Guardians Of The Galaxy: Who Is Rocket Raccoon?

With the recent release of the first Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, we’ve been taking a look at the background of some of the characters from the film, such as Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax the Destroyer. However, one of the most interesting characters in the film isn’t quite so human-looking.Rocket Raccoon is gun-toting alien with a bad attitude. In the upcoming film, Guardians of the Galaxy, he will be brought to life through CG animation and voiced by Bradley Cooper. Rocket will join up with Star-Lord and his Guardians, on the run from the agents of Thanos who are after Star-Lord’s orb. The film releases August 1, 2014.Rocket Raccoon was created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen, who drew inspiration from the Beatles song “Rocky Raccoon.” Rocket made his first appearance in Marvel Preview #7 in 1976. In 1985, Rocket Raccoon starred in his own mini-series, penciled by Mike Mignola (who would later go on to create Hellboy). Afterwards, Rocket Raccoon was seen only in occasional guest appearances before playing a role in the Annihilation saga and subsequently joining up with Star-Lord’s newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy.Rocket Raccoon hails from a planet called Halfworld. The world has a bizarre history, beginning as a colony planet where a humanoid society sent their insane. The robots who were left to care for the insane eventually gained sentience and retreated to one half of the world, genetically enhancing companion animals to take care of the insane humanoids in their stead. The animals eventually evolved into their own advanced society, leaving one half of the world in control of the industrial robots and the other in control of the animals.Rocket Raccoon was the guardian of Halfworld’s quadrant. He became entangled in a conflict of intrigue and industrial espionage between two of Halfword’s lead toy makers (making toys for the Loonies became the chief industry of Halfworld) when his soul mate, the otter Lylla, was dragged in as a hostage. The conflict would eventually reveal the true history of Halfworld to its inhabitants and uncover a cure for the Loonies’ insanity. Some of the animals stayed to help the Loonies build their own society, but almost all of the robots and most of the animals, including Lylla, boarded a spaceship piloted by Rocket Raccoon to leave Halfworld.Rocket Raccoon eventually resurfaced to assist Star-Lord during the battle against Ultron in Annihilation: Conquest. Following Ultron’s defeat, Rocket became a member of Star-Lord’s newly formed Guardians of the Galaxy and has formed an especially strong friendship with his fellow Guardian, Groot.