An Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in a lorry crash was given a fitting send-off after his family and friends dressed as his favourite comic book characters at his funeral.
Hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to Marvel superfan Roman Parsons at Carmountside Crematorium in Stoke-on-Trent on Tuesday.
Grieving relatives came dressed as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman and Deadpool ahead of the emotional service.
Others wore Bananaman and Black Widow outfits at the budding actor’s funeral.
The lorry driver passed away when his HGV ploughed into the back of a broken down truck on the A500 on November 24.
An Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in a lorry crash was given a fitting send-off after his family and friends dressed as his favourite comic book characters at his funeral. People dressed as Bananaman from the Beano comics, as well as Marvel characters
The lorry driver passed away when his HGV ploughed into the back of a broken down truck on the A500 on November 24, hundreds of mourners honoured him by dressing up as superheroes including Captain America
Grieving relatives came dressed as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman, Black Widow and Deadpool ahead of the emotional service on Tuesday
Roman, an Afghanistan veteran, 30, who died in a lorry crash was a lifelong comic book fan and budding actor who dreamed of starring in the Avengers films
Roman, of Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent was a lifelong comic book fan, and had dreamed of starring in an Avengers movie after signing with the Amanda Andrews Agency last year.
He’d also spent six months working as a rail engineer in Afghanistan as part of a six-year stint in the Army, before becoming a lorry driver in 2009.
His sister Rebecca, 27, said: ‘He was an amazing person, incredibly unique and loyal towards his family.
Hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to Marvel superfan Roman Parsons at Carmountside Crematorium in Stoke-on-Trent
Roman’s younger sister Rebecca, 27, said: ‘He was an amazing person, incredibly unique and loyal towards his family’
Relatives of Roman left reefs in the shape of Captain America’s shield, played in the film franchise by Chris Evans. One note from a grieving relative said: ‘A golden heart stopped beating, two smiling eyes at rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us he only takes the best’
‘He kept himself to himself, but was very caring towards those who were closest to him.
‘For as long as I can remember he was a geek, and loved collecting comic books and dressing up as characters from the Marvel films.
‘If ever I had a question about who had defeated who, or a plot line from a superhero film, I would always go to him. He was like an encyclopedia.
‘His favourite character was Deadpool, and he adored the films when they came out.
‘Earlier this year he even dressed up as him for Halloween, and he had great fun with that and he went to a comic cons at the NEC last year dressed as Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.
‘Every year he would always talk about how much he wanted to go, but something would always come up and prevent him from going.
Roman became a lorry driver in 2009. He’d previously spent six months working as a rail engineer in Afghanistan as part of a six-year stint in the Army
Marvel cars featuring popular characters such as the Hulk, Deadpool and Captain America were part of the funeral procession
Friends and family of the 30-year-old Afghanistan veteran laid flowers at his funeral dressed as Iron Man, Spiderman, and Wolverine
Roman’s sister described him as ‘very caring towards those who were closest to him’
Just weeks before his untimely death, Roman dressed up as Deadpool for Halloween
His sister said of Roman: ‘For as long as I can remember he was a geek, and loved collecting comic books and dressing up as characters from the Marvel films. ‘If ever I had a question about who had defeated who, or a plot line from a superhero film, I would always go to him. He was like an encyclopedia’
‘When he passed away, it seemed right to pay tribute to him with a comic book themed funeral, it’s just something that the whole family agreed on very quickly’ his sister said
Roman went to a comic cons at the Birmingham NEC last year dressed as Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat – he was a huge fan of comic books, particularly the Marvel franchise
Since returning from Afghanistan, Roman took up acting and it was his dream to star in an Avengers movie
‘Over the past 18 months or so, he started to get into acting, doing short films and that sort of thing. He was taking it really seriously. It was more than just a pastime for him, and he wanted to be a serious actor. ‘His absolute dream was to be in an Avengers movie, he joked about that a lot’ his sister said
The whole family ‘agreed very quickly’ that a comic book themed funeral was the right thing to do
‘It’s good to know that he got the opportunity to finally go along before he passed away.
‘Over the past 18 months or so, he started to get into acting, doing short films and that sort of thing.
‘He was taking it really seriously. It was more than just a pastime for him, and he wanted to be a serious actor.
‘His absolute dream was to be in an Avengers movie, he joked about that a lot.
Acting was more than ‘just a pastime’ for Roman, who dreamt of starring alongside Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson in an Avengers movie
Some paid tribute to Roman by wearing full superhero costume, others wore superhero t-shirts and hoodies and some came in military uniform
The funeral procession included a Marvel car decorated with popular characters from the franchise and cars with flower reefs spelling out ‘Uncle’ and ‘Brother’
Some women at the funeral came dressed as Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson in the Avengers franchise. Others came as Deadpool, who is played by Ryan Reynolds and Spiderman
Roman’s sister described the funeral as ‘something a bit different’ but added ‘It’s lovely to know that we’ve been able to lay him to rest in the way that he would have wanted’
‘When he passed away, it seemed right to pay tribute to him with a comic book themed funeral, it’s just something that the whole family agreed on very quickly.
‘It’s something that’s a bit different, but that was Roman to a tee.
‘It’s lovely to know that we’ve been able to lay him to rest in the way that he would have wanted.’
People waiting to enter the funeral of Roman Parsons, who came dressed as Spiderman, Captain America and various comic book characters