaways, published by Marvel Comics. Chase is the "wild card" of the series, due to his everchanging role in the group - he has served on the front line in the group's offense, from behind the scenes as the "getaway guy" & technical guru, and as the "loose cannon" after he departed the group for a short while. However, despite his rule-breaking persona, Chase is fiercely loyal to his friends and remains a valued member of the team.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
Main Article: Runaways story arcs
[edit] The Pride
Chase Stein is the "dumb athlete" son of praised inventors Victor and Janet Stein. The couple is secretly part of a group of archetypal villains called The Pride, along with the parents of Nico Minoru, Alex Wilder, Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean and Molly Hayes. Chase is with the Pride's children when they secretly witness the Pride ritually sacrifice a young girl. He is among the first to vote for running away and steals his parents' x-ray goggles and the Fistigons, flame-throwing/manipulating gauntlets. In the ensuing altercation with his parents, Chase remains defiant and unafraid of his parents, firmly establishing himself as the most rebellious and reckless of the group, a trait he carries for the rest of Brian K. Vaughan's initial run on the title. Chase provides the runaways' with their first hideout, a dilapidated mansion he called "the Hostel," and their first transport, a white, unmarked van with stolen license plates. When they manage to finally escape their parents, group members who desire them take "superhero codenames." Chase initially wants to be called "Neo," but Gert labels him "Talkback" instead, referring to Chase's defiant nature.
After some time in hiding, Alex Wilder deciphers the Abstract, a mystical tome that records the past and present deeds of the Pride's members. It reveals that their parents had banded together to work for Biblical benefactors called the Gibborim to wipe out humanity (including themselves) and build a paradise on Earth for the six most loyal Pride members. When Victor and Janet Stein conceived Chase, they convinced the other couples to conceive children and bequeath paradise to them. It can be argued that without Chase, none of the other runaways would exist.
The Abstract also details an up and coming sacrificial ceremony that the runaways decide to interrupt. Once at the site, they are attacked by the hideout's security golem and Chase nearly drowns in the process. Gert revives Chase with CPR, the two share a kiss, and since Chase is too weak to go on, he offers the Fistigons and x-ray goggles to Alex. Chase unwittingly saves the team by hot-wiring "The Leapfrog," the Pride's land/sea transport vehicle, and gets them out of the lair before it implodes. When Chase surfaces the vessel, Captain America is waiting for the kids. He splits the kids up through California social services, but Chase tells the authorities that he will live with an aunt in Anaheim and runs away. Later, when the rest of the runaways leave their foster homes to meet each other, Chase turns up by surprise and leads them off to release Old Lace from an Avengers storage complex. After successfully rescuing Old Lace and the Leapfrog, the kids decide to band together and run away again, taking up lives as full-time vigilantes.
[edit] Getaway Guy
Since his Fistigons and x-ray goggles were destroyed during Alex's betrayal, Chase resumes his "getaway guy" role as the Leapfrog pilot in the second volume. He has started a relationship with Gert and is present to witness a future version of Gert come back in time to warn the runaways of dormant threat Victor Mancha. The future Gert dies in Chase's arms, making the search for Victor personal for Chase. He doesn't help in Victor's kidnapping, but does use his switchblade to watch over Victor during a fight with Excelsior. With the runaways' help, Victor discovers that he is a cyborg created by the android Ultron, and they band together to defeat the villain. Chase vocally disapproves of Nico's decision to let Victor join the team, even after Nico states that she's prepared to kill Victor if he ever goes rogue.
Chase's dedication to Gert drives him throughout the second volume. In addition to making the search for Victor personal, he demonstrates his dedication on an investigative mission in New York City. Chase manages to bluff his way into the good graces of interdimensional drug lord Pusher Man, and Nico kisses Chase in excitement and thanks him after they leave Pusher Man's pad. Chase rejects it and reminds Nico that he has a girlfriend, but soon after, a new incarnation of the Pride reveals Chase and Nico's kiss to Gert. She is hurt, angered, and the resulting friction almost tears the runaways apart and seriously wears on Chase, but the group reconciles in time to rescue Molly. Chase is captured during the rescue and Gert saves him, unfortunately suffering a fatal stomach wound in the process. In her final moments, Gert transfers telepathic control of Old Lace to Chase and dies in his arms, without forgiving him for Nico's kiss and without ever having said "I love you," a prediction made by the future Gert.
