The playful and irreverent nature of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies can be summed up pretty neatly by the fact that the two biggest stars in the cast don’t even appear on the screen. Vin Diesel is the figurehead of a franchise that’s earned close to $6 billion at the box office and he’s reigned as one of cinema’s marquee action heroes for two decades, while Bradley Cooper is a hugely popular and acclaimed actor with a whole handful of Academy Award nominations under his belt, but both A-listers are restricted to the recording booth.
Of course, Diesel almost played a live-action role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe having flirted with Inhumans‘ Black Bolt before the project was abandoned, but with the Guardians locked in for an appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder, insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that the 53 year-old will finally throw on the motion capture leotard and perform as Groot on set.
According to the tipster, the actor is joining the rest of the ensemble in Australia, where production will kick off early next year, which would indicate that not only has the teenage Groot from Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame evolved into adulthood, but the God of Thunder’s good friend Tree will have a much bigger part in the story than simply dropping by for a brief slice of fan service.
“Vin is on the set of Thor 4 actually playing via mo-cap adult Groot,” says Richtman. “[He] has a huge role in Thor 4 and he’s actually playing adult Groot in person.”
The Asgardians of the Galaxy were one of the highlights of Infinity War and Endgame, so it would be smart for Marvel to capitalize on such a winning dynamic, especially with a filmmaker like Taika Waititi at the helm. Thor: Love and Thunder has already been likened to an Avengers movie in terms of scale as well, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Star-Lord and co. turned out to be major players in the story.