The Redemption of Rocket Raccoon 

I like how by the end of the 3rd Guardians movie, Rocket has sort of completed a character arc where he becomes the loyal and dedicated hero he was in the earlier comics. It’s almost like the movies were a prequel to his story.

I like how guardians 3 actually ended up bringing Rocket to be a bit more heroic and altruistic like in his og run

MCU Rocket is a great character. Comic Rocket has always been a mess. They didn’t know what to do with Ranger Rocket and so every writer had a different take on him. I think at this point so much damage has been done to Comic Rocket that they should make an editing and style bible and make future writers follow them. Marvel doesn’t usually do this but Rocket is an extreme case of a character wrecked by conflicting writing. Whether they make his Ranger Rocket background canon for good or go with the tortured lab experiment, some consistency is needed.

Al Ewing is the creative equivalent of the thankless all star custodian that prevents a battle damaged structure from collapsing that nobody properly acknowledges. Everytime Marvel steps in to make merchandising caricatures the norm in the fiction itself, Ewing shows up to reconcile things without explicitly jettisoning anything. If you're a fan of any cult following hero of the last decade from Rocket, to Wiccan, to Squirrel Girl, Ewing actively prevented them from becoming worse. His resume to comic fans for the last 11 or so years should be "You're Welcome"

It kind of sounds like the people who wrote Rocket after Gunn totally misunderstood the way he wrote the character. He wasn't a murderous edgelord, he was a misfit who lashes out at people because he thinks he's an abnormality in the universe who will never fit in. Once he joins up with Starlord and the gang, he never runs away from a fight even if it doesn't make him wealthy. He's a hero from day one, but he just doesn't talk or posture like one. Peter may be the most relatable character, but Gunn even points out that The Guardians of the Galaxy is Rocket's journey. That "murdered you" catchphrase is the epitome of cringe.

Thank you so much. I lost all respect for Bendis when he butchered the Guardians. DnA reboot and original run were genius, they deserved to be called back to the series when the movie made it popular.

Very interesting! I'm a huge fan of Rocket, as well as the Guardians in general, but like most people, my introduction to them was the Gunn movies, and I know next to nothing about the comics. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more from this channel!

I was 21 in 1992. I was in the comic store one day when I heard the news of that horrible accident. Being somewhat a rollerblader, it sent chills down my spine. Then the true impact hit me. As a kid I was an unknowing Mantlo superfan. ROM, Rocket, Micronauts, Jack of Hearts, went back and got John Carter fro bargain bins ,not to mention the Hulk and Swords of the Swashbuckler - a def favorite of mine as a teen. With dreams of Rocket and the Swashbuckler team up....maybe one day...

Rocket is my absolute favorite Marvel character, I've loved him since the 80s miniseries. I'd never dreamed that they'd do the GotG as a movie, let alone including Rocket, but I'm glad they did. Personally I love Gunn's version of him, he's that perfect mix of tragic and funny, and his arc across the three movies (even compensating for what the Russos did in Endwar Infinity Game) is incredible character writing. Hell, he was the direct inspiration for one of my favorite D&D characters (I thought "What if Rocket were a Kobold?" and from there one of my favorite creations was born). I was so glad he got a happy ending in GotG3.

Though it still diverges from the source material I feel guardians of the galaxy vol 3 felt like it pulled a lot more from British sci fi than the first two. a lot of stuff the characters and concepts used in Guardians vol 3 feel like they could have been pulled straight out of the pages of 2000ad or a really high budget doctor who episode.

Love the inclusion of Trigun’s soundtrack in this video! Such an amazing series that fits Rocket’s character and past quite nicely tbh.

Some of the laziest swear word bleeping I've ever heard this is hilarious.

I think it’d be cool after all of his mcu appearances, the new rocket from the end of Volume 3 where he becomes leader of the guardians can bring back some of the original components that made people love the character, that being said I’ve always loved the mcu rocket he’s the only version I really know that well but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to have both characters combined into one thoroughly explored character

Can i just say that i watched this whole thing, and at about 22 minutes i very quickly went from caring about rocket raccoon, to genuinely hoping you’re ok, as a human being. Much love. I hope you are doing well in life man. For reals.

