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Soon after, Brandy was once again turned human and the Wraiths magically summoned Wraithworld into Earth's solar system, to power up their evil magics. This proved a mistake when Rom, using a device built by Forge of the Comicbook/XMen that boosted the Neutralizer, was able to banish Wraithworld itself into Limbo, thus robbing ''all'' Wraiths in the universe of their powers. His enemies finally defeated, Rom decided to return to Galador, leaving Brandy behind (since he believed his "humanity" had been destroyed in an earlier story). However, Brandy ran into the cosmically-powerful Beyonder during the events of the second Secret Wars CrisisCrossover, and asked him to send her to Galador. He did- but she arrived before Rom did, only to find out that a second Generation of Spaceknights, created to protect the planet in the originals' absence, believed themselves superior to normal humans and had killed nearly the planet's entire population! Brandy managed to avoid them long enough to be saved by Rom and the first Spaceknights, but all normal Galadorians were killed, and all the Spaceknights' humanities were destroyed as well. Only Rom's, which it turns out had been hidden, not destroyed, had survived. Rom returned to human form, and stayed with Brandy on Galador to repopulate the planet, protected from space by the good Spaceknights.

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Soon after, Brandy was once again turned human and the Wraiths magically summoned Wraithworld into Earth's solar system, to power up their evil magics. This proved a mistake when Rom, using a device built by Forge of the Comicbook/XMen ComicBook/XMen that boosted the Neutralizer, was able to banish Wraithworld itself into Limbo, thus robbing ''all'' Wraiths in the universe of their powers. His enemies finally defeated, Rom decided to return to Galador, leaving Brandy behind (since he believed his "humanity" had been destroyed in an earlier story). However, Brandy ran into the cosmically-powerful Beyonder during the events of the second Secret Wars CrisisCrossover, and asked him to send her to Galador. He did- but she arrived before Rom did, only to find out that a second Generation of Spaceknights, created to protect the planet in the originals' absence, believed themselves superior to normal humans and had killed nearly the planet's entire population! Brandy managed to avoid them long enough to be saved by Rom and the first Spaceknights, but all normal Galadorians were killed, and all the Spaceknights' humanities were destroyed as well. Only Rom's, which it turns out had been hidden, not destroyed, had survived. Rom returned to human form, and stayed with Brandy on Galador to repopulate the planet, protected from space by the good Spaceknights.



** After Rom gets the help of the various Earth governments, when SHIELD's psychics are starting to be killed by the Dire Wraith's magic cast to stop them, Comicbook/DoctorStrange appears out of the blue to cast a protective spell on them. Though Doctor Strange had become aware of the Wraiths much earlier, so this wasn't entirely out of nowhere, the timing was still ''extremely'' convenient.

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** After Rom gets the help of the various Earth governments, when SHIELD's psychics are starting to be killed by the Dire Wraith's magic cast to stop them, Comicbook/DoctorStrange ComicBook/DoctorStrange appears out of the blue to cast a protective spell on them. Though Doctor Strange had become aware of the Wraiths much earlier, so this wasn't entirely out of nowhere, the timing was still ''extremely'' convenient.
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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur. Tropes for this comic go [[ComicBook/{{Spaceknights}} here]].

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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries ''ComicBook/{{Spaceknights}}'' set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur. Tropes for this comic go [[ComicBook/{{Spaceknights}} here]].
Myth/KingArthur.

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The events in the comics began 200 years ago on Galador, a planet in the "Golden Galaxy" whose population was (apparently) [[HumanAliens perfectly human]] (no explanation was given for this.) When the Galadorians find out that they are about to be invaded by the evil, shapeshifting "Dire Wraiths", they worry because they have no space fleet to defend themselves with. The Galadorian scientists instead invent cyborg "armors" that could be used to give a person the powers to fight in space on their own. Galador's "Prime Director" asks for volunteers to be transformed, promising that their "humanities" (the parts of their bodies removed to fit in the armors) would be preserved and restored to them after the Wraiths' defeat. The first to volunteer was a young man named Rom; his example inspired a total of 2000 other Galadorians into becoming Spaceknights. Rom was given Galador's greatest weapon, The Neutralizer, which had the power to banish Dire Wraiths to the dimension of Limbo without killing them (the other knights had other weapons.) He also possessed The Analyzer, a device that could make a Wraith's true form visible.

