Molly Hernandez

"People need our help. I can't just sit around and do nothing."

- Molly Hernandez

Molly Hayes Hernandez is a young girl with a superhuman strength, a power she gained after being exposed to a mysterious type of rocks prior to and during the explosion that killed her biological parents, Gene and Alice Hernandez, when she was a child. She was adopted by Dale and Stacey Yorkes, the parents of Gert Yorkes. Upon reuniting with her childhood friends, they discovered that their parents used PRIDE to cover up ceremonial sacrifices of the Church of Gibborim. She teamed up with her friends and formed the Runaways. Having been framed for Destiny Gonzalez's murder, and with no other choice, they are forced to run.

Losing her Parents
"I always thought it was a miracle that Molly survived that night."

- Dale Yorkes

Molly Hernandez was born in 2003 to and Gene and Alice Hernandez. When Molly was four years old, while she was playing in their lab, she saw her parents worrying around the room. Her mother, Alice, approached her and told her that she loved her. Observing her parents, Molly noticed a stone on the desk that her mother had brought back, which moved by making light. Amused, she moved the stone until a door knocking noise drew her attention again, as well as that of her parents. While her parents discovered that they were locked up in the lab, Hernandez went back to playing with the stone. Seconds later, an explosion blasted the lab. Clinging to her stone and her soft toy, Molly went to hide under a table, watching the remains of the building following the explosion that has just killed her parents. Hernandez did not immediately realize what had just happened to her and remained calm to wait for someone to pick her up. As she looked at the sky, the color of her eyes turned orange, indicating that she had gained her powers.

Adoption by the Yorkeses
"You know that we loved your mommy and daddy very much, and we know how much they love you. And..." "We know that they would want you to have a good home, so we were wondering if maybe you'd want to come live with us."

- Dale and Stacey Yorkes to Molly Hernandez

Later, Hernandez attended the funeral of her parents being pampered by Stacey Yorkes who collapsed in tears understanding the suffering of it. Hernandez looked attentively at the burial of her parents, without crying once. Hernandez then went to the Yorkes Residence with the other children of the members of PRIDE, remaining sitting alone and playing with her stuffed elephant toy. Later, Hernandez was approached by Stacey and Dale Yorkes who asked her if she wanted to eat. Hernandez told them that she was not hungry but that her stuffed animal would not say no to a little food. The discussion turned to the fact that Hernandez dreamed of being an elephant and the Yorkesed finally offered her to come live with them, which Hernandez accepted without hesitation.

Powers Discovery
In 2017, Hernandez and Gert Yorkes were taken to Atlas Academy by Dale and Stacey Yorkes. After an awkward conversation about menstruating, Hernandez told Gert that she wanted to audition and join the school's dance squad. However, during the audition, she experiences what seemed to be bad menstrual cramps, and was left unable to continue the tryout, causing Hernandez to ask Eiffel for a reschedule. Hernandez headed to the nurse's office, where she was given meds. When the nurse stepped out, her powers suddenly emerged as she inadvertently used super-strength to accidentally crush her chair. This relieved her discomfort, the repression having been the true source of her pain.

Back home, Hernandez decided to further try out her powers in the garage. She tried to pull a van but failed, instead going to bend a crowbar, just as the van began to roll towards her from behind. Hernandez noticed and turned, causing her powers to suddenly activate to stop the vehicle. Hernandez cheered at her success, before suddenly becoming very tired and slumping against the wall. She was then awakened by a text from Gert asking her to feed their parents' pets. Hernandez went down into the basement to feed the pets. However, she also heard noises from the a heavily secured vaulted room, and approached its window. As she looked through, she managed to see some kind of creature - actually a genetically engineered dinosaur, prompting her to flee in terror. She called her sister, saying that she wanted to leave the house. Hernandez was later found by Gert, who took her to the Wilder Mansion, as Alex Wilder had previously invited all of his former friends over.

Once all the group of former friends was gathered, they asked for suggestions on what to do next. However, the conversation quickly went wrong as they began arguing with each other, although no one had peculiar grudge against Hernandez herself, since most of the resentment was directed towards Wilder. The group then followed Chase Stein as he headed over to Geoffrey Wilder's office to find some alcohol, although he refused to give some to Hernandez. The group was then surprised when Wilder accidentally activated a secret mechanism which triggered the opening to a mysterious passageway leading in the mansion's basement. They arrived at an underground hall and were confused as to what was happening as they saw their parents in red robes preparing for some sort of ritual and apparently unreachable behind a mysterious energy barrier. Hernandez was then pushed back by Yorkes as a young girl, Destiny Gonzalez, was being brought for what appeared to be human sacrifice. However, Hernandez refused to be the only one not to see anything and used her phone to take a picture, thus alerting PRIDE with the flash. Figuring out that they could be discovered having seen something they were not supposed to, Hernandez and the others fled back to Geoffrey's office.

