Nico Minoru

Nico Minoru in Runaways v5 #28.

Nico Minoru is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Nico Minoru

Every year, Nico Minoru's parents would join five other couples in a 'charity event', and their kids would spend the night hanging out together. One year, feeling bored, the kids decided to spy on their parents and were shocked to discover them meeting in unusual clothes. As the meeting progressed, a young girl entered the scene and was murdered in a strange ritual, shocking Nico and the others. (Runaways v1 #1)

Eventually, the kids learned that all their parents were part of a secret organization called the Pride, which served the ancient Gibborim, mystical beings with tremendous power that required an annual sacrifice that would in time allow them to destroy all of mankind. (Runaways v1 #13)

Determined to stop this evil plan, the kids confronted their parents, but amidst the battle their teammate Alex revealed himself to be on their parents' side. (Runaways v1 #16) Due to his feelings for Nico, Alex invited her to join him, but she brokenheartedly declined. As chaos ensued, Alex was killed by the Gibborim and the parents joined forces to save their kids, giving their lives in the process. (Runaways v1 #17)

Witchbreaker

After being warned of a future threat named Victor Mancha, Nico and the Runaways found and abducted Victor to question him. After Victor's mother was murdered and Ultron, his father, was destroyed, Nico invited Victor to become a part of the team, much to the anger of some members, notably Chase. Nico reassured them that she was willing to 'rip Victor's damn heart out' if necessary. (Runaways v2 #1)

After Chase tied Nico up before he attempted to sacrifice himself to the Gibborim, Nico interpreted it as a cry for help and led the Runaways to intervene Chase's self-sacrifice. The Gibborim instead attempted to take Nico, revealing that Nico's soul was innocent, thus suitable for the Gibborim's consumption. Victor rescued Nico and the two formed a relationship. After defeating the Gibborim, Victor asked Nico what she was willing to do if Chase did something like this again; Nico responded by saying she was willing to 'rip Chase's damn heart out' if necessary. After returning to their lair beneath the La Brea Tar Pits, Xavin realized she had publicly exposed their location, drawing the attention of Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D.. Nico, stepping into her role as a leader, led the Runaways in a cross-country escape from Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. (Runaways v2 #25)

Dead Wrong

Nico used a spell ("scatter") to scatter a group of invading Majesdanians all over the planet. The spell, however, had unwanted side-effects: it emotionally scattered the Runaways. (Runaways v3 #3)

Victor realized this in time, and Nico spearheaded a massive escape from the returning Majesdanians. A short time later, the Runaways realized that having obeyed Nico, breaking the enchantment. Regardless, Xavin shapeshifted into Karolina and left Earth, much to the other Runaways' great grief. (Runaways v3 #6)

Later on, Nico used the spell "Zombie Not" to turn an army of zombies back to humans. The spell backfired, actually turning the zombies into a "zombie knot", thus creating one large zombie. The Runaways deduced that after the Witchbreaker had tortured and trained Nico, Nico's magical abilities had been severely augmented. Val Rhymin's magician informed Nico that the Staff of One carried tremendous magical ability and Nico, being young, should not use it. The magician stole the Staff from her, only to be killed after the Staff defended itself. A silent Nico took her Staff back and warned the other Runaways not to touch it. (Runaways v3 #9)

Nico dedicated her efforts to providing normalcy for her teammates. She tried to enrol Molly in the Xavier School's San Francisco campus, but this backfired when one of the many victims of Molly's late parents kidnapped her. Later, she tried to stage a prom in an attempt to give her older teammates an outlet for their sexual tension, which had been growing worse after Victor lost Lillie and Karolina lost Xavin. This also backfired, as Victor, who'd been given the task of finding music, hacked into what he thought was some shut-in's private radio station. The radio signal was actually coming from a naval air weapons base that was awaiting the arrival of a mysterious plane, and Victor's hacking reproduced the radio signal, causing the craft to hit the Runaways' home by accident. Most of the team was unharmed, but Old Lace was seemingly killed and Klara was buried beneath a pile of rubble and panicked, causing the house to become engulfed in a forest of vines. (Runaways v3 #11) Nico tried various methods to calm Klara down, but Chase kept sabotaging them, as he resented Klara for surviving. His efforts caused Klara to become increasingly worked up, until finally Nico resorted to using magic to force her to calm down. (Runaways v3 #12) She also sent Old Lace's body into another dimension to to keep it from becoming a source of conflict among the team. (Avengers Academy v1 #27)

