When Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters later this week, audiences will get to see a sassy, back-talking adolescent Groot, one that director James Gunn has been clear is the son of the original who died at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy. The death of original Groot, however, was news that star Dave Bautista had to find out on Twitter.
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In an interview with FOX 5 DC, Bautista as asked if he was aware that the baby Groot fans met at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy was different from original Groot and the Drax actor revealed that it wasn’t something he had been made aware of.
“I wasn’t aware of it, I thought it was the same Groot,” Bautista said before telling the interviewer where he found out about the different Groots. He also revealed that Gunn never explained it to him or the rest of the cast and that everyone thought they were the same Groot.
“On Twitter,” he said. “I don’t think anybody ever asked. Everybody just assumed.”
Bautista isn’t alone in having made the assumption that young Groot and old Groot were one and the same. Though Gunn has repeatedly insisted that the two Groots are different — going so far as to describe them as father and son — when ET’s Ash Crossan suggested on Twitter earlier this year that, if it came down to Groot or a Porg the Porg should be saved because Groot regenerates, Gunn asserted again that the original Groot is dead. People on Twitter couldn’t handle this, having some strong and often hilarious reactions to original Groot’s death.
However, despite Gunn’s explanation, the news that there are two different Groots appeared to be brand new information to another member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Don Cheadle, who plays James Rhodes/War Machine in Infinity War, had no idea original Groot was dead until the interview.
“What do you mean Groot’s dead?” Cheadle asked. “What are you talking about Groot’s dead? I thought it was Groot root and the root was new Groot.”
Despite the challenges of trying to wrap their minds around the original Groot/new Groot situation, at least one of the Marvel stars had a philosophical approach to Groot’s status. Guardians star Chris Pratt explained that he saw them as the same, but also different.
“It’s a little bit like an apple tree,” Pratt said. “If an apple tree drops a seed and it grows another apple tree technically it is that first apple tree still because it was grown from that apple tree and continues to grow on but it’s life is defined by the moment it became a seedling to the moment it gets cut down.”
Audiences will get to see adolescent Groot in Avengers: Infinity War which its theaters April 27.