Avoiding Confession
"You think I'm lying, don't you? Nobody ever believes me. Not my parents, not the other kids. I'm just the adopted girl who everyone got stuck with."

- Molly Hernandez to Catherine Wilder

While Alex Wilder briefly left the group, Hernandez and her friends hid in the guesthouse. Exhausted by her recent efforts, she fell asleep on a couch while Wilder returned and explained that he had cut the power in the Wilder Mansion so that PRIDE would believe that to be the cause of the flash. Hernandez was then awakened by her friends and they all pretended to be playing when Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder arrived to check on them. Once the Wilders left, the teenagers discussed about what they had seen: Hernandez showed them the picture she had taken, but it was blurry and actually did not display anything.

In order to act normal, Hernandez and the group returned to the lobby to meet with PRIDE, and she spent some time discussing with the Wilders and Janet Stein. Hernandez and Gert Yorkes were then taken back to the Yorkes Residence. Unable to sleep after what they had witnessed, Hernandez went to Yorkes' room and asked if she could sleep next to her, which she agreed, and asked her to sing a lullaby to comfort her.

In the next morning, before she and Yorkes went to find the group at the beach, Hernandez looked through her stuff to find a hairpin that she lost, which had been given to her by her mother. She also attempted to explain to Yorkes that something weird was happening to her whenever she felt anxious, but eventually chose not to reveal the whole extent of it. They then went to the beach, where the Runaways attempted to organize their investigation. Hernandez mentioned that they could investigate the basement of the Yorkes Residence, claiming that a mysterious creature was living in it, but her suggestion was met with doubt, causing Hernandez to angrily leave.

Hernandez went to the Timely Coffee to spend some time alone. She was approached by Catherine, who explained that she had found her hairpin in Geoffrey's office. Hernandez pretended that she had been looking for the bathroom and, sensing that she was in danger, claimed that he had to go to the toilet. Locking the door, she looked for a way to escape, but the window had bars, forcing Hernandez to resort to her superhuman strength to escape by ripping off an entire part of the wall. Although she successfully left the café, she suddenly felt drowsy and felt asleep.

Hernandez woke up in Catherine's car. She confessed that she had lied to Catherine and claimed that the other kids had actually made her sneak into Geoffrey's office to see whether they could use the liquor cabinet. As she felt that Catherine did not believe her, Hernandez complained that no one trusted her and that she was a burden to the people around her, but Catherine disagreed, claiming that no one felt that way. Hernandez then explained that she wished to know more about her real parents and Catherine offered to give her information about them whenever she would feel ready to hear them.

Cretacean Encounter
"We... have... a dinosaur! When were you gonna tell us this?" "Well, there's a, um, a time and place for that kind of stuff." "I'm available now."

- Gert Yorkes, Stacey Yorkes and Molly Hernandez

In the following night, Hernandez joined a WizTalk conversation between the Runaways to discuss the thin results of their investigation, once again trying to mention her superhuman strength which activated whenever she was afraid, but could not tell much as Gert Yorkes interrupted her. On the next morning, Hernandez heard her parents Dale and Stacey Yorkes discussing about a missing animal in their lab, and figured out that they were talking about the creature Hernandez had seen, despite the Yorkeses claiming that they were looking for a hedgehog. Once they left, Hernandez and Gert commented on how poor liars their parents were. Hernandez spent the day at the Atlas Academy. Once she returned home, she went to her bedroom and prepared a series of question to ask to Catherine Wilder about her biological parents. However, before she could send it, she heard strange noises in the house. Believing it to be a prank from Gert, she opened a door, only to be attacked by a small dinosaur. This activated her superpowers, and she kicked the dinosaur to the ceiling before running downstairs. However, the dinosaur jumped in front of her, arriving between Hernandez and the door. Hernandez prepared to punch the dinosaur, but it stopped as Gert suddenly arrived and ordered it to calm down. Hernandez then watched as Gert confirmed that the dinosaur obeyed her.

Once Dale and Stacey returned and locked the dinosaur back into its room, Hernandez and Gert asked for explanations regarding its existence. Dale and Stacey started to explain that they had engineered this dinosaur for their protection, but before they could futher develop, they were interrupted by Tina Minoru ringing the bell at the door, prompting Dale and Stacey to ask Hernandez and Yorkes to remain in the basement and make sure that the dinosaur did not make too much noise.