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The events in the comics began 200 years ago on Galador, a planet in the "Golden Galaxy" whose population was (apparently) [[HumanAliens perfectly human]] (no explanation was given for this.) this). When the Galadorians find out that they are about to be invaded by the evil, shapeshifting "Dire Wraiths", they worry because they have no space fleet to defend themselves with. The Galadorian scientists instead invent cyborg "armors" that could be used to give a person the powers to fight in space on their own. Galador's "Prime Director" asks for volunteers to be transformed, promising that their "humanities" (the parts of their bodies removed to fit in the armors) would be preserved and restored to them after the Wraiths' defeat. The first to volunteer was a young man named Rom; his example inspired a total of 2000 other Galadorians into becoming Spaceknights. Rom was given Galador's greatest weapon, The Neutralizer, which had the power to banish Dire Wraiths to the dimension of Limbo without killing them (the other knights had other weapons.) weapons). He also possessed The Analyzer, a device that could make a Wraith's true form visible.



Eventually all the Wraiths in Clairton were banished, and the rest of the townsfolk were let in on the secret; Clairton became Rom's base now, from which he hunted Wraiths elsewhere. A female Spaceknight, Starshine, arrived later (it turns out she, too, was in love with Rom) but soon got killed. A Wraith sorcerer then magically transplanted Starshine's armor on Brandy, to grant her secret wish of fighting beside Rom (for the Wraith's own purposes of course.) When a minor superhero named The Torpedo (whose power-giving costume, it turned out, had been created by Wraiths) moved into Clairton, Rom felt it was safe to leave the town in his hands, and started traveling around Earth alongside Brandy (the new Starshine), looking for more Wraiths.

In Rom #50, in what may be a case of CreatorBreakdown (something similar happened on ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'') the series took a darker turn. The female Dire Wraiths, blaming the males for their failures, killed them and took over the operation to conquer Earth (don't ask how they intended to reproduce later.) These new Wraiths were hideous, and had the ability to literally suck the brains out of people, allowing them to gain their memories. They decided to go public with their invasion, beginning by massacring everyone in Clairton, including Steve and the Torpedo. On the plus side, when these Wraiths decided to openly attack SHIELD on their helicarrier base itself, the various Earth governments finally realized the threat and threw all their support behind Rom as field leader to defeat the menace.

Soon after, Brandy was once again turned human, and the Wraiths magically summoned Wraithworld into Earth's solar system, to power up their evil magics. This proved a mistake when Rom, using a device built by Forge of the Comicbook/XMen that boosted the Neutralizer, was able to banish Wraithworld itself into Limbo, thus robbing ''all'' Wraiths in the universe of their powers. His enemies finally defeated, Rom decided to return to Galador, leaving Brandy behind (since he believed his "humanity" had been destroyed in an earlier story). However, Brandy ran into the cosmically-powerful Beyonder during the events of the second Secret Wars CrisisCrossover, and asked him to send her to Galador. He did- but she arrived before Rom did, only to find out that a second Generation of Spaceknights, created to protect the planet in the originals' absence, believed themselves superior to normal humans and had killed nearly the planet's entire population! Brandy managed to avoid them long enough to be saved by Rom and the first Spaceknights, but all normal Galadorians were killed, and all the Spaceknights' humanities were destroyed as well. Only Rom's, which it turns out had been hidden, not destroyed, had survived. Rom returned to human form, and stayed with Brandy on Galador to repopulate the planet, protected from space by the good Spaceknights.

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Eventually all the Wraiths in Clairton were banished, and the rest of the townsfolk were let in on the secret; Clairton became Rom's base now, from which he hunted Wraiths elsewhere. A female Spaceknight, Starshine, arrived later (it turns out she, too, was in love with Rom) but soon got killed. A Wraith sorcerer then magically transplanted Starshine's armor on Brandy, to grant her secret wish of fighting beside Rom (for the Wraith's own purposes of course.) course). When a minor superhero named The Torpedo (whose power-giving costume, it turned out, had been created by Wraiths) moved into Clairton, Rom felt it was safe to leave the town in his hands, and started traveling around Earth alongside Brandy (the new Starshine), looking for more Wraiths.

In Rom #50, in what may be a case of CreatorBreakdown (something similar happened on ''ComicBook/{{Micronauts|MarvelComics}}'') the series took a darker turn. The female Dire Wraiths, blaming the males for their failures, killed them and took over the operation to conquer Earth (don't ask how they intended to reproduce later.) later). These new Wraiths were hideous, and had the ability to literally suck the brains out of people, allowing them to gain their memories. They decided to go public with their invasion, beginning by massacring everyone in Clairton, including Steve and the Torpedo. On the plus side, when these Wraiths decided to openly attack SHIELD on their helicarrier base itself, the various Earth governments finally realized the threat and threw all their support behind Rom as field leader to defeat the menace.

