Updated: April 10, 2026

Development:

Comic book writer / artist Dave Stevens created the Rocketeer in 1982 and immediately viewed the character as an ideal protagonist for a film adaptation. Steve Miner purchased the film rights from Stevens in 1983, but he strayed too far from the original concept and the rights reverted to Stevens. In 1985, Stevens gave writers Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo a free option on The Rocketeer rights. Stevens liked that "their ideas for The Rocketeer were heartfelt and affectionate tributes to the 1930s serial films with all the right dialogue and atmosphere. Most people would approach my characters contemporarily, but Danny and Paul saw them as pre-war mugs".

Stevens, Bilson, and De Meo began to consider making The Rocketeer as a low-budget film, shot in black and white and funded by independent investors. Their plan was to make the film a complete homage to Republic's Commando Cody rocket man serials, and use a cast largely associated with character actors. However, that same year, the trio approached William Dear to direct / co-write The Rocketeer, and they eventually dropped the low-budget idea. Bilson, De Meo, and Dear kept the comic book's basic plot intact, but fleshed it out to include a Hollywood setting and a climactic battle against a Nazi Zeppelin. They also tweaked Cliff's girlfriend to avoid comparisons to Bettie Page ( Stevens original inspiration ), changing her name from Betty to Jenny and her profession from nude model to Hollywood extra ( A change also made to make the film more Disney family friendly ). Dear proceeded to transform the climax from a submarine into a Zeppelin set piece.

Stevens, Bilson, De Meo, and Dear began to pitch The Rocketeer in 1986 to the major film studios but were turned down. "This was 1986, long before Batman or Dick Tracy or anything similar", Stevens explained. "In those days, no studio was interested at all in an expensive comic book movie. We got there about three years too early for our own good!" Walt Disney Studios eventually accepted The Rocketeer because they believed the film had toyetic potential and appeal for merchandising. The Rocketeer was set to be released through the studio's Touchstone Pictures label; Stevens, Bilson, De Meo, and Dear all signed a contract which would permit them to make a trilogy of Rocketeer films. However, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg switched the film to a Walt Disney Pictures release. According to Stevens, "immediately, Betty and anything else adult went right out with the bathwater. They really tried to shoehorn it into a kiddie property so they could sell toys. All they really wanted at the end of the day, was the name".

Bilson and DeMeo then submitted their seven page film treatment to Disney, but the studio put their script through an endless series of revisions. Over five years, Disney fired and rehired Bilson and DeMeo three times. DeMeo explained that "Disney felt that they needed a different approach to the script, which meant bringing in someone else. But those scripts were thrown out and we were always brought back on". They found the studio's constant tinkering with the screenplay to be a frustrating process as "executives would like previously excised dialogue three months later. Scenes that had been thrown out two years ago were put back in. What was the point"? DeMeo said. One of Bilson and De Meo's significant revisions to the script over the years was to make Cliff and Jenny's romance more believable and avoid cliché aspects that would stereotype Jenny as a damsel in distress. The numerous project delays forced Dear to drop out as director. Joe Johnston, a fan of the comic book, immediately offered his services as director when he found out Disney owned the film rights. Johnston was quickly hired and pre-production started in early 1990. After Bilson and De Meo's third major rewrite, Disney finally greenlit The Rocketeer.

The characterization of Neville Sinclair was inspired by period film star Errol Flynn. The film's Neville Sinclair is, like biographer Charles Higham's Flynn, a film star known for his work in swashbuckler roles who is secretly a Nazi spy. Because Higham's biography of Flynn was not refuted until the late 1980s, the image of Flynn as a closet Nazi remained current all through the arduous process of writing and re-writing the script. The other real-life characterization was of Howard Hughes.