In 1938 Los Angeles, Cliff Secord, a local racing pilot and barnstormer, discovers a mysterious package hidden by two gangsters, who were fleeing the police. In that package Cliff finds what the police were looking for: a stolen rocket-pack prototype.

The Rocketeer makes a great number of references to pop culture from the 1930s to the 1950s. The first storyline, "The Rocketeer" features characters from the Doc Savage pulp series, though Stevens takes care not to refer to any of the characters — including Doc Savage himself — by name, so as not to violate copyright and incur a licensing fee for use of the characters. "Cliff's New York Adventure" similarly features unnamed characters from The Shadow pulp magazine series, including the Shadow's famous alter ego, Lamont Cranston.

Besides pulp characters, actors of the 1940s and 1950s have also visually inspired two characters: Lothar, the villain in "Cliff's New York Adventure", is based on the likeness of acromegalic horror movie star Rondo Hatton; and Cliff Secord's girlfriend Betty is modeled after "Queen of Pinups" Bettie Page.

A "Rocket Man" character, with a near-identical rocket backpack and similar uniform, appeared in four Republic Pictures movie serials from 1949 through 1953. The fourth serial, originally conceived as a syndicated Republic TV series, was first released under contractual obligation to movie houses as a regular multi-chapter theatrical serial; two years later, it was re-cut with new footage and additional music added and finally syndicated on NBC television stations as twelve 25-minute episodes.

The four Republic Rocket Man serials were:

• King of the Rocket Men (1949)
• Radar Men from the Moon (1952)
• Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952)
• Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (serial 1953, TV series 1955)

Other influences on the Stevens' character include Buck Rogers, the short-lived comic series Lars of Mars by Jerry Siegel and Murphy Anderson, as well as Adam Strange, also inked by Murphy Anderson.

The Rocketeer's first adventure appeared in 1982 as a backup feature in issues #2 and #3 of Mike Grell's Starslayer series from Pacific Comics. Two more installments appeared in Pacific's showcase comic Pacific Presents. The fourth chapter ended in a cliffhanger that was later concluded in a special Rocketeer issue released by Eclipse Comics. The complete story was then collected by Eclipse in a single volume titled The Rocketeer (ISBN 1-56060-088-8). It was published in three states: a trade paperback edition, a trade hardcover, and a signed, limited edition hardcover. Noted fantasy author Harlan Ellison, a fan of the Rocketeer and also an acquaintance of Dave Stevens, wrote the introduction to the collection; both Dave Stevens and Harlan Ellison signed the limited edition on a specially bound-in bookplate.

The story was continued in the Rocketeer Adventure Magazine. Two issues were published by Comico Comics in 1988 and 1989; the third installment did not appear until years later, published in 1995 by Dark Horse Comics. All three issues were then collected by Dark Horse into a glossy trade paperback titled The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure (ISBN 1-56971-092-9) that quickly went out-of-print.

On February 28, 2009, IDW Publishing announced a hardcover collecting the entire series for the first time, intended to be published in October 2009. Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer, The Complete Adventures contained new coloring by Laura Martin, who had been chosen by Dave Stevens prior to his death. The book appeared in December, two months later than announced, in two versions: A standard trade hardcover edition with full color dust jacket and a second, more lavish, deluxe edition (ISBN 978-1600105371), limited to 3000 hardcover copies. The deluxe edition used different Stevens artwork for its dust jacket and was issued in an illustrated, all color slipcase; it also had full color illustrated endpapers. While the deluxe contains the same Rocketeer comics reprints as the trade edition, it adds more than 130 pages of previously uncollected Rocketeer material: sketches, preliminaries, character designs, script pages, photographs, and original art pages, with commentaries by Dave Stevens and several peers who occasionally assisted him on The Rocketeer. The deluxe edition sold out almost immediately upon publication, but IDW planned a second printing.

IDW debuted the first issue of a brand new Rocketeer comics series, Rocketeer Adventures, in May 2011. Issue #1 featured work from John Cassaday, Mike Allred, Kurt Busiek, and Michael Kaluta, plus pin-ups by Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart, and Jim Silke. The four 2011 issues offered regular and variant cover designs by both Alex Ross and Dave Stevens; various black and white Retailer Incentive variants were also published in limited press runs; several additional variant issues by Jet Pack, featuring recolored Dave Stevens artwork, were also published in limited press runs. To celebrate the launch of this all-new Rocketeer series, IDW's Hundred Penny Press also simultaneously released a $1.00 re-issue of the original The Rocketeer #1 by Dave Stevens, fully remastered and recolored by Eisner-winner Laura Martin. The first four Rocketeer Adventures issues were then collected in 2011 into a hardcover graphic novel, followed by second hardcover graphic novel in 2012 that collected the next four issues: A color Rocketeer title logo was used on the regular retail copies of the graphic novel, plus one additional Retailer Incentive comic shop variant without a title logo and printed on a dust cover; both versions were offered with the same Alex Ross' color artwork.

A second IDW series of Rocketeer adventures, Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, began appearing in 2012, this time as a limited four-issue miniseries. Each IDW issue offered a regular retail cover and one Retailer Incentive cover design. Jet Pack also issued several additional Retailer Incentive variants with Dave Stevens re-colored artwork reprinted on their covers.

A third IDW series of Rocketeer adventures, Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror, began appearing in late February 2013, as another limited four-issue miniseries. As with the previous series, each IDW issue offered a regular retail cover design and one Retailer Incentive cover.

Comics

• The character Gabe from the Penny Arcade webcomic confuses the term racketeering with rocketeering as both a satirical jab at a recent event and a tribute to the Rocketeer character.
• Eric Canete's cover for Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin#1 pays homage to the Rocketeer film's Art Deco-style theatrical poster.
• The webcomic Basic Instructions occasionally features the character "Rocket Hat", who battles the Moon Men, a clear reference to Republic Pictures' original Rocket Man and Commando Cody movie serials that inspired Dave Stevens in creating the Rocketeer.

Computer games

• In the computer game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 the Allied Forces have flying infantry units called the Rocketeers.
• The Capcom video game Dark Void features a jetpack-wielding protagonist and draws heavily from the World War themes of the Rocketeer.

Television

• In the Family Guy episode "420" during the "Bag o' Weed" song, Stewie sings "When stupid people need a thrill, they rent The Rocketeer."

Songs

• The song "Rocketeer" by Foxy Shazam is an homage to the film.
• Far East Movement collaborated with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder for the song "Rocketeer" released in 2010.

Web series

The Rocketeer film was briefly mentioned in the web series Underbelly during their Who is the Best James Bond episode. The series, consisting of Frank Patterson, Shawn Cappel, Newt Wallen, and Justin Silverman, featured Newt Wallen failing to adequately explain how Timothy Dalton was the best James Bond among all the actors who had portrayed the character. Frank, Shawn, and Justin mocked him for choosing Dalton at the last minute. Newt tried, unsuccessfully, to justify his comment by pointing out that Dalton was a good actor in The Rocketeer feature film.

IGN listed the Rocketeer as the 76th Greatest Comic Book Character, stating that the Rocketeer taps into that popular desire to fly; IGN also stated the Rocketeer saga remains a compelling one.