One of the biggest surprises out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beyond simply creating an entire world of interconnected characters and franchises, was that it made a D-list superhero team like the Guardians of the Galaxy into household names. Though characters like Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Star-Lord have been flying through the pages of Marvel comics for decades, they didn’t become favorites until they launched on the big screen. A major element of the appeal of this team was James Gunn’s take on the material as the writer/director for all three movies, as well as the stars who embodied these characters on screen.
Speaking about his time in the MCU on the latest episode of The Brandon Davis Show, actor Sean Gunn (brother of James) was asked about his time performing as Rocket on set, acting as the motion reference for the character, where he crouched down and walked about before he was recreated in CGI (and voiced by Bradley Cooper). Gunn confirmed the answer everyone wanted to know: Yes, it hurts, but it wasn’t his knees that suffered, more his feet and ankles. He then used that as a chance to confirm his future, revealing: “Over the years, it has had a little bit of an effect on my physiology. My knees are fine. But I am, since I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I am retired from playing Rocket. Not that they’ve called, but if they did, I don’t think I could do the motion reference anymore for Rocket. I think I’m too old.”
Gunn confirming that he’s done playing Rocket on the set of Marvel movies is a pretty distinct change from how the character has been brought to life for years now. In addition to providing the on-set motion capture for Rocket in all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Gunn performed the same duties for Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and even Thor: Love and Thunder. This makes Gunn’s note that “they haven’t called,” meaning Marvel, pretty interesting.
As fans may recall, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 concluded with two pretty specific sequel teases for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first was a more overt one, with Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill returning to Earth, reuniting with his grandfather, and a title card that confirmed “The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return.” Before that, though, an all-new Guardians of the Galaxy team was formed, with Groot, Kraglin, Cosmo, Adam, and Phyla all being led by Rocket.
Gunn confirming that Marvel “haven’t called” about him playing the character in the future certainly paints a grim picture about the prospects of seeing Rocket Raccoon in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday or even Avengers: Secret Wars, but as he points out, maybe his retirement could just get Marvel started in hiring someone else. When it was pointed out that his retirement was good for his legs, Gunn added, “Well, and also give a younger actor a shot at it, right?”
Marvel fans are expecting at least some characters to get recast and changed out after Avengers: Secret Wars as the MCU reaches a “soft-reset” era, one that seems mostly primed to bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four into a unified Earth where they can appear alongside the Avengers, Spider-Man, and more. To that end, a fresh start for the Guardians may also be in the cards, at least on set. It’s worth noting that Gunn only said he’s retired from acting as the on-set Rocket, so he could very well still return as his other Guardians character, Kraglin.