Soon after, Brandy was once again turned human, human and the Wraiths magically summoned Wraithworld into Earth's solar system, to power up their evil magics. This proved a mistake when Rom, using a device built by Forge of the Comicbook/XMen that boosted the Neutralizer, was able to banish Wraithworld itself into Limbo, thus robbing ''all'' Wraiths in the universe of their powers. His enemies finally defeated, Rom decided to return to Galador, leaving Brandy behind (since he believed his "humanity" had been destroyed in an earlier story). However, Brandy ran into the cosmically-powerful Beyonder during the events of the second Secret Wars CrisisCrossover, and asked him to send her to Galador. He did- but she arrived before Rom did, only to find out that a second Generation of Spaceknights, created to protect the planet in the originals' absence, believed themselves superior to normal humans and had killed nearly the planet's entire population! Brandy managed to avoid them long enough to be saved by Rom and the first Spaceknights, but all normal Galadorians were killed, and all the Spaceknights' humanities were destroyed as well. Only Rom's, which it turns out had been hidden, not destroyed, had survived. Rom returned to human form, and stayed with Brandy on Galador to repopulate the planet, protected from space by the good Spaceknights.



* BossTease: InUniverse, ROM was often compared to the Hulk, at which point ROM would inevitably look off pensively and think to himself that one day, he would have to encounter this creature that men call...''The Hulk''." This went on for quite a while, until the Hulk was just about to be sent off to the Crossroads (in ''Incredible Hulk'' #300) so they had to get to the ROM/Hulk fight quickly, squeezed into half an issue of ''Hulk''. [[http://www.the-isb.com/?p=122 Read more here.]]

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* BossTease: InUniverse, ROM was often compared to the Hulk, at which point ROM would inevitably look off pensively and think to himself that one day, he would have to encounter this creature that men call...''The Hulk''." Hulk''". This went on for quite a while, until the Hulk was just about to be sent off to the Crossroads (in ''Incredible Hulk'' #300) so they had to get to the ROM/Hulk fight quickly, squeezed into half an issue of ''Hulk''. [[http://www.the-isb.com/?p=122 Read more here.]]



* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: In the first few issues, the Dire Wraiths natural forms were presented as teal skinned HumanoidAliens (though their faces were always hidden in shadow), which is very different from the StarfishAlien forms that the Dire Wraiths have in later issues. Also crosses over with EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as those humanoid Dire Wraiths all appeared masculine while using sorcery, which is eventually firmly established to be rare among male Dire Wraiths.



* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: In the first few issues, the Dire Wraiths natural forms were presented as teal skinned HumanoidAliens (though their faces were always hidden in shadow), which is very different from the StarfishAlien forms that the Dire Wraiths have in later issues. Also crosses over with EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as those humanoid Dire Wraiths all appeared masculine while using sorcery, which is eventually firmly established to be rare among male Dire Wraiths.



* EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy: Galador is (well, was until Galactus moved it) in a place called the Golden Galaxy, which never seemed to have much of note in it except Galador itself. It is apparently not very far from the Dire Wraiths' home the Dark Nebula, which is itself identified as a "galaxy," despite only being a nebula with a single star in it.

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* EverythingInSpaceIsAGalaxy: Galador is (well, was until Galactus moved it) in a place called the Golden Galaxy, which never seemed to have much of note in it except Galador itself. It is apparently not very far from the Dire Wraiths' home the Dark Nebula, which is itself identified as a "galaxy," "galaxy", despite only being a nebula with a single star in it.



** Also appears in an issue where the Skrulls, of all the people in the universe, show up to attack the Dire Wraiths because they REALLY don't like them. (They explain that the Dire Wraiths are an offshoot of the Skrulls, who were exiled for practicing magic. Since Skrulls have very precise requirements for their breeding places, they were expected to quickly die out. Instead, they found a way to breed on the Wraith World, but were hideously warped as a result, making this an example of GoneHorriblyWrong as well, on BOTH sides.)

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** Also appears in an issue where the Skrulls, of all the people in the universe, show up to attack the Dire Wraiths because they REALLY don't like them. them (They explain that the Dire Wraiths are an offshoot of the Skrulls, who were exiled for practicing magic. Since Skrulls have very precise requirements for their breeding places, they were expected to quickly die out. Instead, they found a way to breed on the Wraith World, but were hideously warped as a result, making this an example of GoneHorriblyWrong as well, on BOTH sides.)sides).



** Though their "heel" status was debatable, the Soviet Super-Soldiers, upon learning how the Wraiths had infiltrated and subverted their government, decided their duty and loyalty belonged (to quote Darkstar) "not to the State, but to Russia, and to the Russian people."

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** Though their "heel" status was debatable, the Soviet Super-Soldiers, upon learning how the Wraiths had infiltrated and subverted their government, decided their duty and loyalty belonged (to quote Darkstar) "not to the State, but to Russia, and to the Russian people."people".



