‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ composer shared his favorite character to write for and it’s not Star-Lord

There’s many a superhero theme out there that has become synonymous with the character they were written for – from Hans Zimmer’s booming “Is She With You?” to introduce Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman, to Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman theme. 

Composers in superhero films have a very important role in underscoring the heart and motivations of characters, and for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that responsibility was handed to John Murphy. At the red carpet premiere of the MCU’s next big outing, Murphy was asked by Variety which of the film’s ensemble cast of characters he enjoys writing for most, and he was able to offer up an answer with just a few moments of thought – it’s Rocket.

While the wise-cracking raccoon we’ve gotten to know over the better part of a decade has a lot of surface level humor and outward aggression, we’re yet to dig deep into the root of the character as he exists in the MCU – a challenge which Murphy relished the opportunity to undertake. He tells the publication: 

“I just think there’s so much complexity to him, and there’s so much that isn’t said, and you’ve gotta kind of imagine his story and his journey. And when you have a character like that, where there’s so many questions, it gives you a lot of latitude with the music. So you can hint at things that, you know, sets them up later. So, you know, he’s a big deep well – Rocket’s a deep well. There’s a lot to choose from using him.”

Of course, it’s been heavily alluded to that the GotG threequel will be digging deep into Rocket’s tragic history with the High Evolutionary, so there’ll undoubtedly be plenty of plot-related heartstrings that Murphy can pull at in the upcoming release. We can’t wait.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be the last hurrah for the space-faring team, and it lands in theaters in about a week’s time on May 5, 2023.