Just to clarify something about the rewrite of Nicole Perlman's original GotG script. While Gunn did change things substantially and Perlman's version was closer to the Abnett/Lanning run, it wasn't as though Perlman's treatment was bereft of any comedy. For characters like Star-Lord, for example, Perlman had intentions to make him more of "a Han Solo type," as opposed to the more upstanding Captain America-type figure he was before the movies.

Stellar video!! I've always loved Rocket. My introduction was of course the movies, but my dad gifted me some of his old comics one year after he realized I Ioved it -- 2015-ish? -- specifically, he gave me those original Ranger Rocket ones. It was a shock to learn the foul-mouthed guy I knew from the movies was originally so different! Maybe they'll nail something down in the comics for good someday. Great video, looking forward to more!

This was insanely good. Incredible for a first video. I got really emotional at the end. Hope you keep making content, this was a sure subscription for me. For the next one, maybe lower the background music volume a bit

I am a huge fan of both verisons of Rocket. Ive read many of his appesrsnces as well, and in fact in this video when the letter column is shown, the fiest letter you see accreddited to "Joshua" is mine! And, the modern Rocket comics may be a far cry from his original in some ways but I agree that Al Ewing, and especially his miniseries "Rocket" did a very amazing job of bringing it all together. Theres a lot of characters that go through this and I think Rocket is one of the better examples. Appreciate this video, and as a fellow Rocket stan I have to subscribe. I dont agree with every point in the video, but it is well made and raising interesting points!

I cant help but feel like it was also somewhat reconciled in Guardians 3. It shows him being very close friends with Star Lord, he is naive and very kind in the beginning, and he embraces his racoon status as well as cares for all the animals like a ranger would

This was beautiful. I was never a Coasmic Marvel kinda guy. Peter Parker has always been my guy. That being said the way you described your feelings for Rocket was very similar to how I feel about Peter/Spider-Man. Very well done!

Thank you for this brilliant video! I love Rocket and was happy with his character resolution in vol. 3. What were your thoughts on the conclusion of Gunn's trilogy?

I had a physical reaction of horror when you said Bendis

“you won’t find the same person twice not even in the same person” - Mahmoud Darwish

Loved the video, keep it up

i love to find an incredibly well edited video on a somewhat unique topic from somebody completely new

Thank you for making this video and spreading information about the wonderful Rocket Raccoon, you helped me a lot :)

Thank you for this video, your story was ...well I don't have the words, but I am glad you found Rocket.

Credit to the great indie comics creator Illuminated Comics for the "replaced Starlord" joke.

This video deserves more attention.

Keep up the good work. This RU-vid channel is very informative and interesting with the comic book lore and history.

ugh, bendis is poison to everything he touches.

This was fantatic! I always wondered just what it that was left on the cutting room floor when they made the film. I knew it was something given that that's usaaly how it goes. Loved this!!

Rockets my favorite character in the whole mcu that I have seen.

I've never been a big comic reader, but ever since I saw the first Guardians movie I fell in love with the characters. I almost skipped Vol.3, because I was afraid the downward spiral of pretty much every MCU film after End Game might have corrupted the final Guardians installment. I decided to watch it in theaters just for a sense of finality, and ended up going back to see it a second time, which I never do. Very few movies move me in the way that film did, and I'm curious about how you felt about it?

