Groot is dead; long live Baby Groot!
That’s the news coming out of James Gunn’s lively Twitter feed this evening, after the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker weighed in on a debate concerning Baby Groot and the Porgs of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars universe.
And as is often the case, the Twitter exchange has taken on a life of its own, leading to the somewhat surprising revelation that Groot is no more, and that wide-eyed little sprout running around Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is actually his sole surviving son. We have so many questions.
Thankfully, James Gunn is always on-hand to answer as many queries as he possibly can, beginning with the big one: did Baby Groot inherit the memories of his papa?
As for what the future holds for those spacefaring A-holes, a third Guardians movie is in the pipeline, and it’ll presumably be with us in 2020 – just before the untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, barring any unforeseen change in circumstances.
In the eyes of James Gunn, it’s also “very different” to its cosmic predecessors, which isn’t all that surprising to hear when you consider that it’s due to arrive long after Avengers 4, by which point that Marvel Cinematic Universe will be drastically different to the one we know and love.
10 years is a lifetime in the film industry, after all, and we’ve watched enthused newcomers come into the MCU and be transformed into bona fide A-listers (see: Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Scarlett Johansson). For Baby Groot, he has some mighty big shoes (roots?) to fill if he’s to live up to the legacy of his father, who so heroically sacrificed himself to save his fellow Guardians.
And we’ll be able to gauge Groot 2.0’s journey through adolescence when Avengers: Infinity War sees the light of day on May 4th.
