Loners (comics)

Loners
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Runaways vol. 2 #1 (April 2005)
Created by	Brian K. Vaughan Adrian Alphona
In-story information
Base(s)	Los Angeles, California
Member(s)	Current members: Hollow Lightspeed Ricochet Turbo Rick Jones (sponsor) Former members: Darkhawk Namie Spider-Woman Phil Urich Geoffrey Wilder (magically posing as Chamber)

Loners (originally named Excelsior)^[1] are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published Marvel Comics. They first appeared in the pages of Runaways.^[2] The group consists of a Los Angeles–based support group for former teenage superheroes from New York, founded by Turbo of the New Warriors, and Phil Urich, the heroic former Green Goblin.^[1] Their goals are initially stated to be to help fellow teenage superheroes to adjust to normal lives while coping with their powers, and to dissuade other superpowered teenagers from becoming heroes,^[1] but these goals are discarded in their own miniseries in favor of the group apparently wanting to avoid using their powers for any reason,^[3] even if that means abandoning helpless victims of crime to their fate.^[4] Although all the characters were created by different authors and artists, the team itself was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, with other characters (Spider-Woman, Hollow, and Red Ronin) added to the cast during the events of the 2007 miniseries.

The group had originally appeared in the Runaways story arc "True Believers". At the end of the story arc, it was revealed that the group had secretly been sponsored by Rick Jones, on behalf of Captain America, who hoped to ensure the Runaways do not get into trouble.^[5] Following their battle with Ultron, Rick Jones offered to sponsor the team full-time.^[5] Its creative team is C. B. Cebulski (writer) and Karl Moline (artist).^[6]