One of the MCU’s most entertaining characters, Rocket Raccoon’s vivacious presence has lent a fun aspect to numerous films and comic books. Even though he seems to be having a good time, he has not exactly had an easy life and actually has a terrible past that has not been explored in any of the movies.
Rocket Raccoon was a character created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen who originally appeared in the Incredible Hulk comics in 1982. Since then, he has appeared in a number of comic books and films, most notably the Guardians of the Galaxy. Let us today investigate his tragic past, which has frequently gone unnoticed because of his entertaining presence in the MCU.
The lesser-known backstory of the furry pint-sized fighter
Since most of his sequences in the Guardians of the Galaxy film centered on his interactions with Groot or the other Guardians, Rocket Raccoon’s origins have never actually been fully addressed. Rocket Raccoon, however, lived a horrible past as a genetically altered creature made by robots on the planet “Halfworld” before becoming a Guardian.
These robots first served as the planet’s caregivers for a large population of mentally ill humans, but they ultimately became weary of this duty and desired to travel to the planet’s other side. Against their will, they genetically modified animals like raccoons to turn them into cyborg humanoids, and then they gave them the responsibility of caring for these mentally ill patients.
One of these creatures was the Rocket Raccoon, also known as “89P13,” which was frequently the target of genetic research and physical improvement. These robots tortured him because they wanted to be sure they had produced an intelligent sentient human. The robots then went to use the remaining resources on the planet, leaving Rocket Raccoon and the other animals to take care of the patients.
Though the comics haven’t fully revealed his past, filmmaker ‘James Gunn’ who made The Guardians of the Galaxy movies, hinted that there is a lot more to his tragic past than just being abandoned by the robots. Rocket Raccoon’s life was full of various hurdles and traumatic events, which can be seen even in the first ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film.
In the movie, Rocket Raccoon appears to be still quite shaken up by his past and often comes off as aggressive or violent. However, this behavior is just a trauma response after being genetically modified against his will and forced to be a caretaker to Halfworld’s mentally ill patients. As a result, Rocket Raccoon is quite cynical and has a hard time trusting people and connecting with the Guardians initially. Rocket also worked as a bounty hunter and had a long history of crimes before joining the Guardians.
Rocket Racoon’s character is quite the prankster, often stealing other beings’ cybernetic body parts as a practical joke. However, there could be more to this than just a prank since he is quite obsessed with getting his hands on anything related to cybernetics. This could be a trauma response to his past, and his own cybernetic enhancements have caused him to have a fixation on all sorts of cybernetics.
Another explanation is that he feels incomplete in his new body and wants others to experience this same sense of incompleteness by stealing away their body parts. Though he does not actively intend to make others feel like this, Rocket Raccoon subconsciously projects his feelings on others. In this way, he tries to cope with his sense of incompleteness by making others feel the same.
Yet another reason behind him stealing others’ cybernetic body parts could be that he is trying to build himself a new robotic body. Rocket Raccoon is often insecure about his species and gets quite defensive when someone makes a joke at the expense of him being a raccoon. Therefore, it is plausible that he is collecting body parts to build himself a new robotic body and leave behind his raccoon origins.
Rocket Raccoon is a light-hearted comedy element in MCU
Rocket Raccoon abandoned his post as a caretaker on Halfworld planet after years of abuse, and he decided to become a mercenary by the name of ‘Rocket’. Rocket was wanted by the Nova Corps for many crimes such as theft, arson, mercenary killings, and escape from prisons, and he was quite a notorious criminal in the galaxy. On one of his adventures, he met Groot on Planet X, and the two traveled together to the space station known as ‘Hub’ in order to buy more fuel for their vehicle.
However, they did not have any money and then took up a job for the crime lord ‘Scraggot.’ Scraggot sent them to retrieve a package from a secure facility known as ‘Uptown’ in exchange for a thousand’ credits,’ which was the currency used in the galaxy. They managed to retrieve the package but then realized that it consisted of a family of snail-like ‘Scalluscs.’ Scraggot intended to harvest them for their shells, and Rocket and Groot fought Scraggot’s men and finally freed these Scalluscs.
Groot and Rocket then traveled to ‘Xandar’, looking for wanted beings with a bounty on their heads. Here, Rocket’s device points towards ‘Peter Quill’ who was wanted for forty thousand credits. Rocket and Groot decide to capture him while he is in the middle of setting up a deal with ‘Broker’ to sell ‘The Orb.’ While Peter needed to sell this Orb that was the containment unit for the ‘Power Stone,’ Gamora wished to get her hands on it. However, just as Gamora tries to steal the Orb, Rocket tackles her to the ground, and their plan goes astray.
