Rom's Supporting Cast

Rom had many companions and allies during his time on Earth. This page lists the supporting cast that appeared throughout the Rom comic book series. Other Marvel super-heroes and their supporting cast members who appeared in Rom are listed on a separate page.

Adams, Cindy
Base of operations: Unknown (formerly mobile)
Known relatives: George and Martha Adams (parents)
First appearance: Rom #60 (Chronology)
Last appearance: Rom #72
History: Cindy Adams was the sole surivor of a snowbound train massacred by Dire Wraiths. A Wraith killed her father and then attacked her with it's drill-like tongue. Before it had a chance to absorb Cindy's memories, though, her mother cut the Wraiths tongue off. Cindy hid while the Wraith killed her mother. She was later found by Rick Jones, Rom, and Starshine II (Brandy Clark), who took her under their wing, because Cindy was now burdened with the partial memories of the Dire Wraith, which sometimes threatened to overcome Cindy's own personality. After all the Wraiths on Earth were banished and Rom departed, Cindy, along with Rick and Brandy, encountered the Beyonder, a being with god-like power. He granted Cindy's wishes of curing her of the Dire Wraith taint and restoring her parents to life. The family then went off to resume their normal lives.

Ariane
Base of operations: Underground Galador
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #73 (Chronology)
Death: Rom #74
History: Ariane was the one-eyed leader of the Galadorian rebels against the second generation Spaceknights when Brandy Clark arrived on Galador. She was killed by the rogue Spaceknights in a brutal battle in the Hall of Science between those Spaceknights and Rom, some of the Spaceknight Squadron, and the rebels.

Clark, Brandy (a.k.a. Starshine II)
Base of operations: Galador (formerly Clairton, West Virginia)
Known relatives: John and Sarah Clark (parents), Balin and Tristan (sons).
First appearance: Rom #1 (Chronology)
History: Brandy Clark was the first Earth human to encounter Rom after his arrival. It was not until their second encounter that he used his translator and explained his mission (Rom #1). Although hesitant to believe him at first, she eventually learned he was telling the truth. Over time, she fell in love with the cyborg warrior. This eventually led her to become magically bonded to the Spaceknight armor of the deceased Starshine (Rom #40), and fighting Wraithkind at Rom's side. She was later separated from it (Rom Annual #3), but continued to fight the Wraiths alongside Rom as best she could. After Rom left Earth, she had the Beyonder transport her to Galador. There she discovered a second generation of Spaceknights had all but destroyed the humanoid population. Rom arrived shortly thereafter and with the help of his fellow first generation Spaceknights, defeated them. Brandy then brought him the glowing orb which appeared when she found Terminator's body. It returned Rom to human form and Brandy and Rom began seeing to restoring Galador (Rom #72-75).
In the future, Rom has become Prime Director of the restored Galador and Brandy has become Lady Prime. The exploits of her and her sons are recorded in the Spaceknights limited series.

Firefall II
See Stryker, Archie

Jackson, Steve
Base of operations: Clairton, West Virginia
Known relatives: None
Occupation: Mechanic
First appearance: Rom #2 (Chronology)
Death: Rom #49
History: Steve Jackson was the fiance of Brandy Clark when Rom arrived on Earth. He saw Brandy was attracted to Rom, and initially disliked him because of it. He eventually became friends with the Spaceknight, however. Steve was later killed during the Dire Wraith massacre of Clairton.

Jones, Rick
Base of operations: Mobile (during time with Rom)
Known relatives: None relevant to his time with Rom
First appearance: Incredible Hulk vol. 1, #1
First Rom appearance: Rom #54
Last Rom appearance: Rom #72
History: Ever since Bruce Banner saved Rick Jones from the gamma bomb blast that turned Banner into the Hulk, Jones has associated with super heroes. Before he met Rom, he had been a sidekick to the Hulk, Captain America, and the Kree Captain Mar-vell. Jones happened to be seeking treatment for cancer at Mercy Hospital in Atlanta, GA where the Dire Wraiths had tainted the blood supply so that it turned anyone who got a transfusion into a monster. After he was rescued by Rom and Starshine II (Rom #55), Jones stayed with them, using his connections to call on Earth's super heroes when able. After all the Wraiths on Earth were banished and Rom departed, Rick, along with Brandy Clark and Cindy Adams, encountered the Beyonder, a being with god-like power. He granted Rick's wish of curing him of his cancer. Cindy's wish brought back her parents and Brandy's sent her to Galador, so Jones left, eventually re-teaming with the Hulk. Jones briefly met Rom and Brandy again at Jones' wedding (Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #418).

