Rocket (DC Comics)

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An original character from DC's Milestone Comics imprint, she first appeared in Icon #1 (May 1993) where she was created by Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Denys Cowan, and Mark Bright.

Rocket, along with Milestone Universe and characters, was revived and merged into the DC Universe proper in the late 2000s. The merger treats the characters as new to the universe, ignoring the "Worlds Collide" Milestone/DC crossover of 1994. Rocket reappeared in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #27, written by creator Dwayne McDuffie.

Raquel Ervin was born in Paris Island, the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhood in Dakota.Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Icon #1 (May 1993) Although she is only the sidekick of the title character, Icon, she is the actual protagonist of the series. She yearned to become a writer like Toni Morrison, but lacked inspiration until she met Augustus Freeman IV, a corporate lawyer who was secretly a stranded alien with superhuman powers. This occurred while she and her friends were robbing Freeman's home. Raquel convinced Augustus to become the superhero Icon, and to take her on as his sidekick, Rocket. While in costume, she wore a belt that Icon fashioned out of his escape pod's inertia winder, which allowed her to manipulate kinetic energy.Icon #8

Shortly after she began adventuring with Icon, Raquel discovered that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Noble (one of the other robbers from the day she met Freeman).Icon #3 She gave birth to a son, Amistad, who is named after a ship that transported slaves from France to the United States.Icon #24Icon #26

Rocket also assists the Blood Syndicate member Flashback in fighting her addiction to crack cocaine.{{cite web |url=http://worldofblackheroes.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/flashback-sara-quinones/ |title=Flashback-Sara Quinones « WorldofBlackHeroes |accessdate=2011-02-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120728232933/http://worldofblackheroes.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/flashback-sara-quinones/ |archivedate=2012-07-28}} Rocket is more liberal than Icon, which caused them to clash on a number of occasions. She befriends Static, another teenage superhero from Dakota City.

After Orion kills Darkseid in Final Crisis, the space-time continuum destabilizes, threatening the multiverse. In response, Dharma transports the Dakota characters to the DC universe, rewriting history so that they were always present there.Justice League of America (vol. 2) #34 (June 2009)Justice League of America (vol. 2) #30 (February 2009) Subsequently, Rocket becomes an ally of the Justice League and Shadow Cabinet."Tried to use her in WW but wasn't allowed!" rt @ LindAp7618 @GailSimone Any chance of Rocket from Milestone showing up in BOP?https://twitter.com/Gailsimone 4:04 AM Apr 30th via web

Rocket has no innate superhuman abilities, but is a skilled gymnast and hand-to-hand combatant. She can manipulate energy using her inertia belt, which enables her to increase her own strength, fly via energy propulsion, and briefly paralyze others by negating their energy.{{multiref2|Icon #2 (June 1992)|Icon #13 (May 1994)|Icon #14 (June 1994)|Icon #23 (March 1995)|Icon #28 (August 1995)|Icon #29 (September 1995)|Icon #39 (November 1996)|Hardware #16 (June 1994)

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• Rocket appears in Young Justice, voiced initially by Kali Troy and later by Denise Boutte.{{cite web |title=Rocket / Raquel Ervin Voices (DC Universe) |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/DC-Universe/Rocket-Raquel-Ervin/ |access-date=May 22, 2024 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version initially works with Icon before joining the Team. Later in the series, Rocket joins the Justice League and becomes engaged to Noble Davis, with whom she has a son, Amistad.{{cite web |last=Tsavelis |first=George |date=April 20, 2022 |title=Young Justice Reveals One of Its Characters is on the Spectrum |url=https://www.cbr.com/young-justice-reveals-amistad-on-autism-spectrum/ |website=Comic Book Resources}}
• Rocket appears as a playable character in Young Justice: Legacy, voiced by Cree Summer.

Rocket held liberal views on economic and social issues, which resulted in her often clashing with her conservative partner, Icon. Under her influence, Icon eventually began re-evaluating his views.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

W. E. B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk was a major influence in shaping Rocket's liberal views.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=_U0DCgAAQBAJ&q=rocket The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art], ed by Frances Gateward and John Jennings (Rutgers University Press, 2015)

• [http://worldofblackheroes.com/2011/03/09/rocket-raquel-ervin/ World of Black Heroes: Rocket Biography]
• [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/r/rocket.htm International Heroes: Rocket]
• Rocket at the DC Database Project

{{Milestone Media}}

Category:African-American superheroes

Category:Black people in comics

Category:Characters created by Dwayne McDuffie

Category:Comics characters introduced in 1993

Category:DC Comics characters with superhuman strength

Category:DC Comics female superheroes

Category:DC Comics sidekicks

Category:Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities