James Gunn Mulled Over Making A Rocket And Groot Centered Guardians Of The Galaxy
Did you know that James Gunn almost made a "Rocket and Groot" spin-off movie? Well, it was something on his mind while he was developing his "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy because he knew that it was important to focus on Rocket at some point and tell his incredibly sad backstory, but the first few films demanded a different focus.
In an interview with i09's Germain Lussier, Gunn said another Guardian needed to have his story told before Rocket could get his time to shine.
"I always thought it was a third movie thing because I thought we had to tell Peter Quill's story first and then get into Rocket's story. I think the only question was, was it going to be a Rocket and Groot movie or was it going to be 'Guardians 2' because initially I was going to do it as Rocket and Groot."
The idea of a Rocket & Groot solo movie is interesting, but I think Gunn ended up choosing the right path by nixing that idea in favor of making it the third film of the trilogy. At the end of the day, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films are about family (biological and found), and with that being such a central part of Rocket's backstory it's only right that the whole team is there for his journey.
Rocket's sad story goes back to the very first 'Guardians' film
Interestingly enough, Rocket's backstory was the very first thing Gunn came up with even before he formally took on the first "Guardians of the Galaxy." When he first considered the project he was unsure how he could make a movie with a talking raccoon work in the MCU. "This could be like Bugs Bunny in the middle of 'The Avengers'," Gunn said.
The solve for this problem was to make Rocket "the saddest creature in the galaxy," so he knew from the very first moment that Rocket's life was more of a tragedy than a comedy and he considers that the seed of the entire "Guardians" trilogy (and also the reason why he knew he had to come back and finish it out).
"That was my way into it, was this underpinning of just isolation and sadness and all of these characters are isolated and sad. So I knew what Rocket's backstory was from that moment; before I had come up with the rest of that stuff for Volume 1, it was the first thing I came up with."
What we love about these characters is that they're all broken in their own way, in search of love and acceptance, and they find that in each other. We recognize that as fundamentally human and oddly hopeful. If these a-holes can find happiness, maybe we can, too.