WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Runaways #36 by Rainbow Rowell, Andrés Genolet, Dee Cunniffe and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
As befitting any cast that's primarily composed of teenagers, there's plenty of drama to be had among the characters of Runaways -- especially romantically, as various members of the group have circled each other in this regard over the years. Recently, things have been complicated for Nico and Karolina, with the pair of them running into a rough patch upon Karolina discovering just how dark things have gotten for Nico following a brief team-up with Pixie.
But one of the other major mysteries in Runaways has been the love triangle that's erupted between Chase, Victor and Gert. This is only made more complicated by the presence of a future version of Gert and her apparent desire to restart a romance with Chase.
Chase and Gert enjoyed a deep romance before she was infamously killed by the restored Geoff Wilder in Runaways #18 by Brian K. Vaught, Adrian Alphona, Craig Yeung, Chrstina Strain and Randy Gentile. By the time Gert was eventually restored to life, it had been years for her friends, who largely moved on from her loss. The age difference partly helped cement the apparent end of Chase and Gert's romance. Instead, she became increasingly attracted to their teammate Victor -- who was also at a teenaged point and has been attending a local high school with her. The two have been dealing with romantic tension following the crisis of Runaways' encounter with Doc Justice, which led to Gert ending their relationship.
But after a conversation about the situation and their feelings on the matter, the pair finally seem to reaffirm their romance and resume it while walking back home. But things are seriously complicated by their discovery that a version of Gert from the future has returned to the present and resumed her romance with Chase. This future-Gert hasn't revealed much about what has become of their friends and family, but she just wants to focus on resuming a romance with Gert. Future-Gert asks Chase to venture into the future with her so they can resume their romance properly, but Chase doesn't want to abandon his friends.
Their secret spot to share time together and share a kiss ends up being in the same place that the present-day Gert and Victor have just walked into on their way back from school, revealing the two pairings to one another. The three young adults are all taken aback by this discovery. But notably, while the present-day characters are caught by surprise by the revelation, future-Gert appears to be far more emotionally conflicted. She sadly recognizes Victor, suggesting that something has happened to the character in the future that makes Victor a genuinely tragic figure in her timeline.
It's possible that whatever mysterious events future-Gert refuses to divulge resulted in the destruction of Victor -- or even that he somehow embraced his villainous origins to become Victorious, the true son of Ultron. Regardless of the full context around this reunion, it seems that the Runaways are about to have their status quo blown up all over again -- and along with it, Gert's romantic prospects within the team dynamic.
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