- “"The name's Rocket. Rocket Raccoon.”
- ―Rocket to the High Evolutionary
Rocket Raccoon is one of the main protagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He is a genetically-altered raccoon from Earth who was experimented on by the High Evolutionary. Angered at the person he became, Rocket escaped and eventually, became a bounty hunter. He was a member of the Avengers, the current leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the arch-enemy of the High Evolutionary, and the best friend of both Groot and Peter Quill
He is the deuteragonist of the Guardians of the Galaxy film series and a major protagonist in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Background[]
Before becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, Rocket was taken from his family and was enhanced by the High Evolutionary on Counter-Earth. However, the Evolutionary never cared what happened to their experiments afterwards. After years of abuse and repetitive genetic rewrite caused him to rebel. However, his coup failed when the Evolutionary killed the other experiments. Finally escaping, Rocket, developed a vain and chaotic personality, and a need to blow things up because of the High Evolutionary, eventually becoming a gun slinging mercenary.
Rocket's Nova Corps criminal record includes 13 counts of theft, 23 counts of escape from his incarceration, 7 counts of mercenary activity, and 15 counts of arson.
Personality[]
- “I know you act like you're the meanest and the hardest, when really you're the most scared of all! I know you steal batteries you don't need and push away anyone who's willing to put up with you because just a little bit of love reminds you of just how big and empty that hole inside you actually is.”
- ―Yondu describing who Rocket is
Rocket is easily enraged and aggressive. He often gets insecure when people do not treat him as an equal and give him the same respect they would give a common animal. But this wisecracking raccoon is nothing short of lovable. Much like Yondu, his fear and insecurity prompt him to conceal his genuine concern for his friends.
By Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Rocket has also developed Quill's love of music, often playing it while also humming to the songs. This is further shown during their battle with the Abilisk, with Rocket rigging speakers to listen to tunes when they work.
Physical Appearance[]
Rocket is a genetically engineered talking raccoon who wears an orange battle suit. In many aspects he is very much alike a normal raccoon, his body being only subtly different from a regular animal at first glance. Whilst his face is not very different from that of a normal raccoon (albeit perhaps with a greater ability for facial expressiveness), he does however posses a slightly human-like body structure, his legs being longer and oriented to line up with his body more than on a normal raccoon, enhancing his ability to walk upright. His hips and torso also appear to have been restructured to enhance bipedality, and his shoulders and upper arms also appear fairly human-like. These differences are not drastic however, and seem to not greatly compromise his ability to move on all four, as he is shown to be able to do so in the movie. It could perhaps be said that Rocket's body is semi-anthropomorphic in most respects. In addition to being genetically altered, Rocket is shown to have cybernetic implants within his body.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Raccoon Physiology: Rocket possesses the same enhanced abilities attributed to Earth raccoons, including an acute sense of smell and sharp eyesight. A raccoons grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates against cold weather. At first denying it for so long, Rocket finally becomes Rocket Raccoon.
- Enhanced Senses: Being a raccoon many of Rocket's senses are heightened to levels well above human. Able to see much better than the average human and extremely well adapted to near dark conditions. His enhanced sense of smell allows him to detect subtle changes in scents around him enabling him to detect the approach of others and increasing his ability to operate in darkness. With his broad auditory range, he can perceive tones outside the range of the human ear as well as subtle sounds caused by vibrations on the ground. His hyper sensitive paws allow him to identify objects before touching them with vibrissae located above his claws.
Abilities[]
- Expert Marksman: Rocket is well-versed in the use of high-powered firearms, from all over the Galaxy.
- Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist: Rocket is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, being very skilled in multiple fighting styles.
- Master Tactician: Rocket is an accomplished tactician. Star-Lord once told him, "You got the best tactical mind I ever met", both on and off the battlefield. He is able to formulate battle strategies and his brilliant tactical sense allows him to alter any strategy to fit the changing need of the situation.
- Pilot: Rocket is an accomplished starship pilot.
Appearances[]
Guardians of the Galaxy[]
Rocket makes his debut appearance in the 2014 film, Guardians of the Galaxy. He and Groot appear on Xandar, where Rocket spots Peter Quill, a young man who has a large bounty on him by his foster father, Yondu Udonta. Rocket and Groot attempt to kidnap Quill until they are fought by Gamora and arrested by the Nova Corps. The crew is sentenced to the Kyln, a high security prison. During their time there, Rocket threatened most of prisoners at the Kyln that none of them lay their hands on Peter Quill lest they go through them. Rocket also attempted to stop Quill from entering a conflict involving Gamora, who was threatened to being killed by Drax the Destroyer. After saving her, Gamora agreed to split the profits between her, Rocket, Groot and Quill in selling the orb to the Collector. The group are able to escape through Rocket's improvised plans. Rocket also makes a bomb out of parts from the Milano as they go to reach Knowhere.
Finally arriving on the planet, Rocket was with Groot and Drax when they were betting on Orloni. However, the trio entered a major, physical fight. However, Quill calmed Rocket down with the thought of four billion units. Without Drax, Rocket went with Groot, Gamora and Quill while visiting the Collector, where they learn that the content in the orb is the purple Infinity Stone, Power. The Collector's slave, Carina tries to take the stone for herself; however, she is killed and causes an explosion. Groot takes Rocket and runs with him as Quill and Gamora went for cover. Rocket attempted to dissuade Quill and Gamora from giving the Power Stone to Nova Corps. At that time, Ronan the Accuser arrives, as does Quill's adoptive father, Yondu, who attempts to chase after him. However, Rocket joins Gamora and Quill by stealing the miners' mining pods. The trio fight the Sakaarans and Nebula, who shoots down Gamora's pod.
