Rose (Marvel Comics)

Rose
Cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #253 (Jun 1984). Art by Rick Leonardi.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #253 (Jun 1984)
Created by	Tom DeFalco Rick Leonardi Bill Anderson
In-story information
Alter ego	- Richard Fisk - Sergeant Blume - Jacob Conover - Philip Hayes

The Rose is the alias of four fictional characters that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original Rose first appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #253 (June 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 favors roses and always wear a leather lilac-colored mask.

Richard Fisk

Main article: 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

Sergeant 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 Argentinian 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.

Phillip Hayes

The fourth Rose was doctor Phillip Hayes. He took up the rose mask after he lost his funding in the gene therapy research after an accident in the Phelcorps laboratory, as a result of which was the new heroine Jackpot. He deals in "Ebony" shipments, a synthesized drug created from Corruptor's sweat-glands. He managed to slip under the superhero radar for a while, but Jackpot was getting closer to discovering his involvement. After he discovered the secret identity of his opponent (through a coincidence resulting from being Sara Ehret's co-worker), he hires Boomerang to track Sara down at her house and murders her husband in front of her and her daughter. He is later arrested and unmasked, much to Sara's shock.

Powers and abilities

The Roses have no super human powers. Richard Fisk is trained in the use of guns and has some martial arts training, Sergeant Blume is a trained police officer and Jacob Conover is trained in the use of firearms and has a number of criminal contacts

The Roses always carries a handgun and often carries a variety of mini-grenades.

Other versions

Ultimate Rose

A 'Mr. Rose' briefly appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man 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.