The Guardians of the Galaxy are back in the news cycle today — not because of principal photography starting or some major casting news — but rather, because Dave Bautista tweeted his desire to see a Drax solo movie. In fact, the actor tweeted he’d leave the role if it meant the character himself would get a solo film. While Bautista kills it as Drax movie after movie, there’s one member of the Guardians of the Galaxy that most deserves their own movie and it isn’t Drax.
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Enter Rocket Raccoon, the one Guardians of the Galaxy-spinoff that makes the most amount of sense. Don’t get me wrong, I love Drax as much as the rest of you, it’s just his arc is about as good as done, unless something major opens up Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Earlier this year, I penned a piece discussing why I thought Rocket Raccoon had the best character arc in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even then, creatives have yet to scratch the surface of the character. In Guardians of the Galaxy, we get a tease of where he came from and got a big arc involving his relationship with Groot. The latter was something that crossed over into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
When you compare him to other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket’s the one with the most mysterious background we have yet to explore. We know where Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) came from and what he’s about. Avengers: Infinity War did tremendous wonders for the development (and untimely demise) of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Avengers: Endgame featured Nebula (Karen Gillan) in a surprisingly large role, tying up a lot of loose ends she had with both Gamora, Thanos (Josh Brolin), and herself. Then, Drax has gotten revenge on both Thanos and Ronan (Lee Pace), the only motivation we’ve ever seen him talk about on-screen.
We still don’t know Rocket came to be, nor do we know how he met Groot and that’s the basis of a killer movie right there. Just imagine the character going back to Halfworld to confront the person — or persons — responsible for bringing him into existence in his current state. If the teary-eyed raccoon pulled at our heartstrings in the two Guardians of the Galaxy films released so far, just imagine what he exploring his past could lead to.
Of course, there’s the possibility this is a topic that gets addressed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Some reports have even suggested the High Evolutionary and Lylla would be appearing to help provide some backstory for Rocket. In the case the movie doesn’t tackle it, however, there would most certainly be more Rocket stories to be told.
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, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.
What member of the Guardians of the Galaxy do you feel is best deserving a solo outing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!
