[1] Richard Rory, an eternal pessimist who claims that he was dropped by the doctor at his birth,[2] had been a disc jockey for an Ohio radio station when he is introduced at age 23.

[5] Tony Stark briefly pays Rory a visit, knowing his connection to Man-Thing and seeking information, but his most important visitor is cellmate Greg Salinger, who is in on disorderly conduct charges.

[6] When Rory is released, Ruth Hart allows him to stay in her Hell's Kitchen apartment, where she lives with Daily Bugle photographer Amber Grant and James-Michael Starling, a young orphan and former patient with a mental link to Omega the Unknown.

[7] Omega the Unknown was killed by Las Vegas police who erroneously believed that his attack on Ruby Thursday was unprovoked.

He places the entire amount on a single spin of the roulette wheel at the urging of a showgirl in the employ of the casino manager.

When She-Hulk shows up in the swamp, where he is briefly reunited with Man-Thing, Rory's suspicion that she is Jennifer is confirmed beyond doubt, but he still does not let on that he knows.

[10] One evening at the station, he believes he has made contact with an alien lifeform, but it turns out to be John Jameson, the Man-Wolf, whose universe is in peril.

[11] After this episode, with the radio station trashed, he returns to Los Angeles with Jennifer, where he becomes rival to her boyfriend, Daniel "Zapper" Ridge, in spite of sleeping only on her couch.

[13] It has been pointed out, however, that Gregory Ross Curtis, the new identity of the severely burned third Foolkiller Kurt Gerhardt, bears a striking resemblance to Richard Rory.