Rom was created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy for Parker Brothers and is now a Hasbro asset.

As a result, the final product had very few points of articulation, and twin red LEDs served as Rom's eyes instead of the originally envisioned green, which were more expensive to produce.

[6] It was featured in the interior article, "Those Beeping, Thinking Toys", which decried Rom's lack of articulation and predicted it would "end up among the dust balls under the playroom sofa".

[7] Rom was licensed to Palitoy in the United Kingdom to extend the "Space Adventurer" line of Action Man, appearing in their 1980 catalog.

Ultimately, the toy failed and only sold 200,000 to 300,000 units in the US, with creator McCoy blaming the failure on poor packaging and marketing.

In September 2024, The Loyal Subjects inked a deal with Hasbro to relaunch a host of legacy brands, including Rom the Space Knight.

IDW Publishing licensed the character from Parker Brothers' parent company, Hasbro, and in May 2016, released Rom #0 as part of Free Comic Book Day.

A prequel limited series titled Rom: Dire Wraiths, written by Chris Ryall and drawn by Luca Pizzari, Guy Dorian and Sal Buscema, was published in January 2020.

Inspired by his example, other Galadorians volunteered and eventually one thousand were transformed into Spaceknights—each with his or her own unique armor, powers and code names.

[17] The Spaceknights succeeded in stopping the Dire Wraith invasion, although Rom decided to follow the remnants of the fleet back to their home planet, Wraithworld (which orbited a black sun).

After 200 years in space, Rom arrived on Earth, landing near the fictional town of Clairton in West Virginia, United States.

The increasingly desperate Dire Wraiths created new foes for Rom, including Firefall, a fusion of human and Spaceknight;[19][20] the sorcerous Hellhounds;[21] and robotic Watchwraiths.

[22] Two of Rom's greatest foes were Hybrid[23][24][25][26] (the result of a union between Wraith and human), and Mentus (a suit of Spaceknight armor occupied by the dark side of the Prime Director's psyche).

[27] Other opponents were more traditional and hailed from the Marvel Universe proper, such as the Mad Thinker,[28] the Space Phantom,[29] and Galactus and his then-herald Terrax.

Unlike the males, the female Dire Wraiths chose not to act in secrecy and openly attacked Clairton while Rom was away, killing everyone (including Steve and superhero ally the Torpedo) with the exception of Brandy.

So informed, the combined nations of the world pooled their resources to counter the threat, with Rom as their resident expert and leader of field operations.

Created to defend Galador in the absence of the first Spaceknights, this next generation of cyborgs became corrupted by their power, and massacred the Galadorians in a show of superiority.

Two hundred years ago, Rom K'atsema lived an idyllic life with his brother and mothers on the peaceful planet Elonia, a world constantly protected by a powerful planet-wide shield that blocked debris and potential invaders.

When the Space Knights of the Solstar Order intervened, Rom learned that one of his mothers had been infected by a Wraith and transformed into one of their number.

On his first mission, Rom would be responsible for discovering Elonia's supply of Ore-12, a miraculous liquid metal capable of "bonding" with its wielder and becoming a permanent suit of armor.

The Space Knights spent the next few years pursuing remnant Dire Wraith forces across backwater planets within Solstar territory.

When Unicron arrived, it destroyed Elonia, which caused Rom to learn more about the monster and its link to the Dire Wraiths' creation.

As Marvel Comics no longer possesses the licensing rights to Rom from Parker Brothers, the character is not allowed to appear in his armored form.

[citation needed] Volume 1 of the Marvel Omnibus, scheduled for release in January 2024, will feature the first 29 issues of the series as well as the previously mentioned Power Man and Iron Fist #73.

[3][15] In December 2015, Hasbro Studios (later folded into Entertainment One in 2019) and Paramount Pictures were planning a cinematic universe featuring Rom and a number of other licensed toy characters, including G.I.