Spoilers forAvengers: Infinity Warfollow below.
WhenGuardians of the Galaxyfirst hit theaters, fans were delighted by the new character of Groot, who only spoke the same three words over and over again: “I am Groot.” But writer/directorJames Gunnwas quick to point out that not only does Groot have his own language (that Rocket Raccoon clearly understood), but when he writes the scripts for theGuardiansmovies, he translates Grootspeak into actual lines.
The same was true ofAvengers: Infinity War, in which Groot had an admittedly small but vital role. For most of his screentime, Adolescent Groot cares not one bit about what’s going on in the world around him and instead is addicted to playing some kind of mobile gaming device. He does, however, spark up when Thor is in trouble, cutting off his own arm to make a handle for Thor’s new weapon.
And then, devastatingly, Groot falls prey to the Thanos Snap and is one of the many MCU characters to disappear into dust, uttering, “I am Groot” to Rocket as he fades away. Well because he’s an emotional terrorist, James Gunn took to Twitter to reveal exactly what Groot was saying with that final line and, uh, prepare yourself:
Heartbreaking, right?Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2brought Baby Groot to the forefront, and the thematic throughline ofGuardians 2was essentially a parenting story about this mismatched family looking out for this little one. So for Groot to utter, “Dad” to Rocket at the end ofInfinity Waris… man, it’s just a lot.
Gunn had significant input into how the Guardians were portrayed inInfinity War, and there was one major change he suggested that screenwritersStephen McFeelyandChristopher Markusinitially rebuffed. When Thanos takes Gamora in front of the Guardians, Peter Quill reluctantly fulfills his promise of killing her so Thanos can’t take her alive. But in the original script, perBuzzfeed, Quill couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
Both Gunn andChris Prattargued that Quillwouldpull the trigger, and eventually Markus and McFeely became convinced this was the better call—and it also tied into various characters making tough choices throughout the film, like Thanos with Gamora and Wanda with Vision.
It’ll be interesting to see how all of this is resolved inAvengers 4, and one imagines the events of these two films will reverberate significantly in Gunn’s plannedGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which he’s writing now.
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