‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Writer Teases Rocket Raccoon’s Death

For those keeping up with Marvel’s cosmic events as of late, another Guardians death could soon be happening. In a Q&A session on Twitter last night, new Guardians of the Galaxy writer Donny Cates may have let it slip that another Guardian will soon kick the bucket.

WARNING: Minor spoilers for the Infinity Wars event in coming. If you have yet to catch up through Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian #1, proceed with caution.

Between Infinity Wars #6 and Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian #1, the Guardians of the Galaxy lost Drax the Destroyer. While the character as a whole didn’t die, his “Destroyer” persona was consumed by a black hole leaving behind his human form, Arthur Douglas.

This version of Douglas has no knowledge of Drax’s time with the Guardians of the Galaxy and is instead living in a newly created-dimension within the Soul Stone with his family.

The group technically disbanded earlier on in this cosmic event between Gerry Duggan’s All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinity Countdown, and Infinity Wars, but a version of the team will eventually pop up next month when Cates and artist Geoff Shaw take over the run.

And once Cates and Shaw take over Guardians of the Galaxy, the group could see another member fall by the wayside as the writer recently joked on Twitter about killing Rocket Raccoon.

Cates has a penchant for killing dogs in his writing career for Marvel. After all, the writer has killed off Doctor Strange’s companion Bats in Doctor Strange #382 (Februray 2018) and initially killed Lockjaw the teleporting Inhuman in the first issue of Death of the Inhumans.

According to Cates, the creative team behind Guardians has “insane” plans for the first arc, coincidentally enough titled “Endgame.”

“Geoff and I have some INSANE plans for our first Guardians arc,” the writer said. “This arc is called ‘Endgame,’ and as seen in Thanos Legacy, it begins with the reading of Thanos’s last will and testament. An artifact that Thanos’s brother Eros dug out of his late brother’s heart, which very well may spell doom for the entire universe. What horrid secrets are contained inside the will of the titan?!! Find out this January!! And oh yeah… our new lineup. Well, that’s a surprise as well. Use the hashtag #WhoAreTheGuardians online and maybe we’ll give out some teases as we get closer! See you all in space!”

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 by Cates and Shaw will hit the shelves at your local comic shop on January 23rd.