Rom the Space Knight


Rom the Space Knight was originally a toy created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy for Parker Brothers, currently a subsidiary of Hasbro. After the toy was licensed to Marvel Comics, Rom became a character that debuted in the Marvel Universe in the eponymous American comic book Rom: Spaceknight, by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. In July 2015, IDW Publishing began publishing a new Rom comic book series. In December 2015, it was announced that a live-action film version of Rom was in development by Allspark Pictures and Paramount.

Toy

"Rom" was a toy co-created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy. It was sold to Parker Brothers, and was the inspiration for the comic book series Rom: Spaceknight. The toy was originally named COBOL, after the programming language, but was later changed to Rom, after ROM, by Parker Brothers executives.
The toy set a precedent for the game publishing company, which up until that time had only ever produced board games. As this was a new venture for the company, and given that electronic toys were still very new, a decision was made to produce the figure as cheaply as possible. As a result, the final product had very few points of articulation, and twin red LEDs served as Rom's eyes instead of the originally envisioned green, which were more expensive to produce.
NRom appeared in the corner box of the cover of Time magazine's December 10, 1979, issue. It was featured in the interior article, "Those Beeping, Thinking Toys," which decried Rom's lack of articulation and predicted it would "end up among the dust balls under the playroom sofa."
Rom was licensed to Palitoy in the United Kingdom to extend the "Space Adventurer" line of Action Man, appearing in their 1980 catalog.
Ultimately, the toy failed and only sold 200,000 to 300,000 units in the US, with creator McCoy blaming the failure on poor packaging and marketing. Parker Brothers subsequently abandoned the line.
A new action figure of Rom was released for the 2017 San Diego Comic Con and at HasbroToyShop.com in limited quantities as part of the IDW Revolution set alongside figures of Jetfire, Roadblock, Action Man,, characters from the Micronauts, a Dire Wraith and Matt Trakker.

Publication history

Marvel Comics

To build interest in the toy, Parker Brothers licensed the character to Marvel Comics, which created a comic book featuring Rom. The comic expanded on the premise that Rom was a cyborg and provided the character with an origin and personality, and established the character was firmly grounded in the Marvel Universe, having regular encounters with mainstream heroes and villains. Ironically the title outlasted the toy which it was created to support, with 75 issues and four Annuals published from December 1979 to February 1986.
The comic was written by Bill Mantlo and initially illustrated by artist Sal Buscema. Buscema stated in a 2010 interview, "I liked the character. And I liked what they did with it. I thought the concept was quite good. It was unique. It made it attractive to do. I almost hate to say this, but it was pretty easy to draw, too." Buscema was the main artist for the series from its creation through 1984.

IDW Publishing

licensed the character from Parker Brothers' parent company, Hasbro, and on May 7, 2016, released Rom #0 as part of Free Comic Book Day. The free issue served as a prologue to a new ongoing series which began in July 2016. Rom continued to be part of the Hasbro Comic Book Universe until 2018, following the ' event.
On July 18, 2019, during San Diego Comic-Con, IDW announced a new series titled ', which will be written by Chris Ryall and drawn by Luca Pizzari, Guy Dorian and Sal Buscema.

