Exclusive: Nico Minoru Marvel Series In Development
not. A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot has shared that a Nico Minoru series is in development.
This article is more than 2 years old
Marvel has been around for a long time, giving characters like Captain America and Iron Man a lengthy comic book history before they arrived on screen. In comparison, Marvel’s Runaways is pretty young. The comic first appeared in 2003, and the Hulu series started up in 2017, only getting three seasons on the streaming service. At the heart of Runaways is Nico Minoru, a powerful and interesting character who’s barely gotten her start in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Runaways has ended, it seems that Nico Minoru’s story has not. A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot has shared that a Nico Minoru series is in development.
Our source shared that Marvel is working on a Nico Minoru series. However, they didn’t confirm much more than that. It sounds like this could be a totally new version of the character, with a new actress attached. We didn’t confirm that though, and it’s an interesting question. Hulu got started with a few different Marvel series that were soon cancelled. There was Runaways and Helstrom. Producer Jeph Loeb did confirm that Runaways was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the time. These tie-ins were mostly seen in the way of mentions of Wakanda existing and checking in with the Marvel show Cloak & Dagger on Freeform, but the Hulu series didn’t have actors like Robert Downey Jr. flying into episodes of Runaways. The tie-ins were loose, and the audience for the series wasn’t huge.
Will Marvel recast the character for their Nico Minoru series? Will they treat her as the same character with the same history? It sounds like this will be a totally new version of the character, but we aren’t sure. Currently, actress Lyrica Okano is voicing the character of Nico Minoru for Marvel’s Midnight Suns video game, so she hasn’t moved away from the character yet. Nico Minoru is mostly shown as a teenager though, so recasting the character with a younger actress for the series may prove important.
While the character was only created in the comics in 2003, she has still done a lot in that time, giving the new Nico Minoru series plenty of material to pull from. It seems most likely a series centered on Nico Minoru would focus on her time with the Runaways, since that’s where she’s most well-known. She is often considered the leader of the group, consisting of young people with supervillains for parents. But Nico Minoru has been part of Secret Invasion. While it didn’t happen in the comics, comic writer Brian Bendis has brought up at a comic-con panel that she should have ties to Doctor Strange based on her powers and origins. She’s been part of Secret Wars and Avengers storylines. There’s plenty of room to develop a Nico Minoru storyline that removes her from Runaways.
However, if they decide to go that route, it’ll be interesting to see how they keep the parts of her character that make her special. Whatever story she shows up in, she tends to display the skills of a leader. This is interesting with her dark history, gothic dress, and serious powers. Whether she’s the leader of the Runaways or she’s off doing something else, other heroes usually tend to listen to her at the very least, and she’s often followed, making her a great character for the center of an ensemble cast. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop those types of traits in a Nico Minoru series.