Kidnapping of Alex Wilder
"You try lifting an SUV with your bare hands. It's exhausting! At least you guys finally got to see what I can do."

- Molly Hernandez to the Runaways



Infiltration into Wizard Headquarters
To be added

Sent Away
"I don't want to live somewhere else. Why are they doing this to me?" "Because they know you saw."

- Molly Hernandez and Gert Yorkes

To be added

Infiltration into the PRIDE Construction Site
"We're a family." "And we'll fight you if we have to!"

- Gert Yorkes and Molly Hernandez to PRIDE

To be added

Rescue of Karolina Dean
To be added

Running Away
"Does Arizona like brown people? I don't think they do."

- Molly Hernandez

To be added

Personality
"Maybe my true super power is my positive attitude."

- Molly Hernandez

To be added

Powers
"You try lifting an SUV with you bare hands. It's exhausting."

- Molly Hernandez

"Took that Taser like a 400-pound grizzly bear."
 * Superhuman Strength: Molly developed superhuman strength, presumably a result of coming in contact with a mysterious rock during her childhood. Though she started manifesting physical characteristics of this change immediately after the explosion that killed her parents (specifically, a reddish glow emanating from under the skin around her eyes and a bright golden-orange limbral ring around her irises), her powers did not start to develop until she reached puberty. In moments of great stress, tension, or other heightened emotions, her eyes begin to glow and her physical strength increases to superhuman levels. Since reaching puberty, Molly has demonstrated the power to easily crush a metal bench in her hands, lift a large SUV off of the ground, push a Volkswagon bus and another SUV for a considerable distance, rip a toilet that had been bolted to the floor up into the air, wrench a set of bars in a public bathroom from the windows (and taking quite a bit of the brick wall surrounding it as well), and push open a large set of locked wood and concrete doors, the latter of which was a feat that the other five Runaways were previously unable to accomplish with their combined strength. The upper limits of her powers are not yet known. However, initially after using her powers, Molly becomes very exhausted and sleepy, though this seems to have reduced given practice with her powers.
 * Bioluminescence: When Molly's strength increases, her eyes glow with bright golden-orange ring around her irises.

- Anthony Wall to Flores


 * Enhanced Durability: Molly was able to resist the Taser used by Anthony Wall, who compared her durability to a grizzly bear.

Abilities

 * Multilingualism: Molly has demonstrated the ability speak both American English and Spanish.

Facilities

 * Yorkes Residence: Molly lived in this wealthy residence with her adoptive parents Dale and Stacey Yorkes and her adoptive sister Gert Yorkes.
 * Timely Coffee: Molly often met with the other Runaways at the Timely Coffee, where they would discuss their plans to take down PRIDE.
 * Graciela Aguirre's Residence: Molly was forced to live with her second cousin Graciela Aguirre by her adoptive parents after it was discovered she witnessed one of PRIDE's sacrifices for her own protection. Molly later left the residence in order to investigate the key she was given by Graciela from her dead parents.

Family

 * Gene Hernandez † - Father
 * Alice Hernandez † - Mother
 * Graciela Aguirre † - Second Cousin
 * Dale Yorkes - Adoptive Father
 * Stacey Yorkes - Adoptive Mother
 * Gert Yorkes - Adoptive Sister

Allies

 * Runaways - Teammates and Friends
 * Alex Wilder
 * Nico Minoru
 * Karolina Dean
 * Amy Minoru †
 * Atlas Academy
 * Johns
 * Old Lace
 * Vaughn Kaye
 * Livvie
 * Leslie Dean - Situational Enemy turned Ally
 * Xavin

Enemies

 * Eiffel
 * PRIDE
 * Catherine Wilder
 * Geoffrey Wilder
 * Tina Minoru - Attempted Killer
 * Robert Minoru
 * Victor Stein
 * Janet Stein
 * Chase Stein - Former Ally
 * Crips
 * Darius Davis †
 * Jonah †
 * Church of Gibborim
 * Frank Dean
 * Aura
 * Frances
 * Topher † - Friend turned Attempted Killer
 * Los Angeles Police Department
 * Anthony Wall †
 * Flores †

Trivia

 * In the comics, Molly Hayes is the mutant daughter of Gene and Alice Hayes who develops superhuman strength. After running away from her parents, she takes the alias Bruiser, but later changes it to Princess Powerful.

Behind the Scenes

 * Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez and Whitney Ortega were stunt doubles for Allegra Acosta in the role of Molly Hernandez.
 * Megan Harmon was a stand-in for Allegra Acosta in the role of Molly Hernandez.