When Marvel Studios announced they were making a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, some assumed the studio had lost its mind. Sure, Iron Man and Thor weren’t exactly high-profile in the late 2000s, but almost nobody had even heard of Star-Lord, Groot, Gamora and Drax. Hell, the team even has the ridiculous Rocket Raccoon on it, an intergalactic talking raccoon bounty hunter! Who’s going to pay to see that?
Billions of dollars and five bonafide cultural icons later, it’s pretty safe to say that Marvel Studios knew what they were doing and James Gunn’s scrappy, irreverent adaptation has become one of the MCU’s most beloved franchises. Once The Suicide Squad is wrapped up, Gunn will be hard at work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and already, much has been decided on about the film, as we know that Gunn’s had an ending in mind for a while and that a script has been worked on since 2018.
Since then, he’s been dropping hints about what’s to come and has just given a big indication that we’re going to learn more about Rocket’s tragic past. During an online watch party for Guardians of the Galaxy, Gunn was asked if we’d get a full explanation of the character’s origins in the third installment, and here’s what he had to say:
I’ll just say Rocket is a big part of what’s happening in the future – and a lot of this stuff (like the scars we’re about to see on his back) sets up what I’ve been planning for Rocket all along.
If Gunn goes with his comic origins, expect a real tear-jerker. Rocket Raccoon was originally engineered as an emotional support animal for medical patients, only for him to be snatched away and tortured with cybernetic experiments. Gunn has been itching to tell Rocket’s story for a long time, too, as he’s the character he most identifies with.
“When you asked me what was saddest for me when I thought it was gone—and anybody at Marvel can tell you—it’s this very strange and attached relationship to Rocket. Rocket is me, he really is, even if that sounds narcissistic. Groot is like my dog. I love Groot in a completely different way. I relate to Rocket and I feel compassion for Rocket, but I also feel like his story has not been completed.
He has an arc that started in the first movie, continued into the second and goes through Infinity War and Endgame, and then I was set to really finish that arc in Guardians 3. That was a big loss to me—not being able to finish that story—though I was comforted by the fact that they were still planning to use my script.”
Unfortunately, we still don’t have a firm release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The current plan is for The Suicide Squad to release in summer 2021 though, so we may see the threequel land in late 2022. But, as I’m sure you’re aware, right now the movie release calendar is subject to change.