Art by Adrian Alphona
Chase loses himself to grief after Gert's death in the next few issues. He strikes a deal with the Gibborim to exchange one innocent soul for Gert's life and eventually settles on sacrificing himself, viewing his life as worthless compared to Gert's. He only bids Nico farewell and promises to rid her of the Staff of One when he goes, but she gathers the runaways to follow him and intervene. The Gibborim ultimately tell Chase his self-sacrifice is unacceptable and try to consume Nico instead. Victor and Molly rescue Nico as the Gibborim die without a soul to consume. Chase realizes how his grief nearly destroyed all of his friends and finally accepts Gert's death. He rejoins the team on their cross-country trek to evade Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. pro-registration agents from Marvel's Civil War.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Art by Adrian Alphona.
In vol. 1, Chase stole telescopic x-ray goggles and the Fistigons from his parents' secret laboratory. The x-ray goggles allowed Chase to see through clothing, walls, and even through miles of rock. The Fistigons were metal gauntlets with built-in flamethrowers. The Fistigons allowed the wearer to mentally shape the produced flame into any form the wearer desired; the only limit was the wearer's imagination. Before the final fight with their parents, Chase nearly drowned and was too weak to go on. He gave the Fistigons and x-ray goggles to Alex, who subsequently betrayed the team to their parents. Nico used the Staff of One to magically destroy the gauntlets while he was still wearing them and the x-ray goggles were incinerated with Alex by the Gibborim.
In volume two, Chase's primary weapon is the Leapfrog, a frog-like land & sea transport designed by his parents. He taught himself how to pilot the vessel and to use the ship's built-in lasers. Chase has also used the Leapfrog itself to squash enemies. Throughout the first two volumes, Chase has carried a switchblade, although this has seen little use in combat.
Like his parents, Chase also seems to have an intuitive knack for engineering and machinery. Over the course of the series, he has taught himself how to use the Fistigons, hot-wired the Leapfrog, repaired/maintained the Leapfrog, and even assisted repairing Victor Mancha after the cyborg was hit by an anti-aircraft missile. And during the Young Avengers/Runaways Civil War cross over, his intuitive knack for engineering and machinery was shown to be even more greater when he bonded with the Vision. However, Chase has not shown any desire to nor has he had the means by which to hone his skills.
Before Gert's death, she transferred telepathic control of Old Lace to Chase. He now shares an empathic link with the dinosaur, so both suffer from one another's injuries and benefit when the other heals. Chase and Old Lace's minds are also directly connected so the dinosaur can telepathically communicate thoughts and feelings to his master. Old Lace is engineered to follow Chase's every mental command though she can express dissatisfaction; to date, Old Lace has directly disobeyed only one of Chase's orders and was able to only with Karolina's help.
Chase has a fairly good grasp on how to work the Staff of One and has used it several times, mostly against Nico.
After first encountering the runaways, Victor Mancha noticed that Chase displayed no obvious superpower. When he asked Chase what his powers were, he responded by displaying his switchblade and saying, "A poor upbringing."
A promotional cover image for issue #30 shows Nico standing back-to-back with Chase, who has a robotic right hand that reaches up to his forearm. This may possibly be another variation of the 'Fistigons' that Chase previously owned. Promotional images for the Secret Invasion Young Avengers\Runaways crossover show Chase with a newer version of his Fistigons, which look differntly then the ones from the promotional image. As well as a pair of goggles that seem to be a newer version of his x-ray specs.
[edit] Relationships
[edit] Gertrude Yorkes
Gert dated Chase from Runaways vol. 1 #16 to Runaways vol. 2 #18. The two started their relationship after she resuscitated Chase from nearly drowning. Their relationship was often defined by bickering - Chase's dim-witted moments often clashed with Gert's sarcastic and intelligent quips. Gert's relationship with Chase softened her somewhat, though she didn't entirely lose her sarcastic edge. Their relationship developed quickly, with a few off-hand comments suggesting that they shared the same bed and were sexually intimate.
