Pride (comics) - "The New Pride"

"The New Pride"

At the end of issue 6 in the second series, a figure who had impersonated Chamber from the X-Men, is implied to be a resurrected Alex Wilder, and has formed a new Pride using some of the original team's tools, including the Minoru's Chameleon Glamour, a small talisman to disguise the user into any form. They had later used the Minoru's Eye-Spy Cauldron to spy on the Runaways, who had left from New York City and were returning to Los Angeles. They had also obtained the Stein's copy of the abstract. It was later revealed that they were a group of Alex's former online friends on a role-playing game; Stretch, an overweight boy who lives with his grandmother (had roleplayed as several female and scantily clad superheroes such has Emma Frost, Ms Marvel, and the Invisible Woman), Hunter, a thin young man with a stereotypical slacker appearance (had roleplayed as the Hulk), Lotus, a female fantasy fan who participates in Renaissance Fairs (had roleplayed as Daredevil) and Oscar, a man who often was fired from many jobs because of using the computers for online games (had roleplayed as Spider-Man).

It was later revealed they were "the new Pride". Hunter hacked into Alex's game account, and through that eventually found his computer's journal, and learned about the Pride. After Alex's death, the friends find certain items from the Pride in an attempt to bring back Alex, but end up killing Oscar, and bringing back a younger version of Alex's father, Geoffrey, from a time period of one year after joining the Pride. Geoffrey then lied to the new Pride acting as the "good guy" and saying that the Runaways killed Alex. Ironically, the new Pride formed because Alex's friends claimed that they wanted to become more "responsible members of society", and begin acting like adults. The Runaways' philosophy states that no adults are to be trusted.

Geoffrey Wilder murders Gertrude Yorkes as part of a sacrificial ritual, but he is captured and returned to his own time (with his memory erased in the process). The new Pride disbands after the Runaways reveal Geoffrey Wilder's true goal. Following Gert's death, Stretch checks himself into a mental health facility, and Hunter joins the Peace Corps to atone for the "blood" on his hands. Lotus is kidnapped (or, as she puts it, "hired") by Chase Stein to help him resurrect Gert. When the attempt fails, Chase releases Lotus, telling her to burn her copy of the Abstract.