Black Rook

Gallery

Real Name

Friedrich von Roehm

Current Alias

Black Rook

Affiliation

Hellfire Club Inner Circle

Status

Identity

Secret Identity

Occupation

Jeweller, criminal

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

5' 8"

Hair

Brown

Origin

Origin

Hereditary lycanthropy

Universe

Earth-616

Created by

Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz

First appearance

Appearance of Death

New Mutants #22
(December, 1984)

Uncanny X-Men #209
(September, 1986)

HistoryEdit

Apparentally German by birth, Friedrich Von Roehm operated a jewelry shop on New York City's Park Avenue. Von Roehm was also secretly a lycanthrope and a high priest of the supernatural being and self-described goddess Selene. Von Roehm, who had worshipped Selene as a goddess, became her personal servant when she showed up in his jewelry shop.

As a member of the Hellfire Club, Von Roehm sponsored Selene for membership. Selene became the new Black Queen, and Von Roehm served as the Black Rook. Alongside the Hellfire Club, Leland later battled the X-Men in New York's Central Park. Selene used her psionic powers to mentally trigger Von Roehm's hereditary lycanthropy and sent him in pursuit of Rachel Summers. When the mutant-hunting Nimrod intervened to attack the X-Men and Hellfire, the X-Men's leader Storm proposed an alliance to battle Nimrod. Von Roehm rejected this proposal and attacked the X-Men. He was then burned to a crisp by Nimrod.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Von Roehm possessed a power likened to lycanthropy. Von Roehm did not undergo the typical change in appearance associated with werewolves. However, he acquired superhuman strength, enhanced senses, claws, and barely controllable bloodlust during his transformation. His powers were genetically based, but required mental triggering by Selene. Aside from his personal to devotion to Selene, Von Roehm was apparently mentally compelled to obey Selene while in his superhuman state.

Strength level

in his lycanthropic form, Von Roehm possessed heightened strength to an unknown degree. In his untransformed state, he possessed the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engaged in little regular exercise.

LinksEdit

• 9 Appearances of Friedrich von Roehm (Earth-616)
• 1 Images featuring Friedrich von Roehm (Earth-616)
• 1 Quotations by or about Friedrich von Roehm (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Friedrich von Roehm (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Friedrich von Roehm (Earth-616)

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Footnotes