ROCCO RANK

Real Name: Rocco Rank

Identity/Class: Human; formerly extratemporally or extradimensional displaced

Occupation: Slave; former criminal

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: The Mummy (kind of)

Enemies: New York Police Department, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Witch-Queen

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Ancient Egypt;
formerly New York City, New York

First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy I#15/3 (August, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: Rocco Rank is a normal human with no superhuman powers. His ethics are very questionable, but he at least seems to care about other people. He was in pretty good shape after doing some heavy physical labor for an unknown amount of time.

History:
(Amazing Fantasy I#15/3) – While trying to elude a police officer, lifetime criminal Rocco Rank dove into an open window of a museum. Attempting to find a place there to hide, he was surprised to encounter a living mummy, who offered to hide Rank within its “mummy case” (sarcophogus) while the cops searched the building. When the police opened the case, Rank was not in there. After they left, the Mummy talked to itself, saying that it had kept its promise to hide Rank. Somehow, entering the coffin had transported the petty thief to ancient Egypt, where he was made a slave, and forced to drag stones to build the pyramids.

(Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6 (fb)) - During meal times Rocco often told the other slaves about New York City and all the things they had there like TV, movies, air-conditioning and hot pockets. Word about his stories reached the Witch-Queen, who had him brought before her. Rocco told her of his world and talked her into conquering New York.

(Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6) - Disguised as one of the Witch-Queen's soldiers Rocco made it back to New York City after the Witch-Queen had opened the portal.

(Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6 - BTS) - The Witch-Queen was surprised when she was opposed by Spider-Man because Rocco's stories had not included any mention of creatures like him. Overwhelmed by the wonders she saw in New York and threatened by Spider-Man with more beings like him including the Fantastic Four, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk, the Witch-Queen decided to end her invasion and return to her world with her army.

(Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6) - Rocco escaped through a window after the Witch-Queen was gone, but got caught by Spider-Man, who already knew about him and his history from the Witch-Queen. Rocco was ready to be arrested for breaking and entering because even prison was better than what he had been through in the Witch-Queen's realm. He felt sorry for the other slaves, but Spider-Man told him that he had threatened to come after the Witch-Queen with other heroes if she did not release the other slaves as well.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

This story was published in the same issue that introduced Spider-Man. Guess Rocco got the short end of the stick in more ways than one.

I wonder if the Witch-Queen from this story is actually the Witch Queen. I also wonder if the Witch-Queen's realm was just Egypt from Earth-616's past or from another reality altogether...?
--Markus Raymond

60 years later the story of Rocco Rank received a sequel nobody expected and he ended up crossing over with Spider-Man, another Marvel character that appeared in Amazing Fantasy I#15 back in the day that has appeared in a few comics since then. BTW the sequel to the story took place in Spider-Man's early days when he was still in high school.

Profile by Madison Carter. Update by Markus Raymond (#1000).

Clarifications:
Rocco Rank has no known connection to:

The Mummy has no known connection to:

THE MUMMY

(Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6) - The Mummy was one of the agents the Witch-Queen sent to different worlds and time periods with a powerful magic spell. They were supposed to find people in need of refuge, who would be sent to the Witch-Queen's realm through mystic mummy cases end up enslaved to make her land flourish again.

(Amazing Fantasy I#15/3) - The Mummy was found by Rocco Rank in a museum, and the living creature offered to hide him in its coffin. When Rocco entered it, he was transported back to the time period the Mummy originally lived.

--Amazing Fantasy I#15/3 (Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6 (fb), Amazing Fantasy I#15/3

images:
Amazing Fantasy I#15/3, p5, pan6 (main)
Amazing Fantasy I#15/3, p2, pan4 (head shot)
Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6, p8, pan1 (caught by Spider-Man)
Amazing Fantasy I#15/3, p2, pan5 (Mummy)

Appearances:
Amazing Fantasy I#15/3 (August, 1962) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Steve Ditko (artist)
Amazing Fantasy I#1000/6 (October, 2022) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Nick Lowe (editor)

First Posted: 05/10/2005
Last updated: 10/14/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com/

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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