However, their relationship was threatened when Gert learned that Nico had kissed Chase in a moment of passion. Though Chase rebuffed Nico's advances, Gert was still hurt that Chase had kept the interaction hidden from her. She revealed her insecurity about her appearance and fear that Chase would eventually leave her for a more conventionally pretty girl. She strongly implied that she was hurt beyond reconciliation, but still selflessly dashed into a burning building to save Chase from Geoffrey Wilder after their falling out. She bluffed some details about Chase's past to keep Geoffrey from sacrificing Chase and Geoffrey fell for the bluff, but plunged his dagger into Gert's stomach instead. As she lay dying, she transferred control of Old Lace to Chase and forgave Chase for Nico's kiss. Unfortunately, she died without managing to profess her love for him. Chase fell into a spiral of grief and almost traded his life for Gert's resurrection, saying that she was the only thing that made him a good person.
[edit] Nico Minoru
Nico provides the motherly and leadership foil for Chase's rule-breaking persona. The pair maintain a strong respect for each other despite often disagreeing over major group decisions, including Gert's burial site and allowing Victor Mancha to join the team. Chase cares for Nico's safety and well-being, as evidenced from when he comforted Nico after Karolina's departure and later when he took the Staff of One from Nico to destroy it (along with himself) and give her a normal life. Nico and Chase shared a kiss after Chase bluffed their way out of a potentially fatal encounter with inter-dimensional drug lord Pusher Man and managed to get a customer's name from the drug lord. Chase rejected the kiss but did not make a huge deal of it, even though Nico treated him more as an employee instead of a friend after the incident. After Gert's death, Chase and Nico's friendship strained as he allowed anger and grief to isolate him (both physically and emotionally) from the group's support. Nico was also the only person that Chase bid farewell before leaving to sacrifice himself for the Gibborim, which Nico interpreted as a cry for help, and is presumably a signal of the level of trust and respect Chase holds for Nico. In Joss Whedon's current stint on Runaways , Chase and Nico's friendship appears more stable now that Chase seems to have moved past grieving for Gert.
[edit] Molly Hayes
In the beginning of the series, Molly and Chase engage in a big brother/little sister relationship: they bicker, call each other names, and horse around. Chase always stands up to protect Molly. As the series progresses, Chase and Molly grow apart, primarily due to his romantic involvement with Gert. In issues #18-#24 of volume 2, Chase distances himself from Molly and the rest of the runaways to deal with his grief over Gert's death. However, in the Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways mini-series, Chase expresses jealousy over Molly's growing attachment to Speed.
[edit] Victor Mancha
Victor's alternate future self, Victorious, managed to fatally wound an alternate version of Gert before she came to the past and warned the runaways of the looming threat; the future Gert died in Chase's arms. Her death made locating Victor personal for Chase, as he sought to prevent his current girlfriend's murder. He disagreed vehemently with Nico about letting Victor stay with the team, even after Nico stated she was prepared to kill Victor if necessary. As such, Chase has tried to distance himself from Victor, despite the cyborg's attempts to prove himself. Chase did admit to Victor that he envies Victor more than hates him, primarily because Victor is the son Chase believes his parents wanted (he even has the same name as Chase's father). By the end of Brian K. Vaughan's stint on Runaways, Chase and Victor had switched roles: Victor stood by the team without hesitation while a grief-ridden Chase carried out his own agenda without regards to the team's safety. Victor even questioned Nico when she admitted Chase back into the group as Chase questioned Victor's membership earlier, yet Nico's response remained the same as it was when Chase asked it: if Chase went rogue again, she would not hesitate to kill him.
[edit] Victor Stein
The first time the Stein family appears, Victor Stein punches Chase in the face and berates him for getting bad grades. A few issues later, it is implied that Chase's father regularly hits him--when Alex informs Chase that Victor attacked Chase with one of his inventions, Chase replies "What else is new? I probably had it coming."
In volume two, Chase tells Nico that he's evil, and implies that he once killed someone who tried to carjack his van. However, after Gert's death Chase realizes he isn't evil. He admits that his mother allowed his father to abuse him, and because none of his dad's reasons for hitting him ever seemed good enough, Chase started making up reasons and convincing himself they were true.
[edit] Conceptual changes
In Brian K. Vaughan's original pitch for the series, Chase was originally called John. The relationship Chase has with Molly in the comics was also originally given to Gert.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Runaways Vol. 1 Hardcover
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