- “Russo's always have each other's backs.”
- ―Roman
Roman Laritate Russo[1] is one of the main characters in the Disney Channel Original Series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. He is the oldest son of Giada and Justin Russo. He is Milo Russo's older brother. He is the paternal cousin of Billie, the daughter of Alex Russo and Damian Pennwolf.
Background[]
Personality[]
According to Alkaio Thiele in an interview revealed that Roman Russo is "a very rule-follower, very good student, and straight-A's, and he just wants to be exactly like his dad Justin Russo no matter what it takes."[2]
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Roman Russo was born sometime in the 2010s to Giada and Justin Russo in the United States.
Season 1[]
In "Everything is Not What it Seems", Roman asks his parents for his own room as he doesn't want to share a bedroom with his brother Milo, who still believes in monsters. On Justin's 34th birthday, Roman and Milo are introduced to a girl named Billie, who reveals she is a wizard and is invited to stay and live with the Russo family. Roman and Milo also learn that Justin is a wizard as well, when Billie accidentally reveals it to them, while Giada, their mother, has no idea.
However in "Mortal Vibes Only", the secret of Justin's background is revealed to Giada, who witnesses her husband using magic when Billie accidentally makes parts of Roman and Milo's bodies disappear. In "Saved by the Spell", Roman becomes annoyed at Billie when she goes to school for the first time and befriends his bets friend, Winter, and uses magic to make Winter her friend. Out of spite, Roman takes Billie's wand but a fantomous is set lose at school as it is after Billie, and goes after Roman, who is possessed until the creature is captured.
In "Something Wizard This Way Comes", it is Halloween night and while Billie is excited about her first Halloween in the mortal world, Roman becomes worried when she tells him about the legend of Pumpkin Belly, which is revealed to be real when Winter brings the creature from the wizard world to cheer Billie up as she misses how things are back home. However, the three get eaten by Pumpkin Belly and use Roman's mintoids and diet soda to be released. In "Wizards Just Wand to Have Fun", Roman and Winter are worried about kickball in gym so he orders a muscle shirt from a wizard site that gives him stronger abilities and makes his popular, until she is able to remove the magical item from him.
In "The Legend of Creepy Follow", Roman is used as bait when Billie uses magic to gain followers on the school website. After she tries to get the followers to leave her alone, she uses a spell on Roman to get him to follow him on the app, which backfires when they start attacking him. However, Roman uses this to his advantage to get his followers to sign a petition he has been trying to get them to sign for a while. In "We're Gonna Need A Bigger Float", Roman hires kids to help him build a float for the upcoming parade but they all quit due to his attitude, leaving Roman to ask Billie for help. She uses magic to make the float actually fly and he wins the contest.
In "You Can't Handle the Tooth!", Roman becomes annoyed when Milo wants to build a play house and Justin helps by using magic to build it, since Billie accidentally removed his wisdom, making him act irresponsibly. The brothers can't agree on design and argue until Roman learns Milo wanted to have the playhouse for them to share and hang out, as he wanted somewhere for the two of them since Billie has the Russo Lair.
In "Wiz-Taken Identity", Roman is given Billie's powers for an hour so he can pass her wizard exam. He is able to successfully perform a spell for Bigelow McFigglehorn, but she is revealed to be an inposter when the real one turns up to test Billie. The fake reveals herself as Morphia Murkshadow who has been sent to capture Billie and captures the whole Russo family. While Roman tries to use magic, the power glass runs out and Billie is given her magic back, so she is able to defeat Murkshadow, which impresses McFigglehorn.
In "Ain't Gnome Party Like a Wizard Party", When Billie throws a house party, Roman falls for one of the guests, Iggy, who is a pixie. The two find they have a lot in common and spend time together, but the party ends before he can get her number. Then in "Potions Eleven", Roman and Billie are grounded by Justin for using magic at school, so they decide to go into his mind to see if he ever used magic irresponsibly at their age. They discover Justin was framed by Alistair Goodspeed for the unicorn incident. Roman comes worried that his dad is keeping secrets from him but they are able to help Justin remember he was framed.
In "Battle of the Wands", Roman goes to the wizard world with Billie and Winter because he wants to know if Iggy likes him back. He searches the battle of the wands area and is told by a wizard about alternate futures where he runs into Iggy. The kids are busted by Justin but not before Roman finds Iggy and learns she returns his feelings for her. Then in "There's Something About the Russos", Roman secretly goes on his first date with Iggy but keeps it a secret from his parents, especially Giada, as he knew she would react a certain way.
In "Ready Player Wand", it is Russo family game night and Roman is excited for being "game master" like every other time the family plays together. It is explained that he is known by this because he always wins against the others, but Billie is determined to beat him in her first family game night. She finds a wizard game, which turns the Russo Residence into the game board and it is revealed Roman is terrified of spiders, which he tries to conquour when the others are trapped by a giant spider. In "Quest Birthday Ever!", it is Billie's 13th birthday and she is sent on a quest as part of the tradition all wizards must do on their 13th birthday. While Justin and Giada set up for the party, Roman and Milo are accidentally sucked into the same portal that Billie goes into when she thinks it is part of the quest Justin set up for her. However, the boys find her surrounded by fire and help her cross after seeing the pattern is similar to their video game. They offer to help her with the rest of the quest but almost fall off a cliff until Justin rescues them and Billie realises this quest wasn't the one Justin created for her.
