Universe
Marvel Universe

Real Name
Nico Minoru

Aliases
None

Identity
Secret

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Los Angeles, CA

First Appearance
Runaways Vol. 1 #1 (2003)

Origin
Runaways #4 (2003)

Nearly two decades ago, a group of petty thieves, minor league scientists, bumbling time travelers, soap stars, and other unsavory characters were contacted by the gigantic Gibborim, who offered them a shot at immortality in exchange for betraying the human race. Newlyweds Tina and Robert Minoru brought magical expertise to this group, which began calling itself the Pride. Several years after the Pride's formation, its couples decided to have children. Tina and Robert produced a daughter, Nico, who spent much of her life in the dark about her parents' dark dealings. Eventually, Nico and the other Pride offspring discovered their parents' secret sacrificial ritual and ran away from home. After a confrontation with her parents, Nico discovered she could control the mystical Staff of One formerly wielded by her mother. When the Runaways decided to adopt new names, Nico chose Sister Grimm, her AOL Instant Messenger screen name.

Nico became attracted to one of her fellow Runaways, Alex Wilder, though this didn't stop a vampiric teen who had infiltrated their group from seducing both Nico and Lucy In The Sky, who destroyed the vampire after he tried to turn Nico. The Pride kept close tabs on their children, and manipulated vigilantes Cloak and Dagger into trying to bring the Runaways home. The kids managed to convince Cloak and Dagger of the Pride's evil, but before the duo could alert the authorities, their memories were wiped by the Pride. After a confrontation with the LAPD, the Runaways decided to take the fight to their parents. Infiltrating the Pride's secret lair, the Runaways discovered that Alex had sold them out, but managed to destroy the Pride's pact with the Gibborim by destroying their sacrifice, leading to Alex's death. The remaining Runaways escaped and were found by Captain America, after which they were split up and placed into new homes. After three months, however, they each escaped and decided to remain together to face whatever challenges life had in store for them.

Nico becomes the "leader" of the Runaways and they begin fighting crime on the streets as vigilantes. After being visited by a future version of Gertrude and being warned about a future threat called Victor Mancha, they find and abduct him for questioning. After Victor's mother is murdered and his father, Ultron, who was a robot, was destroyed, he is invited to join the Runaways, an invitation which he accepts.

Following Arsenic's death, Talkback (Chase Stein) attempts to make a deal with the Gibborim to ressurect her, capturing Nico (which leads to the intervention of the remaning Runaways later) and then attempting to sacrifice himself. The Gibborim, instead, attempt to take Nico, but is rescued by Victor Mancha, leading to the start of their relationship. After they return to their hideout, they discover that it has been exposed and Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D., beginning their cross-country escape to New York.

In New York, she attempts to make a deal with Kingpin, but ends up being transported with the rest of the Runaways to a 1907 version of New York. Here, she is captured and brought to a woman known as the "Witchbreaker", who claims she is Nico's great-grandmother and will increase her proficiency of magic through pain. When reunited with her teammates, she has a more adorned Staff of One and her abilities have improved, with her spells being more powerful and having greater control. In this time, Victor falls in love with another girl, effectively ending their relationship, though Nico states she was "throwing her at him" after they return to present time. They end up taking back a girl with the abilities to talk to plants, Klara Prast

They later return to California and make their new safehouse a house in Malibu. They are attacked by a group of Majesdanians, who are after Karolina, and Nico manages to defeat them by using a "scatter" spell, scattering them across the world. However, she inadvertently scattered the Runaways emotionally (they were in the same room when the spell was cast) due to her increase in power, which is realized just in time by Victor, allowing them to break the enchantment in time to escape from the Majesdanians, though at the cost of Xavin departing with them, in the form of Karolina.

Later on, they are attacked by an army of zombies, where she uses the spell "Zombie Not". which ends up knotting the zombies into one giant zombie, leading the Runaways to figure out that she has increased in power immensely. When a magician attempts to pick up and use her Staff of One (which characters were able to do before her meeting with the Witchbreaker), a demon appears and devours the magician, leading her to believe that it now defends itself from other users.