Rocket, despite not wanting to see Gamora suffer, realizes that there is nothing they can do and urges Quill that they have to return to Knowhere, as the pods aren't meant to be out on space. However, Quill is not willing to see Gamora die in space. He goes to her and places his helmet on her head as Rocket yells for Quill to return to his pod, fearing that he will die in seconds. Yondu locates Quill and Gamora and brings them on his ship. Going back to Knowhere, Rocket proceeded in blaming Drax for Quill and Gamora getting kidnapped by the Yondu Ravager Clan. Despite this all, Rocket, Groot and Drax team up to rescue their friends off the Eclector by threatening to drive a wedge in the ship if Yondu didn't hand over their companions. Despite the odds, Rocket soon joins in on Quill's plan on taking the orb back, despite their chances. As Rocket helps the Xandarian pilots and the Ravagers fight Ronan by trying to stop the Dark Aster for landing. Ronan, however, kills the entire fleet. Rocket prevents the Kree maniac from killing his friends by running the M-ship through the ground, which knocks Ronan off his feet but knocks Rocket unconscious.
Quill picks Rocket up and carries him to safety, where Groot forms a cocoon around his teammates. Rocket goes to Groot and asks in desperation why he is doing this. In his final moments, Groot gently reached to Rocket, who was crying, comforting him with "We are Groot." After recovering, Rocket found that Groot had been destroyed, sacrificing himself while protecting his friends. In anger, Rocket attempted to attack Ronan but he had been blasted away from the Power Stone. Quill distracted Ronan with a dance off as Drax and Rocket use what is left of the Hadron Enforcer and blast the Infinity Stone out of Ronan's hammer. Watching Peter take the stone and ripping him slowly apart, Gamora, Drax and Groot join hands with Quill in order to save him and kill Ronan the Accuser. After Ronan's death, Rocket holds a sapling from Groot and begins crying but he is comforted by Drax.
He planted Groot's sapling with Rocket's criminal history expunged. Rocket joined his friends in the cosmos, with his new family and baby Groot reawakening.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2[]
Avengers: Infinity War[]
Avengers: Endgame[]
Rocket is one of the heroes who go through the Quantum Realm in bringing everyone who died in the snap back to life by joining the Avengers. He and Thor go to Asgard, where they successfully extract the Aether (Reality Stone) from Jane Foster's body.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special[]
Relationships[]
Groot[]
Rocket and Groot have been best friends since they met and began a life of crime together. While Rocket was cruel to everyone, he had a soft spot for his best friend and fellow partner. However, Rocket sometimes called Groot "an idiot" (something he later regretted after Groot saved their lives on the Dark Aster.
Peter Quill[]
By the sequel, Rocket and Peter seem to have something of a brother relationship/rivalry, as both of them fought over control of the Milano. However, Rocket appears to have taken the role of being Quill's co-pilot. After Ayesha insulted Star-Lord, Rocket did so as well in retaliation for the way she talked down to Quill. During Yondu's funeral the two of them seemed to have buried the hatchet, as both of them are finally seen not shouting at each other like they did through the whole movie.
At the time of Vol. 3, Rocket has full accepted Star-Lord as his best friend, referring to Quill by his name instead of "Quill" in the other films.
Yondu Udonta[]
Gamora[]
When the two of them first met, Gamora nearly killed Rocket for kidnapping Peter while also trying to steal the Orb back. Rocket knew her as Gamora, the daughter of a genocidal maniac, and stated that everyone knows who everyone is. Both of them were forced to work together when they were tasked to give the Power stone away to Taneleer Tivan, the "Collector". Over time, Rocket saw Gamora (and Peter) as the first real friends he and Groot had. When Gamora was launched out of her pod and into space, Rocket painfully told Peter they had no choice but to leave her floating out in space, knowing that her mods should keep her alive a bit longer. He immediately blamed Drax for getting Quill and Gamora kidnapped by the Ravagers in the first place but later worked together to save their friends from Yondu Udonta.
The two seem to have gotten closer in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and have a brother and sister relationship. When Rocket mercilessly says, "That's what you get when Quill flies," Gamora immediately threw something at him rather than Peter, saying they had to make out of this alive. Gamora did berate the two men for fighting rather than cooperating and stated that nearly one of them could have got them killed. However, Gamora did get mad when Nebula kept calling Rocket a fox.
Drax[]
Gallery[]
.jpg "Avengers Lineup (Endgame).jpg (388 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Rocket is never referred to as Rocket Raccoon once throughout the films and only so in merchandise. The only characters who call him a Raccoon are Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame and Peter Quill in the two Guardians of the Galaxy films.
- The outfit worn by Rocket in Avengers: Endgame resembles his original costume in the comics.
- Lylla being one of Rocket's associates listed in his cirminal file was in reference of his love interest in the comics and a sentinent otter.
- In Endgame, Tony called Rocket "Ratchet," possibly in reference to the video game character of the same name and a stuffed Build-a-bear, in reference of the shop franchise.
- At one point, Quill calls Rocket "Ranger Rick", a reference to the long-running children's nature magazine which features a cartoon raccoon with that name.
- Rocket is ambidextrous, as he is seen handling a gun with two hands in the second movie.
- The language used on Rocket's screen he uses to find bounties is the Skrull alphabet from the comics.
- As of now, Rocket has escaped nearly twenty-three prisons since escaping the Kyln with Groot, Gamora, Peter Quill and Drax the Destroyer.
- While voicing Rocket, Bradley Cooper was incluenced by Joe Pesci's character, Tommy Devito from Goodfellas (released in 1990.
Quotes[]
- "Oh yeah!"
- "Ain't no thing like me, except me!"
- "Breaking out the Guardians, pal."
- "DON'T CALL ME A RACCOON!"
- "OK, who here hasn't been to space? You better not throw up on my ship."
