Rose (Marvel Comics)

Infobox comics set index
code_name=Rose


caption=Cover of "Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 1, Jun 1984). Art by Rick Leonardi.
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 1, Jun 1984)
creators=Tom DeFalco
Rick Leonardi
Bill Anderson
characters=Richard Fisk
Sergeant Blume
Jacob Conover
seealso=
cat = super
subcat = Marvel Comics
hero =
villain = y
sortkey = PAGENAMEThe Rose is the alias of three fictional characters that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original Rose first appears in "Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 1, Jun 1984), and was created by Tom DeFalco who took over writing "Amazing Spider-Man" when Roger Stern left the book. Stern at the time had created the mysterious Hobgoblin but told DeFalco to make the Hobgoblin whomever he chose to. DeFalco was pulled off the book before he was able to reveal the identity of either villain. DeFalco has since stated that the Rose was originally intended to be Roderick Kingsley and that it was his intention to reveal that Richard Fisk was the Hobgoblin. The Rose was revealed as Richard Fisk in a story written by Jim Owsley and Roger Stern returned to write the Hobgoblin and reveal him as Roderick Kingsley. So the reverse of DeFalco's choices turned out to be lasting continuity.

Character history

The character of Rose is depicted as a well-dressed, calm, calculating and gentleman-like crime-lord who favours Roses and always wear a leather lilac-colored mask.

Richard Fisk

The first Rose was Richard Fisk, the son of Wilson Fisk, who sought to overthrow his father. He later became a Punisher-like vigilante, calling himself Blood Rose

ergeant Blume

The second Rose was Sergeant Blume (first name unrevealed), a police officer seeking revenge on the Kingpin for the death of his brother, another policeman. While Blume allied himself with Richard in hopes of doing good by breaking the Kingpin's hold on the city, he ended up implicated in several crimes while in the Kingpin's service. He ultimately was shot and killed in a confrontation with Richard's men in the Catskills after he had kidnapped Peter Parker (Spider-Man)'s Aunt May and wife Mary Jane Watson, mistakenly thinking that Peter had discovered information that would blow the lid off of the Kingpin's organization, thus revealing Blume as a double agent.

Jacob Conover

The third Rose was Jacob Conover, a reporter at the Daily Bugle, who took up the identity as payment for saving the life of crime-lord Don Fortunato many years earlier. This Rose was loyal solely to Fortunato, as at the time the Kingpin had not returned to power, and his principal enforcer was the cyborg powerhouse known as Delilah. Conover faced a repeated threat to his territory from the Brazilian crime-lord known as the Black Tarantula, eventually being present without his Rose disguise when the Tarantula launched a direct assault on Fortunato's home. Preparing to gun down the Tarantula and a roomful of witnesses, Conover was stopped by Spider-Man and carted off to jail.

Other versions

Ultimate Rose

A 'Mr. Rose' briefly appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #108 as one of the Kingpin's assistants; as he had no resemblance to any of the previous 616 Roses, nor even the familiar costume, it can be presumed that his name was merely a nod to 616 continuity; also, the Kingpin's command to Rose that business must never be discussed in front of her is very reminiscent of the 616 Vanessa Fisk's concerns over the life of crime adopted by her son & husband.