James Gunn Confirms Groot Died in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and Is Different Character From the Baby Groot

Fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise recall the story arc of the beloved tree-like character Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, who we first met in the debut film.

Groot single-handedly secured the lives of his new friends when they went up against the villainous Accuser (Lee Pace). As their ship plummeted to the surface of a nearby planet, Groot sprouted extra limbs and leaves and wrapped them around his friends.

When the starship crashed, Groot's plan to protect them saved everyone from death, but he burned up in the process, giving his life to the cause.

Luckily, Rocket was able to salvage one of Groot’s seeds and plant it in a flowerpot. This gave life to the character Baby Groot, who, through the GOTG franchise, as well as the Avengers films, we saw grow into a sullen teen Groot, and eventually the adult we knew and loved from the first film.

But it turns out that transformation wasn’t exactly what we thought it was. Though he looked the same, and went by the same name, it turns out the adult Groot we know now, last seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is NOT the same as the one in the first film.

Director James Gunn revealed in the audio commentary for Vol. 3, now available on Disney+, that the first Groot actually only appeared in one film. Gunn explained:

"Here we see Groot reconstituting himself. He's growing back throughout the movie. Groot, of course, is now Young-Adult Groot. Sometimes we call him 'Swole Groot.'

He is Baby Groot, uh, in a youthful adult state. And I think we start to see here really that this Groot is not the same Groot from the first movie.

Many people believe that the first Groot was just reborn in this new shape. Um, that is not the case. This is a totally different Groot than the first Groot."

Gunn then implied that he had written a complicated backstory for Groot, and had solid storytelling reasons for replacing Groot with an exact duplicate. In Marvel comics, Groot first appeared in 1960, although the version from Gunn's film was extrapolated from a 2006 reinvention of the character.

Gunn continued, saying:

"The first Groot sacrificed himself and died and gave birth to this Groot who is not a genetic replica of the first Groot. I have reasons in my mind why I think that's the case. I have a whole background for the character, but it is probably not ever going to be shared. But he is a different Groot."

Gunn never creates any character in a half-assed manor. They all have backstories, many, in the case of the Guardians, a tragic one.

He did a great justice to these characters, and I can’t wait to see what he does with Superman and his other ventures over at DC.

via: /Film