ROCS (aka RUKHS)

Classification: Terrestrial animals, possible mutates; (8th Century AD to Pre-modern era)

Location/Base of Operations: Cairo, Egypt; the island of Colossa and numerous other places

Known Members: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Anne Avery, John Avery, Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing), Sinbad

Aliases: The Winged Mammoth

First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#71/1 (August, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: Outside of possessing the proportionate strength of a bird its size, some Rocs/Rukhs matured into a full-grown adult only moments after being hatched and could fly and survive in outer space. Due to its size, it was invurnerable to most known weapons. Sinbad encountered two other versions, one (and its hatchlings) possessed two heads while another version (and its hatchlings) possessed a single cyclopean eye.

History: (Marvel Spotlight I#25) - <8th Century A.D.> - Sinbad journeyed to the island of Colossa, in order to cure Princess Parisa, who had been reduced in size by the magician Sokurah. Sokurah required a piece of the eggshell of a Roc egg to perform the cure. While on Colossa, Sinbad's crew became hungry and - finding a Roc egg - tried to tear it open. The baby Roc inside tried to free itself but was killed, cooked and consumed. Later a full-grown Roc attacked the crew but it attacked Sinbad before flying away.

(Journey into Mystery I#71/1) - While on their honeymoon in Cairo, archaeologist John and his wife Anne went sightseeing in the desert.  Anne noticed a perfectly round hill and John dug it up to find a brilliantly-colored giant egg under it. When they left to report their find, the desert heat and sun caused the egg to hatch, releasing a Roc. The creature matured in minutes, and set out on what appeared to be a rampage, carrying off trains, ships and other large objects. In actuality, it was building a nest. John realized that the Roc would be looking for a mate, and suggested to the United Nations that they work together to create a robot female Roc. They did so, and when it was launched, the real Roc followed it straight into outer space, where it pursued the robot.








(Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad) - While traveling in another dimension, the Fantastic Four encountered a nest of Rukhs as well as a full-grown one, which they captured and used to fly to a city that the sorcerer Jihad ruled.







Comments: First adapted to Marvel by Stan Lee (or Larry Lieber), Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

This originally started as a profile just for the Roc from the Journey into Mystery story, but after dealing with two more versions of it for a Sinbad profile, opted to turn it into a race profile.

The JIM story was reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl#10.

Marvel Spotlight#25 was an adaptation of the film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.

The Roc (original spelling - Rukh) is based on the legend of a huge flightless bird from Madagascar described through the travels of Sindbad. It might have been based on an actual bird called the Aepyornis which was driven to extinction in the 16th Century by the first explorers to the island.
--Will U

Thanks to Ron Fredricks for pointing out that Anne and John's last name was Avery.

Profile by Madison Carter

Clarifications:

This Roc has no known connections to

Anne Avery

After marrying John, Anne and he honeymooned in Cairo, where Anne spotted a hill containing the Roc's egg.




-- Journey into Mystery I#71/1

John Avery

An archaeologist, John discovered the Roc egg, and later was the one who came up with the idea to create a robot Roc decoy to lead the real one into space.




-- Journey into Mystery I#71/1

images:
 Journey into Mystery I#71, story 1, p1, pan1 (Roc)
Journey into Mystery I#71, story 1, p4, pan1 (egg)
Journey into Mystery I#71, story 1, p4, pan8 (young Roc)
Journey into Mystery I#71, story 1, p6, pan1 (Anne and John Avery)
Marvel Spotlight I#25, p11, pan4 (2-headed Roc)
Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad#1, p23, pan5 (cyclopean Rukh)

Appearances:
Journey into Mystery I#71/1 (August, 1961) - Stan Lee or Larry Lieber (writer), Jack Kirby (penciler), Dick Ayers (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#25 (December, 1975) - John Warner (writer), Sonny Trinidad (artist), Marv Wolfman (editor), based on the screenplay by Kenneth Kolb
Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad (September, 2001) - Chris Claremont (writer), Pascual Ferry (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Bobbie Chase (executive editor)

Last updated: 11/27/08

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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