Killburn, Mack
Base of operations: Mobile
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #14 (Chronology)
History: Mack Killburn was a freelance reporter working at the same newspaper as "Ace" O'Connor. He found a set of negatives she had left in the paper's film lab showing Rom banishing Dire Wraiths to Limbo (Rom #14). O'Connor had disappeared, so he pursued the story. The people of Clairton denied the existence of Rom when he investigated there, but then he witnessed Rom in action. His notes were confiscated by the townspeople and he was more or less run out of town (Rom #16). When he returned to the newspaper, a Wraith disguised as O'Connor tried to convince him it was all a hoax (Rom #20). He continued to pursue the story anyway, so the Dire Wraiths deemed him in danger of revealing them and attempted to kill him (Rom #30). Killburn returned to Clairton, where he found the Torpedo after his encounter with Hybrid. Killburn helped the Torpedo return home to see about his injuries (Rom #32). After getting the full story on Rom and the Dire Wraiths, Killburn made his home in Clairton and got a job at the local newspaper (Rom #33).

Lane, Silas
Base of operations: Clairton, West Virginia
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #8 (Chronology)
History: Silas Lane was the Clairton County, WV coroner. As such, it was his job to investigate the apparent deaths of the people that Rom appeared to kill. (They were actually Dire Wraiths in disguise.) Although there wasn't much in the way of bodies for him to examine, since all that was left was ashes, he discovered all the people "killed" had the same birth date (Rom #9). He went to Washington, D.C. to dig through the archives some more. During the train ride there, he encountered "Ace" O'Connor and told her what he'd found (Rom #10). Once in Washington, he discovered that many records had been altered (Rom #15). The Dire Wraiths, aware of his findings, had attempted to cover their tracks. Upon his return to Clairton, he went to visit the Clarks. There, he was introduced to Rom, who was now accepted by part of the townspeople and given the full story (Rom #17). He then became another of Rom's supporters in Clairton.

Locklin, General Merriwether
Base of operations: Mobile
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #52 (Chronology)
History: General Locklin was assigned to head the Wraith-Hunter Rangers, a U.S. task force helping Rom and Starshine II fight the secret war against the Dire Wraiths. He often led his troops against the Wraiths and the threats they unleashed side-by-side with Rom.

O'Connor, A.C. "Ace"
Base of operations: Mobile
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #10 (Chronology)
History: A.C. "Ace" O'Connor was a newspaper reporter who happened to encounter Silas Lane on his way to Washington, D.C. to investigate the odd occurrences related to the people "killed" by Rom. O'Connor didn't believe his story, until, by chance, she looked out the train window and saw Rom as he flew to Washington to recover his Neutralizer (Rom #10). O'Connor managed to be at Project: Safeguard, actually a front for the Dire Wraiths, as Rom battled the misguided Jack of Hearts (Rom #12). When she developed the photos she took, she discovered the camera had captured what her eyes could not see: Rom had not vaporized people, but opened a portal to another dimension where the "people" were sent as they changed shape. She took the story to her editor, but he turned out to be a Wraith and had her taken prisoner (Rom #13). She was put in the same cell with Steve Jackson for a time (Rom #14). After hearing his story, she helped him escape, but at the cost of her life (Rom #15).

Packer, Artie
Base of operations: West Virginia
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #5 (unnamed), Rom #7 (named) (Chronology)
Death: Rom #8
History: Artie Packer was a West Virginia State Trooper and the best friend of Steve Jackson. He witnessed the Dire Wraiths, disguised as U.S. government agents, take Firefall away after he was defeated by Rom (Rom #5). Although ordered to silence, he finally decided he had to tell someone and went to see Jackson, only to discover Jackson trying to revive Rom after a battle with some Hellhounds. Jackson convinced Packer to help him take Rom to the lab where Brandy Clark worked, which had better equipment than Jackson's service station, even though Packer wasn't convinced Rom wasn't a murdering alien. That all changed when Clark, Jackson, and Packer were attacked by Thornoids, animated plants sent by the Dire Wraiths (Rom #7). Packer was at the brink of death after the battle. Only Rom's analyzer was able to detect that he still clung to life. Unfortunately for Packer, the doctor at the hospital he was taken to was actually a Dire Wraith who made sure Packer died on the operating room table (Rom #8).