In "While You Were Sleepcasting", Roman and Milo join Justin for guys night while Billie and Winter have a sleepover with an 8th grader. Justin takes his sons to the wizard world where they play pranks on a centar. Then in "Abraca-Disaster!", Roman is excited about his first day on the school newspaper but spots Billie using magic on Winter's magic trick so spends time having to delete photos so the Russo family are not outed as wizards. In "Hit Me With Your Best Bot", Roman and Winter are competing in the robot battle at school, but won't include Billie because the robot is "their thing". Billie enters the contest with Milo and uses magic to create it, much to Roman and Winter's annoyance because she cheated to create it. The robot Billie and Milo built destroys Roman and Winter's robot and the others in the contest, before starting to destroy the gym. The four work together to make a new robot and are successful in destroying the original.
In "Raiders of the Locked Archive", the family goes to the wizard world because Justin is being considered for a position on the tribunal and Billie wants to sneak off to find out more about the amulet she took during her birthday quest. Roman and Milo join Billie and sneak off to the archive room so she can find out about the prophecy, but are caught by the security guard. Milo is magically turned taller to trick the guard while Billie learns about her prophecy. However, the three are captured by the guard until they are rescued by Justin, who is given a position in the tribunal.
In "When You Wish Upon a Squonk", the kids have a snow day because of the blizzard and their grandparents come to visit to support Justin on his first day at the tribunal. However, problems arry when a creature known as sponk arrives and causes trouble after Bella Bianki lets it free and is revealed to have caused the blizzard before her memories are erased. When Jerry and Theresa leave, Roman and Milo lean that Billie left as she is worried she is putting the family in danger and Roman follows Billie into the wizard world without their parents' consent. Justin and Giada then figure out Billie opened a portal and Roman followed her, but they have no idea where the kids have gone. In "Nigh is Now!", immediately after Justin and Giada learn their kids are missing, Alex turns up and discovers Roman and Billie are missing. While in the wizard world, Roman catches up with Billie and tries to convince her to return home even though she claims she is not a Russo. However, they are captured by Silas Evilini, the son of Dr. Evilini, and has been after Billie the whole time. When the family is in danger, Roman is struck by the power of a device Silas is using to steal Billie's magic. This device suddenly gives Roman and Milo powers as they were both struck by the chamber and together with Billie, they are able to trap Silas in the amulet where his mother is also trapped. Later that day, Roman and Milo are visited by Bigelow McFigglehorn, who gives the brothers their own wands as she is now aware that they have gained powers. With this new revelation, Justin learns he must now train Roman, Milo and Billie, who now considers herself a Russo, for their eventual wizard competition.
Season 2[]
In "Curse Me Baby One More Time", Roman is excelling with his wizard lessons like Justin did years ago. This causes Billie to become jealous and try to find a way to beat Roman in any way she can. Billie uses a spell that backfires and turns Roman into a baby, which means others can't understand what he is saying. Justin and Giada soon figure out what happened to Roman, but things get worse when he is accidentally turned into an old man before restored back to his original age. Billie and Roman make up and he comments that he thinks of her as his sister as they embrace.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Roman has the same first and last name initials as his paternal great-grandmother Rose Russo.
- Roman has alliterative initials for only his first and last name initials.
- Roman shares the same desires as Justin did as a teenager and is very much like his father in personality.
- Roman is Justin Russo's mini me.
- Roman shares a bedroom with his younger brother Milo Russo where they share a bunkbed. Roman sleeps on the bottom bunk.
- In "Saved by the Spell", it was revealed that everyday Roman has lunch in his father Justin Russo's office with his best friend Winter.
- In "Ain't Gnome Party Like a Wizard Party", Roman tells Iggy that his friends call him "Rome" ironic enough the name Roman means "From Rome" in Latin as in like Rome the capital of Italy and both his parents are part Italian.
- In the same episode he mentioned that his mom picked his name.
- In "Quest Birthday Ever!", it was revealed that Roman has a fear of spiders.
- Ironically enough, Alkaio Thiele voices Spidey in Spidey and his Amazing Friends.
- In "Nigh is Now!", Roman gets his full wizard powers on the same day as his younger brother Milo Russo.
- Roman is one of the four characters to appear in every episode of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place so far, along with Billie, Giada Russo, and Justin Russo.
- The episode "Wiz-Taken Identity" establishes that Roman and Milo do not have powers until the season one finale because the magic in the family skipped a generation.
- Roman is revealed to be 14 years old in "Ooze!...I Did It Again", making him 2-3 years older than his brother Milo, who is said to be 10 years old in season 1.
- In Howdy with a Trance of Gumballs, it was revealed that Roman's middle name is "Laritate" after his father Justin Russo's childhood Principal Hershel Laritate. Originally Roman's father Justin Russo wanted Roman's first name to be "Laritate" after Hershel Laritate's last name but it ended up being chosen as Roman's middle name instead.
References[]
External links[]