Rocket asks Groot to capture Peter, also known as Star Lord, while Gamora bites his hand. Gamora then fights against Peter, but he defeats her and then celebrates his victory over Gamora. However, his happiness is short-lived as Groot finally captures him. After quite some commotion, the Nova Corps showed up and detained all four of them at the ‘Kyln’ prison.
Rocket is quite annoyed to be back behind bars again and then soon starts bragging about having escaped twenty-two prisons. Peter Quill then asks Gamora about her intentions regarding the Orb, and she reveals that she was sent to retrieve it for ‘Ronan, the Accuser.’ However, she intends to betray him and sell the Orb to someone else. One of the inmates, ‘Drax, the Destroyer’, tries to attack Gamora, but Quill convinces him to go after Ronan instead.
Quill then tells Gamora he knows someone she can sell the Orb to, and Rocket joins their conversation. Rocket then makes a deal with Quill and Gamora and tells them that he can break them out of prison if Gamora splits the profits of the Orb with them.
Rocket then comes up with a plan that requires stealing one of the inmate’s prosthetic legs and a guard’s control device. Later on, we discover that he wanted the prosthetic leg just for his own fun and that he did not have any serious use for it. Gamora, Quill, and Groot follow Rocket’s plan, and they also get some help from Drax.
Rocket then uses his skills to switch off the prison’s artificial gravity and takes control over the Klyn Hoverbots that are a part of the prison’s security system. Finally, they escape the prison on Star Lord’s ‘Milano’ spaceship and Rocket immediately starts ripping off bits of the spaceship to develop high-tech weapons. Star Lord tries to get Rocket and the others to co-operate and work as a group, and he announces that no one is allowed to kill anyone on his ship.
The group arrives on ‘Knowhere’ to sell the Orb, and Rocket then gets into a fight with Drax after getting a little drunk in a bar. He accuses Drax of making fun of him and seeing him as a monster, and Peter Quill finally intervenes and tells Rocket to put up with Drax for just another night before they can all get rich and go their separate ways.
Finally, the group is summoned by a buyer known as ‘Tivan,’ who reveals that the Orb consists of the Power Stone. However, while Tivan gets the money to pay the Guardians, his assistant ‘Carina’ is sick of working for him, and she blows the place up with the Power Stone.
The Guardians then dejectedly leave the place when Rocket notices that Gamora managed to catch the Stone. She decides to hand over the Stone to the Nova Corps, while Rocket suggests that she should hand over the Stone to ‘Ronan, the Accuser.’ Things go south at this point when Ronan and Nebula themselves arrive on Knowhere to attack Gamora and get the Orb. Eventually, it so happens that Gamora and Peter are captured due to Drax’s loss of control while dealing with Ronan. Ronan has also managed to get his hands on the Power Stone, and his next mission is to destroy the planet of Xandar.
Rocket and Drax once again get into a fight, and he wishes to leave and go to the farthest parts of the galaxy before Ronan can locate them. However, Rocket eventually realizes that he must help Quill and Gamora, and he works with Drax to free them. Rocket hands him a weapon known as ‘Hadron Enforcer’ and tells him to aim it at the outlaws while he threatens them to release Quill and Gamora.
Rocket then works with the Guardians to protect Xandar from being destroyed by ‘Ronan, the Accuser.’ Rocket comes up with a plan, and the group works with the Nova Corps and ‘Yondu Udonta’ to enter Ronan’s ship. They intend to kill Ronan in his chambers, but Ronan decides to use the power stone at the last minute. Rocket impulsively decides to crash their ship ‘Milano’ into Ronan’s ship before he can use the Stone.
This severely damages both their ships, while Ronan’s use of the power stone causes both their ships to fall on the city below them. The impact causes Rocket to fall unconscious, but he soon regains consciousness and realizes that Groot is creating a sphere of branches to protect Rocket from the impact of the fall. While saving Rocket’s life, Groot dies in the crash, and Rocket only recovers a twig from his body. Rocket is then determined to kill Ronan, who is giving a speech on how he will destroy Xandar. While Star Lord distracts Ronan, Rocket picks up his ‘Hadron Enforcer’ and blasts the ‘Power Stone;’ out of Ronan’s grasp.
Quill gets his hands on the Stone, and its energy spreads across its body and almost kills him. Gamora, Drax and Rocket then joined hands with Quill, thereby sharing the energy load and reversing the Stone’s power. Quill then gains control over the Stone and uses some of its energy to kill Ronan, after which Gamora secures the Stone inside the containment orb.
At the end of this journey, Rocket sits quietly as he holds Groot’s remaining twigs and bursts into tears as he mourns his friend’s death. Drax comforts Rocket, and the raccoon initially flinches at the touch but then finds some comfort among his new friends.
He then officially joins the Guardians of the Galaxy and even learns that Peter Quill’s father was half-alien which is why he could control the Infinity Stone to some extent. Rocket also places Groot’s twigs in a pot, and Groot once again begins to grow from this potted plant.