Ray-Na
Base of operations: Agricon
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #5 (flashback)
Death: Rom #14, 2nd story
History: Ray-Na was Rom's beloved before he became a Spaceknight. Although he longed to be with her, he felt duty-bound to pursue the Dire Wraiths he had helped disperse into the cosmos. Although it broke her heart, she encouraged him to do so (Rom #13, 2nd story) and returned to her residence on the colony world of Agricon. Not long after, the Dire Wraiths attacked the planet and Rom was one of the Spaceknights who responded to the planet's distress calls. The Wraiths held Ray-Na hostage, but she still encouraged Rom to fight. The Wraiths struck her down before Rom's eyes as she broke free. She died in his arms after telling him their love would never die.

Serpentyne
Base of operations: United States
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #8
Death: Rom #9
History: Serpentyne was the last member of a race of intelligent reptiles who called themselves simply "the People." The People were the result of the United States' first atomic bomb test. The radiation somehow intereacted with materials in the New Mexican mesas, causing the desert reptiles exposed to it to evolve quickly. They had formed a society within a decade. They attempted to avoid contact with humans as much as possible. The People feared they would either be annihilated by man's superior technology or culturally overwhelmed if their existence were known. Thus they kidnapped and held prisoner any humans they encountered.
     One of the last humans they captured was a friend of Carol Danvers, then also known as the super-heroine Ms. Marvel. She went looking for her friend and was captured by the People. After a combination of fighting and talking, Ms. Marvel convinced the People's elders to let the humans go. She would never reveal their existence and they could hypnotize the humans to make them forget what they had seen (Ms. Marvel #20-21).
     Unknown to the People and Ms. Marvel, one of the captives was actually a Dire Wraith in disguise. Immune to the hypnosis, he returned to tell his fellow Wraiths of this hidden race. The Wraiths attacked and killed every last member of the People so that they could use the People's subterranean lair for themselves. Serpentyne was only spared because he was separated from the battle by a cave-in. When he awoke, he vowed vengeance and began stalking and killing every Wraith he could find, tracking them by his keen sense of smell. To the Wraiths he became known as "the Stalker in the Night."
     When he saw Rom battle some Wraiths in Clairton, he heard them talk of Rom's Neutralizer. Serpentyne, realizing the Wraiths were even more afraid of Rom and his weapon than they were of him, decided he must have the Neutralizer (Rom #8). He fought Rom, who had fallen in to his current underground lair, unwilling to listen to reason. The battle ended when Serpentyne was accidentally impaled on a stalagmite. With his last words, he apologized to Rom, admitting he had gone mad with vengeance. He asked Rom not to grieve for him, as he was going to rejoin the People (Rom #9).

Starshine II
See Clark, Brandy

Stryker, Archie (a.k.a. Firefall II)
Base of operations: West Virginia
Known relatives: None
First appearance: Rom #2 (Chronology)
Death: Rom #11
History: Archie Stryker was a common Earth criminal who encountered Rom shortly after the Spaceknight arrived on Earth. Stryker and his gang were robbing Laserium, holding the manager at gunpoint when Rom burst in. After a brief struggle, Rom banished the manager, a Dire Wraith disguised as a human. To Stryker's eyes, it appeared Rom murdered him in cold-blood. Although arrested as Rom left, Stryker swore he would find a way to destroy Rom. The police chief who arrested him was actually a Dire Wraith who saw potential uses of Stryker as a pawn. Stryker became even more obsessed with Rom after Rom banished the police chief after first tossing Stryker out of the chief's police car (Rom #2).
Stryker was enlisted by the Wraiths to fight Rom, but Stryker thought he was working for the U.S. government. He had been a soldier during the Korean War, so he already had combat training. The Wraiths joined Stryker to the armor of Firefall, a Spaceknight who was captured during the Wraith attack on Galador 200 years ago (Rom #3). After his defeat by Rom in their first battle, Stryker realized he had been duped and Rom had been telling the truth. Unfortunately, he was unable to act on this knowledge as the Wraiths reclaimed and immobilized him (Rom #4). When he was finally able to get free, Stryker sacrificed himself in order to free Rom's neutralizer from the mystic force shield in which the Wraiths had encased it (Rom #11). The next time Rom encountered the Firefall armor, Stryker's body had been removed from it (Marvel Two-in-One #99). What happened to his body was never revealed.

Tempest
Base of operations: Clairton, West Virginia
Known relatives: John and Sarah Clark (owners)
First appearance: Rom #2
Death: Rom #2
History: Tempest was the name of the Clark family's dog. He was accidentally killed by the local police when they attempted to shoot Rom in the Clark's backyard, becoming the first casualty in the Wraith war on Earth after Rom's arrival.