Spoiler Session: Runaways Just Changed Nico Minoru's Story Forever

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for this week’s RUNAWAYS #15, specifically involving Nico and the Staff of One. So read on at your own risk, True Believers!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk glorious, glorious spoilers. And hoo boy, are there spoilers!

You know Nico Minoru’s staff, right? The magical Staff of One given to her by her parents that hurts her when she uses it? Well...

1. It is alive, sentient, and can take humanoid form.
2. Nico’s mom used to take it to Anaheim for pancakes sometimes.
3. Nico’s ancestor Tokiko bested a sorcerer in battle and gave him a choice—die as her sword, or live as her sword. He chose the latter and was promptly transformed into the Staff of One.
4. His freedom can only come from the end of the Minoru bloodline, however, each time Mars aligns with Earth and the sun, he had a chance to plead his case and try to win his freedom. The last time this happened, Nico slept right through it and woke up to his gift of a new hand.
5. Reread points 1-4 in an attempt to take all of this in.

The question now is: what will Nico choose? To unleash a bloodthirsty “indentured genie” on the unsuspecting citizens of Los Angeles, or continue struggling with the darkness of the Staff of One’s power? In the issue, the two manage to strike a compromise that will change the Nico and her Runaways forever.

Here's what series writer Rainbow Rowell has to say about it all... 

“Nico's magic has always been so tangled. She was the most powerful member of the Runaways. But she couldn't count on her power, and she never understood it. It was never of her. I think what Nico has now is some clarity—and a better understanding of her own story, painful though it may be.

"She's just made a difficult compromise. It's too soon to say whether it was the right decision. But at least it was her decision. Sometimes that's what adulthood is—managing pain and choosing the least terrible path.”

So what will this mean for Nico, the Runaways, and...the Staff of One? We'll find out soon, but right now the gang is up against a major impending threat now that the children of the Gibborim have returned for vengeance. Dramatic times ahead!

Get caught up on the full story with RUNAWAYS #15—out now!