Rocket Raccoon Fact — October 31, 2026

Today's Fact

Checked against independent sources — the issues are cited below.

ROCKET RACCOON IS NAMED AFTER A BEATLES SONG — HIS BIG RETURN ISSUE COPIES ITS OPENING LINE!

The Featured Fact

Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen created Rocket for Marvel Preview Vol. 1 #7 (1976), and his name came straight off a record shelf: the Beatles' 1968 song “Rocky Raccoon” from the White Album. The debt was hiding in plain hearing for six years while the character, then just “Rocky”, sat in obscurity after a single sword-and-planet backup story.

When Mantlo revived him alongside the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #271 (1982), the homage became the headline. The Beatles song opens with a young boy named Rocky Raccoon somewhere in the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota; the comic's story title rewrites it as a young boy named Rocket Raccoon somewhere in the black holes of Sirius Major. The same issue's great treasure, Gideon's Bible, is lifted from the song's lyric about Rocky checking into his room and finding one there.

Even Rocket's friend Wal Rus nods at the band, echoing “I Am the Walrus”. So the galaxy's most trigger-happy tactician carries a full set of Beatles references in his name, his homeworld's scripture and his supporting cast — a 1968 folk-rock tall tale wearing a spacesuit.

Why It's Obscure

A White Album deep cut supplied the name, the opening line, the sacred book and one walrus — the comic just changed Dakota for deep space.

1968

The source song — “Rocky Raccoon” appears on the Beatles' White Album, a country-flavoured tale of a young boy, a rival and a room with Gideon's Bible in it.

1976

Rocky debuts — Mantlo and Giffen introduce the raccoon as “Rocky” in Marvel Preview #7, the Beatles reference present from his very first panel.

1982

The lyric, rewritten — Incredible Hulk #271's story title paraphrases the song's opening line, swapping the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota for the black holes of Sirius Major.

Gideon's Bible

From lyric to treasure — The book Rocky finds in his motel room becomes Halfworld's most coveted text, the prize of Rocket's return story.

Gallery

Comic art of Rocket Raccoon and the figures named in today's fact.

Rocket Raccoon 1985 comic cover art — **The song's hero, solo at last**Rocket headlining his own 1985 series, nine years after a Beatles track supplied his name.

Rocket Raccoon comic cover with gun art — **Rocky goes Rocket**The revived raccoon of the Hulk era, when readers learned Rocky was short for Rocket.

Incredible Hulk comic cover art — **The host of the return**The Hulk, whose 1982 series carried Rocket's comeback and its lyric-by-lyric Beatles homage in issue #271.

Sources

Every claim above checks out against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

The Unlikely Journey of Rocket Raccoon — CBRCBR documents the Rocky Raccoon reference, the Incredible Hulk #271 title's paraphrase of the song's opening line, and Gideon's Bible as another lift from the lyric.
Marvel Finally Calls Out The Origin of Rocket Raccoon's Name — ScreenRantScreenRant confirms the creators named Rocket after the Beatles' “Rocky Raccoon” and notes Spider-Man calling out the reference in Symbiote Spider-Man.