Marvel's Runaways S01E05 "Kingdom" Recap

Eighteen years ago, Geoffrey was in prison serving a sentence for murder and Catherine is his lawyer. Darius is his friend and fellow prisoner. A mysterious man named Jonah pays him a visit and wants to buy a piece of land Geoffrey owns in exchange for at least five million dollars. Geoffrey says he's willing to sell it but he wants to be Jonah's business partner. He convinces Darius to take the blame for Geoffrey's crime so he will have to serve out his sentence and Geoffrey will be able to get out in a month, offering to help Darius and his loved ones in exchange. Darius agrees and Geoffrey promises he won't forget what he has done for him.

In the present day, Darius is revealed to be the one that kidnapped Alex hoping to ransom him back to Geoffrey for one million dollars. Nico calls Karolina, Gery, Molly, and Chase about what has happened so they can work together to save him. Chase hasn't showed up yet but Nico has stolen the staff to aid in finding and saving Alex.

Darius tells Alex how Geoffrey convinced him to confess to Geoffrey's crime then didn't even follow through on what he promised in exchange. Geoffrey summons some LAPD on his payroll to come with him to go after Alex. A shoot-out ensues and Alex ends up getting hold of one of the guns and shoots one of Darius' men, Andre. However, Alex is held at gunpoint by Darius who takes him captive once again.

Chase has been working with his father on his super-powered gloves. Victor apologises for being so hard on him and promises he only ever wanted Chase to fill his potential.

The teens, minus Chase, all pull up behind Darius' car stopped at a red light. Nico tries to use the staff but is unable to make it work as a weapon. Molly gets out of the car and holds the car to prevent it from moving. Darius and his men, along with Alex get out of the car. Karolina removes her bracelet and blasts some light to distract Darius long enough to allow Alex to join back with their group. Chase arrives and knocks Darius back with his gloves. When Darius re-emerges, Nico orders the staff to protect them and it stops all the bullets Darius shoots from hitting them. Darius flees and Molly falls asleep due to her having used her powers.

Alex reaches Geoffrey who is taking the gravely injured Andre back to be sacrificed. Alex is horrified but unable to stop his father. He heads back to the group and implores them to work together with him to save Andre, whom he bonded with while they were captive. Alex doesn't want any more teenagers to die. They all take a moment to process all the special abilities they've gained, and Molly also reveals to everyone that Gert has a dinosaur she can control.

The adults gather and prepare to perform the sacrifice. The kids return to the secret room but the adults aren't there, having chosen to perform the sacrifice in another location. Alex expresses remorse to Nico over having been the one to shoot Andre and regret at not being able to save him and make things right. Nico says she is glad to have gotten Alex back and admits to worrying about him before the pair begin to kiss passionately. Karolina interrupts to say that Chase found a hidden camera in the library and need Alex's tech-savvy to work on it.

The sacrifice is successfully completed.

Alex returns home and gets into a fight with his father, who becomes alarmed when Alex is shown to now be afraid of him. Catherine overhears the argument and warns Geoffrey to not keep any more secrets from her and pushes him to handle Darius when he comes after them again.

Nico sneaks back in to return the staff and her mother catches her, saying it's okay that she is using it. She says they are the only two people that can use the staff and allows Nico to keep it for the night, saying she trusts Nico and hopes that one day she will trust her mother again in return.

Chase returns home and reunites with his father in the lab. Victor shows Chase a time machine he has finished that doesn't work as a transporter but can show images from the future. When they turn on the screen, Victor asks it to show Los Angeles in the future. When it doesn't work, Victor becomes angry and throws the device. He collapses from a splitting headache and reveals he is suffering from brain cancer and not even Janet knows. Chase becomes emotional and the pair hug. As they are leaving the lab, the time machine turns on and shows an image of Los Angeles crumbling.

Frank wakes and is told he failed to go Ultra, leaving him devastated.

The man that Leslie has been tending to is revealed to be Jonah, who has been revived by the sacrifice. He says that the one thing he feared about the sacrifice not coming in time was that he would have died without meeting "her" and pushes Leslie to let him meet her now. Leslie embraces him but secretly appears apprehensive about the request.

Marvel's Runaways is available for streaming on Hulu.