The Ballad Of Rocket Raccoon
AS GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 BRINGS JAMES GUNN’S MCU RUN TO AN END, HE REFLECTS ON HIS FAVOURITE CHARACTER
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
ABOUT A DECADE or so ago, James Gunn was driving home from a meeting with Kevin Feige at what was then Marvel Studios’ HQ in LA. He had gone in with vague ideas about pitching something about Red Hulk, but to his surprise the Marvel higher-ups had pitched him a film: ‘The Guardians Of The Galaxy’, based on a relatively obscure comic-book title. “The way they pitched it, it seemed like Bugs Bunny in the middle of the Avengers,” he recalls. “I liked the Guardians from the comics, and I knew Rocket Raccoon. But it just didn’t seem grounded.”
But a funny thing happened on that drive home. Stuck in traffic, his mind wandered back to Rocket Raccoon, the Guardians’ resident furry, genetically modified, ultra-sarcastic sociopath, and a lightbulb went on over his head. “I realised that it’s not Bugs Bunny; that creature is the saddest creature who’s ever existed. And that’s where it all came from.”