Fictional character biography

Marvel Universe

Shown in flashback, Rom was originally human in appearance, and belonged to a utopian society on the planet Galador. When the planet is threatened by the war-like Dire Wraiths - another technologically advanced race capable of shape-shifting would be preserved and restored to them after the danger was over.
Rom was the first to volunteer; transformed into a large, silver humanoid that at first glance appeared to be totally robotic. Rom was given Galador's greatest weapon, the Neutralizer, which on one setting could banish the Wraiths into the Limbo dimension forever. Inspired by his example, other Galadorians volunteered and eventually one thousand were transformed into Spaceknights - each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names. The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the Dire Wraith invasion, although Rom decided to follow the remnants of the fleet back to their home planet, Wraithworld. The Dire Wraiths panicked, and after a futile counter-attack abandoned the planet and scattered throughout space. Unable to stop Rom, the Dire Wraiths successfully used their sorcery to trick him into allowing their escape. Rom now felt responsible for spreading the Dire Wraiths' evil across the universe, and swore he would not reclaim his humanity until all Dire Wraiths had been vanquished. Fellow Spaceknights, including comrades Starshine and Terminator, adopted the same oath and left Galador.
After 200 years in space, Rom arrives on Earth, landing near the fictional town of Clairton, in West Virginia, United States. Rom befriends a local woman Brandy Clark, who after witnessing Rom deal with the Dire Wraiths begins to understand his mission and subsequently assist him. Initially Rom is feared and hunted, as when Rom utilizes his neutralizer witnesses are unable the Wraiths falling into Limbo: only seeing a "killer robot" disintegrate innocents.
During his time on Earth, Rom fights and banishes thousands of Dire Wraiths. The increasingly desperate Dire Wraiths create new foes for Rom, such as Firefall - a fusion of human and Spaceknight; the sorcerous Hellhounds; and robotic Watchwraiths. Two of Rom's greatest foes are the aptly named Hybrid, and Mentus. Many other opponents were more traditional and hailed from the Marvel Universe proper, such as the Mad Thinker, the Space Phantom, and Galactus and his then-herald Terrax. He encountered such heroes as the X-Men, Power Man and Iron Fist, the Fantastic Four, Nova, the Thing, and the Hulk. Rom was one of the many heroes transported into an arena in space for the Contest of Champions, though he was not chosen to participate.
At one stage, Rom's war against the Dire Wraiths takes a turn for the worse - a new breed appeared on Earth, and appeared to be far deadlier than the first variety. It is later revealed that these are females who rely on sorcery, as opposed to the weaker males who placed their faith in science. Unlike the males, the female Dire Wraiths chose not to act in secrecy and openly attack Clairton while Rom is away, killing everyone with the exception of Brandy. Furthermore, they attack S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mobile headquarters which gave Earth authorities clear evidence of the Dire Wraiths' existence and threat. So informed, the combined nations of the world pool their resources to countering the threat with Rom as their resident expert and leader of field operations. The Dire Wraiths came into conflict with the Avengers and the X-Men as well. Rom manages to banish all Dire Wraiths on Earth to Limbo with the aid of his super-powered allies and members of the U.S. military.
Rom leaves Earth soon after the battle and returns to Galador. Unknown to Rom, Brandy had accidentally met the entity called the Beyonder, and Brandy asked to be transported to Galador. The Beyonder complied and Brandy found herself on Galador, now a war-torn world occupied by a new generation of cyborg-Spaceknights. Created to defend Galador in the absence of the first Spaceknights, this next generation of cyborgs became corrupted by their power, and feeling superior to normal Galadorians, massacred the entire race. In an act of sheer spite, the new Spaceknights destroyed the frozen remains of the originals. Rom arrived too late and could only save Brandy. Enraged, Rom summoned the original Spaceknights and together they destroyed the traitors. Rom then made a surprising discovery - his original humanity persisted within the entombed body of Terminator. Reclaiming it, Rom became human again and finally admitted his love for Brandy. The two chose to remain on Galador, with the intent of repopulating the planet. The remaining Spaceknights, their humanity now lost, set out to explore the universe, except for a few others that remained on Galador to protect Rom and Brandy.
During Rick Jones's wedding to Marlo Chandler, the human Rom returned to Earth, together with Brandy, as guests at the ceremony, and Rom greeted the Hulk with a friendly handshake.
In the Spaceknights miniseries written by Jim Starlin it is revealed that Rom took the name Artour and that he and Brandy had two sons. Rom himself is not actually seen in the series, nor is he mentioned by that name or shown in his spaceknight form ; his ship is attacked off-panel just prior to the start of the story, with Rom himself missing and presumed dead.

Hasbro Comic Book Universe

Rom plays an important role in the Hasbro Comic Book Universe by IDW Publishing.
Two hundred years ago, Rom K'atsema lived an idyllic life with his brother and mothers on the peaceful planet Elonia, a world constantly protected by a powerful planet-wide shield that blocked debris and potential invaders. Rom studied geology at the Elonia University of Arts and Sciences, and befriended Livia and Fy-Laa. One day, the three of them investigated a mysterious meteor shower that had breached Elonia's shield and discovered that the explosive meteors were of Dire Wraith origin: weapons designed to penetrate the shield in advance of a potential Wraith invasion, and ultimately responsible for killing his family. When the Space Knights of the Solstar Order intervened, Rom learned that one of his mothers had been infected by a Wraith and transformed into one of their number. Vowing to avenge his family, Rom and his friends joined the Solstar Order as Space Knights.
On his first mission, Rom would be responsible for discovering Elonia's supply of Ore-12, a miraculous liquid metal capable of "bonding" with its wielder and becoming a permanent suit of armor. Realizing that this mysterious metal was the reason why the Dire Wraiths had attacked their world, the Solstar Order would go on to mine the rest of the ore and equip the rest of their Space Knights with the substance. Soon afterwards, Rom—now a full-fledged Space Knight—left Elonia shortly afterwards, leaving behind a beacon in memory of his family. Over the next fifty years, Rom took part in a variety of battles against the Dire Wraiths, and participated in the massive battle that saw the Wraith's current homeworld, within the Dark Nebula, destroyed. The Space Knights spent the next few years pursuing remnant Dire Wraith forces across backwater planets within Solstar territory.
By the time Rom arrives on Earth, he was misjudged as Cybertronian. He kills the Dire Wraith impersonating General Joseph Colton, which later exposes the Wraith infiltration around Earth. In time, he gains new allies like the Micronauts, and together, they stop Baron Karza and the Presence. When Unicron arrives, it destroys Elonia, which causes Rom to learn more about the monster and its link to the Dire Wraiths' creation. When Unicron was destroyed thanks to Optimus Prime's sacrifice, Rom and the surviving Elonians accept Earth as their new homeworld, with Rom and Livia rekindling their previous relationship.

