An MCU heavyweight’s unexpected Disney Plus return is destined to disappoint after raising expectations way too high

I Am Groot came in under the radar last year, but those that saw these delightful little animated shorts were in for a good time. The second season will land on Disney Plus in September and we got a taste of the adorable hijinks coming our way in a new trailer that landed earlier this week.

Baby Groot’s adventures are small-scale in every sense of the word, though there’s one eyebrow-raising addition coming our way. Jeffrey Wright’s The Watcher, who made his MCU debut in What If…? is returning to deliver some more sonorous proclamations about the nature of reality and whatnot.

It’s unclear as to how the antics of a pint-sized plant boy will intersect with an immortal all-powerful and multiverse-spanning deity, though some fans are clearly hoping for cosmic intervention. Over on r/Marvel_Studios the theory is that this could tease the Fantastic Four, perhaps with even MCU debut of the Silver Surfer!

Replies tamp down this wild and optimistic enthusiasm, with the top-voted comment saying they expect merely “some funny narration and mayhaps a 4th wall break”. That’s our bet too and if The Watcher is going to set anything up for the future it’s far more likely to be What If…? season two than anything else.

So revise those expectations down and appreciate I Am Groot for what it is: a very light-hearted set of slapstick shorts focused on cute mayhem with the lowest of stakes. After all, the rest of the MCU can be concerned with attacks on the fabric of reality, let’s just let Baby Groot get his ice cream.