Groot, The Mountain from Planet X, Divine Majesty King Groot the 23rd
Abilities: Can Absorb Wood and Plant Matter to increase regeneration and Strength; can continue to gain strength if he keeps absorbing matter. He can regenerate from one leftover sprig if he is virtually destroyed. His wooden hide is immune to conventional weapons and general uses of fire up to a high degree of temperature.
Occupation: King of Planet X
Powers:Thor / Hulk level Strength, and can control other plant life
Weapons: Usually Unarmed, but has been seen wielding various rifles, guns, and cannons.
Groot, is quite an interesting character for a variety of reasons. He is a genius engineer, massive in size, extremely strong, and is the monarch of his world; however his general patterns of speech due to vocal cords of stiffened wood, prevent him from communicating with other humanoids in normal speech consistently, as he seems to mostly say his name, "I AM GROOT", very often. But his language is derived from the subtlety in how he says the name. So expect a Pokemon-esque performance from Vin Diesel in the film, unless they decide to alter the complexity of his speech. Makes you wonder if Diesel actually knew he was getting a general set of lines. At least Groot is not like this all of the time; Groot does generally have other things to say.
Aside from the way he talks, two of the most interesting aspects of this character are literally his near immortality and his insane level of strength. Groot has died in the comics three different times, or was believed to have died, only to end up regenerating completely!
What's more interesting about Groot is literally the character he started out as, and the character he became known for now. I can actually say it this way "...Interesting as the character he started out as, and the random character he become." His first appearance was in
Tales to Astonish #13 and he essentially arrived on earth, like you do...you know, on occasion, and decided to start some shit!
What did he do?
He decided to use the plant life to create a form of web and netting. Think like a fishnet at sea. That he was going to use to rip an entire town out of the ground, whole, and take it with him back to space, and study it on his planet. The only thing that seemingly stopped him, was a specific breed of "Super Termites" used to pretty much attempt at killing him.
O_o
The problem with understanding Groot is simply understanding that perhaps Marvel didn't really know what to do with him, but never wanted to give him up, because he's so strange and random.
His appearances are sporadic and those appearances jump across time in big spurts. 1960,
1976,
1997, then again in
2006. When he was in Guardians as a mainstay, he had the most of his character coverage as a long time friend of Rocket Raccoon. However, as with the other characters of the 2008 Volume #2 reboot of the series, he was cancelled along with it.
Thankfully we have
GOTG Volume 3 #1 that has relaunched the entire franchise and focused it more inline with the purposes of the film. Which, aside from the rest of the cast, also gives you more "I AM GROOT!"
Groot's earlier "death" by termites left his fate relatively open. His next appearance would reveal he indeed was not dead but had been "Collected" by,none other than,
The Collector; another character we will be seeing prominently in Guardians, and in various other MCU films, played by Benecio Del Toro.
This was a cool comic not simply because of Groot reappearing, but because of the sheer volume of cheesy monsters that escape the Collectors museum. Prompting a response from four amazing heroes, The Hulk, The Thing, Giant Man, and The Beast in
Marvel Monster Group, Monsters on the Prowl #1. However, this isn't something we see, or get explained until this comic in 2006; really, all the other appearances are kind of derp and random, where you just accept, "Hey! He didn't die!" That, or you hadn't read the older material and had no reference. Hulk at the end of this story tosses Groot with all of the other monsters into a negative zone portal. Which is used to rectify how Groot returned in the past, or rather, what essentially happened to him before.
After another completely random stint in a Supernatural based set of comics following the monster events (likely to have been competition against the growing Supernatural Market on the DC side), Groot found himself leaving earth and (eventually) ended up in Kree space, where he was imprisoned.
This is where he fatefully meets Rocket Raccoon, and slowly over other issues and adventures forms a strong bond with the seminal character. One of those adventures was lead by Star-Lord, where Groot was essentially destroyed. Of course, a sprig survived, and Rocky kept it with him in his travels, eventually leading to Groot's complete regeneration.
All leading them to the eventual scenarios listed throughout the GOTG Guide; for Groot, as early as the Annihilation Conquest: Star-Lord event comics outlined, then forward toward the events in the upcoming film.
Groot, while seemingly a character that is all over the place, with forced aspects leading to various "resurrections" (if you will); is actually a pretty in-depth and complicated character, especially with his weird tonal language based on one phrase "I AM GROOT!", with a variety of aspects making him (almost) the "elder statesmen" in the GOTG Series. An old monarch (alleged to be an imposter in Annihilators #1 & exiled) with vast strength, amazing intelligence, but seemingly immortal. Expect to see him charging into battle often with Rocky firmly planted on his shoulder, as opposed to the old adage "by his side."
I excitedly, and patiently, wait to see what Groot will get to do in the upcoming GOTG film, how important his role will be, his bond with Rocket Raccoon, and to see how strong (or close in strength to the comic) they'll keep him.
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