* TimeStandsStill: According to the original ''[[ComicBook/OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Book of Weapons, Hardware, and Paraphenalia,]]'' Rom's armor contains countless little "micro-stasis field generators" and its surface is a "malleable stasis field armor 'skin'," implying that a lot of his armor's indestructibility derives from sections of it being ''frozen in time.''

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* TimeStandsStill: According to the original ''[[ComicBook/OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Book of Weapons, Hardware, and Paraphenalia,]]'' Rom's armor contains countless little "micro-stasis field generators" and its surface is a "malleable stasis field armor 'skin'," 'skin'", implying that a lot of his armor's indestructibility derives from sections of it being ''frozen in time.''
Mrph1 MOD

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As per Image Pickin' quality upgrade thread - scan swapped for cover of new digital reprint


[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bb2ae7cafb1cc73b35e60e382fb88328.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:270:Oh My God! It's a life-sized action figure!]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:Oh
My God! It's a life-sized action figure!]]

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* PhantomZone: Limbo is an alternate dimension that Rom uses his Neutralizer to banish Dire Wraiths to.


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* PrisonDimension: Limbo is an alternate dimension that Rom uses his Neutralizer to banish Dire Wraiths to.
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* HeroWithBadPublicity: Much of the early plot of the series is dedicated to the fact that, to those not in the know about his nature, what Rom looks like is a KillerRobot flying in from the sky, then drawing a weird laser gun and vaporizing random people. Rom is very bad at explaining that he's not a robot, his neutralizer is a nonlethal weapon that teleports people instead of destroying them, and the people he's shooting are alien shapeshifters.
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* AsYouKnow: Sitting squarely inside Creator/{{Jim Shooter}}'s term as Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, ''Rom: Spaceknight'' got hit hard with his "any comic might be someone's first" ethos. Thus, pretty much every issue will have a full page or two of recap both of the larger story (especially since Rom wasn't a traditional superhero) and of whatever had happened in the last issue or two. This frequently takes the form of Rom explaining his origins and mission to people he's known for months, or ''them'' explaining it all to ''him''.
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On May 22, 2023, Marvel announced they were partnering with Hasbro to rerelease the original series in a brand new collection series for the first time since they last held the title.
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* HeKnowsTooMuch: Reporter "A.C" Ace connors managed to found evidence of the Dire Wraits in ROM's fight with hero [[Characters/Avengers2000sMembers Jack of Hearts]]. Sadly, her boss was a Dire Wraith, and she is quickly killed off. (Issue 14) Double Subverted, however, when is revealed she was just trapped along Steve Jackson, and did a HeroicSacrifice to set him free. (Issue 15).

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* HeKnowsTooMuch: Reporter "A.C" Ace connors managed to found evidence of the Dire Wraits in ROM's fight with hero [[Characters/Avengers2000sMembers [[Characters/TheAvengers Jack of Hearts]]. Sadly, her boss was a Dire Wraith, and she is quickly killed off. (Issue 14) Double Subverted, however, when is revealed she was just trapped along Steve Jackson, and did a HeroicSacrifice to set him free. (Issue 15).
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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur. Tropes for this comic go [[ComicBook/Spaceknights here]].

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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur. Tropes for this comic go [[ComicBook/Spaceknights [[ComicBook/{{Spaceknights}} here]].

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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur.

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Marvel no longer has the rights to Rom himself, ''but'' they do own everything else from the series including the Spaceknights (Mantlo pretty much invented everything for the comic) and they occasionally make cameos; for example the (human) Rom, unnamed, and Brandy were at Rick Jones' wedding, and a 2000 miniseries set in the near future featured Rom's sons as Spaceknights. ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel will see ComicBook/{{Venom}} join the Spaceknights. Rom himself eventually adopted the name Artour, after Myth/KingArthur.
Myth/KingArthur. Tropes for this comic go [[ComicBook/Spaceknights here]].


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Not related to Series/SpaceKnights
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** The later Dire Wraiths that openly start enacting warfare on humanity also engage in this. Nothing like seeing someone stabbed in the face, dissolving into dust in agony, and seeing their killer taking their form shortly after to repeat the process all over.
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope


* BigDamnHeroes: In issue 65, Rom is saved by '''[[UpToEleven every hero on Earth]]'''.

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* BigDamnHeroes: In issue 65, Rom is saved by '''[[UpToEleven every '''every hero on Earth]]'''.Earth'''.
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"Not to be confused with" (a bunch of things that this would never be confused with) cleanup


Not to be confused with ''[[Anime/{{Tekkaman}} Tekkaman the Space Knight]]'' (which in turn should not be confused with ''Anime/TekkamanBlade''), or with Read-Only Memory. Neither should it be confused with Rom Stol, the main character from the anime series, ''Toys/MachineRobo'' which in itself was based on a toyline. Or the singular form of [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Roma]].

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