Roxxon Oil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roxxon Oil (aka Roxxon) is the name of a fictional massive petroleum corporation in the Marvel Universe.

1 History
2 Recent Appearances
3 List of supervillains created or hired as a result of Brand-Roxxon corporate conglomerate
4 Ultimate Roxxon

[edit] History

This fictional company, appearing in comic book stories published by Marvel Comics, is notorious for its determination to make massive profits regardless of any laws or moral principles. As such, it is involved in numerous criminal plots that require the opposition of the various superheroes to stop. The name of the company is a probable parody of Exxon, an American petroleum company often criticized for its profiteering at the expense of the environment.

While this fictional company has encountered numerous superheroes, it has most notably been at odds with Iron Man, as in a storyline called "The Iron Age" where it was revealed that Roxxon Oil killed Tony Stark's parents. Roxxon has also regularly been at odds with Project: Pegasus regarding energy sources as the latter has been involved with alternative energy research that could hurt Roxxon's oil profitability.

Roxxon is closely connected to Brand Corporation, another for-profit company that has specialized in creating superhumans. It is sometimes been referred to as a Roxxon subsidiary, but it has sometimes made its own decisions and acted on its own.

The former head of the company, Hugh Jones, had been arrested several times but has never been convicted to date.

[edit] Recent Appearances

Recently, in the mini-series Great Lakes Avengers, a character named the Grasshopper was introduced. Real name Douglas Taggert, he was an employee of Roxxon, wearing a suit of cybernetic armor themed like a grasshopper developed by them to defend the company. After accepting an invitation to join the GLA, he was killed by a villain named Zaran literally seconds afterwards.

In the following GLX-Mas special, the villain Killer Shrike (himself a former employee of Roxxon) attempted to steal "Project Z" from the company, but was stopped by a new Grasshopper, who defeated the villain. He also died mere minutes later after activating the suits maximum jump, which launched him into space. It seems a sure bet that if Roxxon attempts to give a new Grasshopper suit to anyone else, they will also die prematurely.

Since then the Red Skull, inside the body of former Soviet General Aleksander Lukin, has used Lukin's powerful Kronas Corporation, and the Cosmic Cube, in order to buy out Roxxon. It is unclear what effect this will have on Roxxon's actions in the future.

[edit] List of supervillains created or hired as a result of Brand-Roxxon corporate conglomerate

Deathlok clashed Captain America and the Thing several times. He tried to erase the Project: Pegasus at a government building.
The Grapplers made an attempt to rampage the Project Pegasus.
Grasshopper defended Roxxon facilities.
Killer Shrike, bodyguard of Brand's Jersey branch leader, James Melvin.
Magma was defeated by Spider-Man and Iron Man two times.
Manticore, attacked Hawkeye in order to steal back the Hellcat costume to Brand. He's been confronted with the Ghost Rider and the Two-Gun Kid at the same time.
Modular Man
Nth Man was about to destroy what remained of the Project. He was also halted.
Orka, battled the Avengers in Jamaica, Queens.
Serpent Squad ambushed the Thing and his friends.
Sunturion encounters Iron Man in outer space.
Mutated Tarantula, his transformation into a super-being went wrong after it was disturbed by Will o' the Wisp.
Will o' the Wisp was demoleculated after Brand's experiment went haywire and put together by Spider-Man and Dr. Marla Madison. He's still seeking revenge on Brand.
Ghost was hired to sabotage Accutech Research and Development, which was bought by Tony Stark. He has had many encounters with Iron Man.

[edit] Ultimate Roxxon

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe the Roxxon Corporation is also responsible for creating supervillains, although its owner, Donald Roxxon, seems to have little idea what the company actually does. In Ultimate Spider-Man he was targeted by a former employee who took the identity of the Tinkerer, and hired Silver Sable to track down Spider-Man, as he believed the hero knew who was responsible.