Avengers: Endgame Director Reveals Rocket Is One of the Scientific Geniuses of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Avengers: Endgame commentary track has brought quite a lot of specific details surrounding the Marvel Studios epic -- including one surrounding everybody's favorite space raccoon. Midway through the film, as Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) attempt to make the second Infinity Gauntlet, co-director Joe Russo gave Rocket a pretty significant accolade.

"It takes Eitri, you know... and a legendary forge to make the first glove." Russo explained. "And it takes Banner, Tony and Rocket to make the second one. Three of the scientific geniuses of the Marvel Universe."

Considering all of Rocket's various appearances across the MCU, it's easy to see where Russo's comment is coming from. Rocket can be seen tinkering and working on technology throughout the Guardians films, and his backstory before joining the Guardians is largely unexplored. Fans have already begun to speculate that the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will dive into Rocket's backstory, potentially as an experiment by the High Evolutionary.

"When you asked me what was saddest for me when I thought it was gone—and anybody at Marvel can tell you—it's this very strange and attached relationship to Rocket," Guardians writer-director James Gunn said in an interview earlier this year. "Rocket is me, he really is, even if that sounds narcissistic. Groot is like my dog. I love Groot in a completely different way. I relate to Rocket and I feel compassion for Rocket, but I also feel like his story has not been completed."

"He has an arc that started in the first movie, continued into the second and goes through Infinity War and Endgame, and then I was set to really finish that arc in Guardians 3." Gunn continued. "That was a big loss to me—not being able to finish that story—though I was comforted by the fact that they were still planning to use my script."

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.