Powers and abilities

Rom's armor was composed of the Galadorian metal plandanium. It is extremely durable, even going so far as to stand up to Wolverine's adamantium claws. It was shown to be damaged from time to time, demonstrating that plandanium is not indestructible. The armor had self-repair capabilities, though it took several weeks to repair major damage. It provided him with superhuman strength, flight, and the ability to travel through space via backpack rockets. It allowed him to breathe in any atmosphere and survive in the vacuum of space. In Spaceknight form, Rom also did not need to eat or sleep. Controls near the torso allowed Rom to lower the armor's temperature to well below zero. The armor stored a "solar charge" that could be used as a weapon and could drain power sources by mere contact. It gave him the ability to summon three pieces of equipment stored in "subspace":
;Neutralizer : Rom's primary weapon, which is designed to banish Dire Wraiths to Limbo by opening a dimensional portal. Unfortunately, the process leaves considerable waste material that makes it appear to an uninformed observer that the weapon kills its target. In addition, the Dire Wraiths unsuccessfully explored the possibility of examining the weapon to find some means of returning its victims to the normal dimension. This handheld weapon could fire energy beams that can be deadly at a high setting if Rom chose to select it and it can neutralize various forms of energy. This device was designed so that only Rom would be able to discharge it. The mutant Wolverine once tried to use the weapon and received a numbing blast of energy feedback. Rom's Neutralizer would inspire a similar creation by the mutant Forge when the US government tasked him with constructing a weapon against the Wraith horde. Forge's neutralizer, for a time, cost Storm her mutant abilities.
;Analyzer : Allowed Rom to see shape-changing Dire Wraiths in their true form and could assess the energy and potential of any object/entity. It could be used on an item which represented a world, such as a globe, and would display lights corresponding to Dire Wraith infestations at that point on the planet. Unfortunately, the device resembles a handgun, and Dire Wraith imposters have taken advantage of this fact to fool others into thinking that Rom is attacking them. Rom once arranged an ally to have the equivalent kind of vision, but the Dire Wraiths counteracted that by magically blocking his mind from recognizing that particular visual data. Regardless, Rom allowed SHIELD to examine the Analyzer in hope of creating equivalent devices among the Spaceknight's human allies.
In the new "Rom" series by IDW, his energy Analyzer is represented as two red lenses mounted on his arms. The arms transform to reveal the lenses, which emit a red light when in operation.
;Universal Translator : Allowed Rom to instantly learn the language of any creature, irrespective of their origin. This device was used to scan and store printed information from an encyclopedia in Rom's memory banks for future use.
In the IDW series, the Translator is not a separate piece of equipment, but a function of Rom himself. When he first speaks, he uses an alien language before shifting to English, seemingly mid-sentence.

Other versions

As Marvel Comics no longer possesses the licensing rights to Rom from Parker Brothers, the character is not allowed to appear in his armored form. Marvel has found ways to work around this dilemma.
Legal issues regarding the reprinting of Rom guest appearances in other comics have led to complications. Brief cameos such as a holographic version of the character appearing as a distraction in Uncanny X-Men #187 have remained intact as have the Rom entries in the Essential Marvel trade paperbacks for the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and its deluxe edition sequel. The cover of the Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe removed Rom from the artwork used for the cover of the collection.
Several appearances by Rom have been outright omitted. Power Man and Iron Fist #73, which featured Rom was omitted from Essential Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1, and similarly Marvel Two-in-One #99 was omitted from Essential Marvel Two-in-One vol. 4, while The Incredible Hulk: Regression trade paperback features a heavily edited version of The Incredible Hulk #296, removing Rom's entire appearance in the issue. Furthermore, Rom #72, which was a tie-in to the Secret Wars II series, was omitted from the Secret Wars II Omnibus.

In other media

Film

In December 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hasbro Studios and Paramount Pictures were creating a movie universe combining Rom with G.I. Joe, Micronauts, , and M.A.S.K.. Michael Chabon, Brian K. Vaughan, Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, Cheo Coker, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Joe Robert Cole, Jeff Pinkner, Nicole Riegel, and Geneva Robertson joined the writing team for the project. By March 2018, Zak Penn had signed on to write the film's script.