Roark Junior

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Roark Junior


Publisher Dark Horse Comics
First appearance That Yellow Bastard
Created by Frank Miller
Statistics
Full Name Unknown
Affiliations: Roark Family
Status: Deceased
Portrayer: Nick Stahl

Roark Junior is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City yarns, and the primary villain of That Yellow Bastard. In Robert Rodriguez's 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Nick Stahl.

[edit] History

Roark Junior is the son of Senator Roark, and the scion of the powerful Roark family; his father has aspirations for his son to be the first Roark to become President. He is a handsome and wealthy young man, but is also a sadistic pedophile who rapes and murders pre-pubescent girls. These crimes were covered up by his father and the corrupt Basin City Police Department.

Junior is the villain of That Yellow Bastard, having already raped and murdered three girls prior to the story's beginning. After kidnapping 11-year-old Nancy Callahan, he takes her to the local docks to rape and kill her, but Detective John Hartigan comes to her aid.

Hartigan kills and incapacitates several of Junior's henchmen and chases him to the end of a boardwalk, where Hartigan shoots off Junior's ear, hand and genitals. Before he is able to kill him, however, Hartigan is shot by his partner Bob, who is on the Roark family's payroll, and Junior lapses into a coma. Hartigan is framed for Junior's crimes and goes to prison for eight years. Junior's missing body parts are restored through means outside of conventional science, including gene therapy and voodoo. He recovers, but is left a hideous mutant with bright yellow skin who smells of rotting garbage. Over the next eight years, he claims dozens of victims, speculating that the total might in fact be 100.

In order to get out of jail and protect Nancy, Hartigan admits to raping the girls and is freed. Junior follows him when he goes to visit Nancy, who has now become a stripper at Kadie's Bar. Hartigan sees him and flees with Nancy, with Junior in hot pursuit. In the ensuing car chase, Hartigan shoots him in the neck and momentarily loses him. Junior nevertheless arrives at their motel room, reveals his true identity, and ties Hartigan in a hangman's noose. Junior leaves Hartigan to die and takes Nancy to the Roark Family Farm, well-known for the violent and disturbing activities that occur there.

Junior violently whips Nancy, but flies into a frustrated rage when she refuses to scream. Nancy discovers that Junior is impotent unless his victims are screaming in pain, and mocks him for this. As Junior is about to kill her, he is surprised by Hartigan, who has escaped and killed all of the local guards. Hartigan stabs him in the chest, castrates him again, (this time with his bare hands,) and beats his head into a yellow mess of blood and bone.

[edit] Adaptation

Junior was portrayed by Nick Stahl in the 2005 film adaptation. Other actors considered for the role included Steve Buscemi and Leonardo DiCaprio, but both of them were unable to play the role. An original concept was for two different actors to play Junior at the stages before and after his mutation, but Stahl offered to perform both roles.

As a result, the make-up required was the most extensive of the entire cast, as a full body and facial prosthetic, stubble and pattern bald hair and full-body paint and highlight were needed, among other things. However, yellow paint has a negative reaction with green-screen, and as a result, blue body paint was used. Thusly, Stahl was known on the set as "The Blue Bastard."

Sin City
Yarns The Hard Goodbye | A Dame to Kill For | The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories | Silent Night | The Big Fat Kill | That Yellow Bastard | Daddy's Little Girl | Lost, Lonely, & Lethal | Sex & Violence | Just Another Saturday Night | Family Values | Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story) | Booze, Broads, & Bullets
Films Sin City | Sin City 2 (in production)
Characters Marv | Jack Rafferty | Nancy Callahan | John Hartigan | Dwight McCarthy | Wallace | Miho | Kevin | Cardinal Roark | Ava Lord | Junior/That Yellow Bastard | Senator Roark | The Girls of Old Town | List of characters from Sin City
People Frank Miller | Robert Rodriguez