William Anthony 'Buck' Rogers is the hero of numerous stories in various media. He first appeared in Philip Francis Nowlan's novella Armageddon 2419 A.D.
In each incarnation, he is a man who meets with misfortune and is unconscious for five hundred years. He wakes to a world where rebel factions are fighting a conquering emperor. After meeting Wilma Deering, he joins her and the rebels.
Pulp Origins[]
Armageddon 2419 A.D.
Buck first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. While investigating reports of unusual phenomena observed in certain abandoned coal mines for his company, the American Radioactive Gas Corporation, Buck is trapped. The gases preserve him in suspended animation for 492 years. He meets Wilma, a boyish thirteen-year-old girl from a rebel gang and marries her a few months later. Since Americans have been living a primitive existence since the war of 2109, he uses his 20th century military expertise to help organize the resistance and turn the tide of the rebellion.
He also appeared in the sequel, The Airlords of Han.
Comic Strip[]
In the comic strip, Buck had been an Air Service pilot in World War I. He was working as a surveyor when a mine collapsed in on him. The gases inside preserved him in suspended animation. When he wakes, he meets Wilma and they begin their stormy romance.
Radio Series[]
In the radio series, Buck was originally voiced by Matt Crowley from 1932 to 1936, then by Carl Frank in 1939, Curtis Arnall in 1940, and John Larkin from 1946 to 1947, with some ambiguity due to sparse credits.
Buck was an Air Service pilot in World War I. Soon after returning home, he found a job surveying. Deep in the low levels of an abandoned mine, a cave-in trapped him and the radio-active gas he came to study put him into a state of suspended animation. When shifting of strata once more let air in five hundred years later, he awoke.
1934 Chicago World's Fair Film[]
In the 1934 short, Buck was played by John F. Dille, Jr., whose father was the newspaperman who helped create the comic strip.
1939 Serial[]
1950 Television Series[]
1979 Movie and Series[]
In the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century film and series, Buck is a former United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who, following an accident during a deep space flight, finds himself living in the 25th Century. He was born 9 January 1958, as a native of Old Chicago. After finishing college in 1979, Rogers joined the United States Air Force.
Though a skilled pilot, Rogers saw service in the United States Air Force, during the final years of the Cold War in 1980, when America was not embroiled in notable air offensives, his only option to see "action" - or possibly swift career advancement - being via National Aeronautics and Space Administration's then-expanding space exploration programs.
Initially shortlisted, he was guaranteed placement on the Ranger 3 mission after taking an undercover assignment on behalf of the United States Air Force to uncover a conspiracy of officers in many branches of the military who - it transpired - planned to engineer a full-scale nuclear war. Successful in his mission, but given the politically-sensitive nature of what he discovered, Rogers was knowingly "debriefed" via hypnotic suggestion to ensure that he remembered nothing of his assignment, his placement on the Ranger 3 deep space probe further guaranteeing that he would be out of harm's way once the conspirators were moved upon by the American government.
Notorious for his many female acquaintances through college and over the years of his United States Air Force service, in the final months he would spend on the pre-World War III Earth of the 20th century, Rogers became greatly attached to a woman he would in later life acknowledge as "Jennifer" to his close friends. Despite the duration of his upcoming mission, Jennifer insisted she would wait for Rogers to return.
The Ranger 3 mission commanded by Captain Rogers was, however, lost in space following a malfunction, and Rogers was eventually declared dead. Jim Peterson - Rogers' closest friend and a colleague in the United States Air Force, was later promoted to the rank of major and was able to access classified files on Rogers' service, believing the falsified documents that painted Rogers as a traitor to his country without realizing they were planted as part of Rogers' undercover assignment. Now aware of the conspiracy and believing it to be responsible for the escalation in tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, Peterson recorded a last testament 22 November 1987, mere minutes before the final nuclear attack on the United States that would kill him and countless others. In the video testimony, Peterson's final words were to express regret that he mourned Rogers, whom he named as being personally responsible for World War III.
In May 1987, Captain Rogers is launched into deep space aboard space probe Ranger 3, which is blown out of its trajectory and experiences a malfunction which puts it into a deep freeze. The change in trajectory means that Ranger 3 returns to Earth after 504 years, as opposed to the five months originally intended. (Awakening)
Buck was a charming and witty ladies' man, with a strong moral compass and a rigid use of non-lethal weapons, based on his desire to incapacitate rather than kill in a fight.
A pilot and later astronaut, Buck had little difficulty adapting to 25th century space fighters, despite feeling dizzy after a flight through warp gates. Capt. Rogers is also a skilled martial artist and is also very creative. His knowledge of 20th century matters, trivia, and survival skills come in extreme handiness to him and to others while he lives in the 25th century. His air combat experience and tactical expertise make him a skilled combatant.
1982 Pauls Commercial[]
Buck featured in an animated commercial for Pauls Buck Rogers Space Ice. The character is modeled on Gil Gerard, but voiced by Keith Scott.
Buck fights off Princess Ardala, Tigerman, a Draconian guard, and Killer Kane, all while enjoying his Space Ice.