Rocket then worked on many missions along with the Guardians as they traveled from the planets of Sovereign to Berhert and came across many intergalactic beings such as Taserface, and Ecletor. They also had a long history with Yondu Udonta. Rocket once also had to rescue Peter Quill on the planet of ‘Ego’, and Rocket worked with Groot to destroy this planet as well.
Rocket also later appeared during the Infinity War crisis, when the Guardians take Thor on board their ship ‘Benetar.’ Thor informs the Guardians that Thanos has gotten his hands on the Power and Space Stone. He also asks the Guardian to accompany him to ‘Nidavellier’ where he can get a new weapon. Rocket then helped Thor and ‘Eitri’ to forge the ‘Stormbreaker’ for Thor.
Later on, Rocket made an appearance during the battle of Wakanda. He even witnessed Thanos’s Snap, and watched Groot disintegrate into dust right before his eyes. Later, he was a part of the team that traveled to ‘Garden’, a planet where Thanos lived after the Infinity War. Here, it was Rocket who gets his hands on Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet and realizes that the stones are missing. Finally, Thanos reveals that he destroyed the stones, and the group returns to Earth after losing to Thanos again.
Rocket then aided the Avengers when they found a way to restore the victims of the Snap, and even visited New Asgard to convince Thor to rejoin the Avengers.
After the Battle of Earth, Rocket was reunited with Groot as they successfully resurrected the victims of the Snap. Once again, the Guardians of the Galaxy were reunited, and this time, Thor also became a part of their group.
He has been an integral part of Marvel animated universe
Rocket Raccoon has appeared in many MCU shows and movies and has a widespread presence across the universe.
He makes an appearance in one of the episodes of the ‘Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ series, where Greg Ellis voiced his character. He also appears in other animated series such as ‘Avengers Assemble,’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ and many more. In most of these shows, Rocket Raccoon makes a cameo as a member of the Guardian of the Galaxy as he joins forces with other superheroes to overcome a crisis.
Rocket Raccoon appeared in the ‘Rocket and Groot’ animated shorts, where he was voiced by Trevor Devall. The shorts explored Rocket Raccoon and Groot’s adventures from the comics. He also appeared in the ‘Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.’ animated series, where he was voiced by Seth Green.
Besides appearing in the Marvel animated universe, Rocket Raccoon has also been a part of many MCU movies. He is most famously known for the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies, where he was voiced by Bradley Cooper.
The unique powers of Rocket Raccoon
Rocket Raccoon was essentially a cybernetically engineered creature, and his body was enhanced to have a cybernetic bone structure, genetically augmented cerebral cortex, and enhanced phalange, among other things. Though he is a raccoon, he can converse with other beings, walk like humans, and be considered a humanoid.
After his bodily enhancements, Rocket Raccoon gained superhuman strength and agility. He was strong enough to even fight Gamora, and he once tackled her to the ground when she tried to kill Star-Lord. As a result of his cybernetic structure, Rocket Raccoon’s body was much more durable than other animals his size, and he could withstand most attacks without being severely injured. He had enhanced reflexes that made it easy for him to act fast in dangerous situations. His sense organs were also much more developed than other raccoons, and he could see, smell and hear better than them. This helped him detect enemies from afar and gave him some extra time to warn his allies and prepare for an attack.
Most importantly, Rocket Raccoon had a genetically enhanced cerebral cortex that made him a highly intelligent being. His cognitive abilities were superior to most beings in the galaxy, and he had no trouble carrying out complex tasks or understanding difficult situations. His advanced intellect also gives him the ability to communicate with any species in the universe, and he can also understand what Groot is saying. He can also pilot spacecrafts and come up with quick defense strategies while under attack.
He claims to have escaped twenty prisons in his lifetime and is a master tactician who can devise escape plans even with the most minimal resources. Moreover, he is a skilled engineer who can easily construct high-tech weapons and equipment. He is very intellectual, and even Thor once referred to Rocket Raccoon as the most intelligent member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rocket Raccoon is skilled in combat and can defeat his opponents with his bare paws. Though he is a tiny being, his punches can even knock his opponents out. Additionally, he is a skilled marksman with very high precision while aiming his weapons. He once managed to shoot Quill with a non-lethal bullet while Quill was running away, and Rocket Raccoon has also shot down many drones while they were flying. He can wield many weapons but prefers to use high-powered artillery.
Conclusion
To sum it up, Rocket Raccoon is one of the most exciting side characters of the MCU. He has lived quite an adventurous life and is a lively character with a rich life story and a lot of potential. Though the movies have not focused on his past life and tragic origins, there is still time, and we can hope for more of his character in the upcoming MCU movies!