Meanwhile, a military unit had arrived to investigate the crash, but was held at bay by Klara's vines. Fortunately, Chase's long-lost uncle, Hunter Stein arrived, and due to the vines mistaking him for one of the Runaways, was allowed through the vines, whereupon Chase revealed that he believed that he'd killed Hunter years earlier in an accident, and thus refused to deal with him. Undeterred, Hunter led the team to a secret garage within the house, where they found a new Leapfrog. The Runaways escaped while the military opted to burn down the house and call it a night. (Runaways v3 #13) While the team hid out, Chase decided that he needed to get away from his teammates for a while and left them on the pretense of going out to buy food. After he failed to return having been hit by a car while chasing after an apparently-resurrected Gert, the rest of the team were summoned to a meeting with Hunter, who offered to help them find a new place to live. Nico, wary of accepting aid that might alienate Chase, and unaware that Chase himself had been taken to a hospital, turned down the off. (Runaways v3 #14)

After the team's dissolution, Nico was sent to live at Father Flanagan's Home for Unwanted Goth Kids. (Mystic Arcana Sister Grimm v1 #1)

She came to be one of the candidates for the position of Sorcerer Supreme after Doctor Strange lost the title. (New Avengers v1 #53)

Avengers

She came to be one of 16 super-powered teens that were captured and brought to Murderworld where Arcade staged a game forcing them to fight one another to survive. (Avengers Arena v1 #1)

Nico was in Japan attending her cousin Rei's wedding when it was interrupted by Singularity. (A-Force v2 #2)

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Nico Minoru was a young Japanese woman who had long black hair. (Runaways v2 #28) She came to operate under the name of Sister Grimm. (Runaways v1 #10)

Though she acknowledged her parents, she refused to follow their footsteps. (Mystic Arcana Sister Grimm v1 #1)

It was said that her parents did not have tempers but were noted for their pride. (Mystic Arcana Sister Grimm v1 #1)

Minoru was a very emotional person and had repeatedly expressed difficulty with knowing precisely what she was feeling. (Runaways v1 #7)

Nico explained that she sought out physical comfort after periods of stress. (Runaways v2 #19)

Among her extended family, Nico was noted to have a female cousin named Rei who lived in Japan. (A-Force v2 #2)

One of her ancestors was her great-grandmother who operated in 1907 as the Witchbreaker where she worked alongside the Upward Path in bringing order to the city. (Runaways v2 #29)

Her family line was said to hold deep roots in magic. (Mystic Arcana Sister Grimm v1 #1)

While Victor expressed feelings for Nico, she asked for time alone to clear her head and figure her feelings out, much like how she initially dealt with Alex and Karolina after each expressed feelings for Nico. (Runaways v2 #19) However, Nico admits that Victor is genuinely a good guy and would not mind being in a relationship with him. Victor came to call Nico his girlfriend when he attempted to save her from Chase, and although she was in a hostage situation, Nico still lightly scolded Victor for calling her such. Despite that, the two eventually came to be a couple afterwards. (Runaways v2 #24)

Powers and abilities

The Staff of One in Runaways v2 #23.

It was shown that she was fluent in Japanese. (A-Force v2 #2)

Nico came to be the wielder of the Staff of One that was a magical staff that was absorbed into her body. Whenever blood was spilt, the Staff emerged and she could utilise it to perform mystical acts. (Runaways v1 #4) In reality, the Staff was actually the imprisoned form of the being known as the One who had been defeated Nico's ancestor Tokiko. The two foes were matched in villainy where they gathered thrall armies against one another but Minoru had defeated the One. She then offered the One a choice, either die or live as her sword with him agreeing to the latter. Thus, he was transformed into the Staff of One and used as a tool for unlimited magic for the Minoru line. A stipulation made by Tokiko was that only women of the family were to wield the Staff with the One making a request that every time that Mars aligned with Earth and the Sun that his physical form was restored so that he could plead his case to be released from his servitude. Such freedom could only occur with informed consent as the bearer needed to willingly relinquish the claim over the One. (Runaways v5 #15) It was said that the power of the Staff of One was great enough that it made the Dread Dormammu tremble. (Runaways v1 #7)

When cut, she was able to manifest the staff from her body. In her hands, she was able to utter a single word as a spell such as by saying 'Freeze' causing her targets to be unable to move. (Runaways v1 #5)

Notes

• Nico Minoru was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona where she made her first appearance in Runaways v1 #1 (July. 2003).

In other media

Television

• In Runaways, Nico Minoru appeared in the setting of the live-action Hulu television series where he was portrayed by actress Lyrica Okano.

Video games

• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Nico Minoru appeared as a playable character in the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, Nico Minoru appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Avengers Academy, Nico Minoru appeared in the setting of the mobile video game where she was voiced by actress Maya Tuttle.
• In Marvel's Midnight Suns, Nico Minoru appeared as a playable character in the setting of the video game where she was voiced again by actress Lyrica Okano

Appearances

• Runaways v1: (2003)
• Runaways v2:
• New Avengers v1:
• Mystic Arcana Sister Grimm v1:
• Avengers Arena v1:
• A-Force v1:
• A-Force v2:
• Runaways v5:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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