Amazing video

Just caught this. What an amazing video! I just really enjoyed, and connected, with this. And, wow, did I have an eerily similar, for lack of a better word, arc. I first learned of Rocket Raccoon from an article on IGN, about Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - I saw this raccoon character as an image on the article, that's what drew me in. I briefly looked at his Wikipedia page. And that was it... Until I saw a banner ad somewhere for then-in-development MMOARPG Marvel Heroes and that Rocket character was on it. So I applied, got into the Closed Beta. A member of the forum, DarkBeast, was very enthusiastic about Rocket, and comics in general. He became my first friend in the community and inspired me to learn more about Rocket myself. So, I went back and read all his comics, the ones available at the time (in late 2012/early 2013). And he became my new favorite character overnight. It was the DnA Guardians run - still my favorite - that really made me become a superfan. A Raccoonatic - a word I coined as a throwaway term for a Rocket fan, that ended up catching on. And I called myself Raccoonatic Commander (would later inspire a namesake item for Rocket in Marvel Heroes). Along the way, I ended up writing for a Guardians news site called Guard the Galaxy. I wrote Rocket's bio for the site and some other articles, including a recurring Rocket-centric segment called Flarkin' Awesome! A lot of Flarkin' Awesome! issues were fueled by frustration and anger. The Bendis reinvention of Rocket Raccoon. Oh boy, I did not handle that well. At all. I never really read the Ewing stuff because the Bendis stuff and what immediately followed... it just made me decide to stop reading comics, for the sake of my own happiness. And I didn't have a problem with the movie itself, I was able to accept it as its own universe, as movie superheroics generally are. It's the way it warped the comics that broke me. I still remained and remain a Raccoonatic despite all of that. Eventually, Guard the Galaxy was abandoned by its editor and Marvel Heroes was sunset. But I found joy as a fan where I could... The second Guardians movie, I felt, took Rocket's arc in a better direction. But this third movie, wow, it drew so much on DnA Guardians and even some stuff before it. It almost feels like James Gunn, before he planned to step away, aware how much his movies had changed/warped the Guardians in comics - especially his favorite Rocket - decided to put things back where they were before he decided to do the movies. And I actually look forward to seeing comics and other media now reflect the broken but *heroic* Rocket *Raccoon* we got in the third movie. We just celebrated Rocket Raccoon Day, Rocket's 47th anniversary yesterday. Can only hope that, despite the movies being done and the Guardians destined to be deemed less relevant as a result, Rocket Raccoon will still have a bright future ahead! Raccoonatics Unite!

I swear it's like you put my inner thoughts about the changes to Rocket and took them to make a video. What a great look into this fantastic character I've been fanboying over since his very first solo series.. That collage a the end of the video is fantastic. Would you happen to have a digital complete version of that posted somewhere?

i really enjoyed this video, it made me cry

Wow!!! This was such great insight to him !! I fell in love with him from mvc3 too, your dedication to him is sooo impressive Im so happy this video exists!! I love how layered of a character he is from something that started as a gag! I started tearing up at the end!! I would love to see the full image of his different appearances at the end and your thoughts on how he was in the third movie!

I've been a fan of Rocket since I was like 10-11 back in the late 2000's when my dad introduced me to him and bought me his original 80's solo about his adventures in half world. I loved him since before the mcu films but since the mcu films, my love of the character grew. I was aware of the shift in his character but about it much until this video.

Wait… bill mantlo?! The bar that rocket went to in the gotg game was called “mantlo’s”. That’s nice!

Great video. Hope your channel blow up.

Great job, you should have more subscribers. I first saw Rocket in the Incredible Hulk, as a child. I was happy to see that Bradley Cooper was voicing him, and I believe he had a strong life in the MCU so far. Now, I don't like what the characters become and how their memories shift; I remember the original Rocket. Plus I love the Beatles and took too much acid. Bravo 👏

This video is the closest Ive been to crying in a while. Not only does that story end so depressingly and somberly, I also adore whole cute and noble and gentlemanly the old rocket was. As someone that only knew of the MCU Rocket till now, I personally wouldn't change a thing about him, but I really wish we could see an animated or live-actiom depiction of this rocket as well.

Awesome video, man, can't believe you have so few views and subscribers so far. You're an undiscovered gem, mate. Subscribed.

Bless you, Rocket Raccoon! You've had a long, hard journey, and still come out on top as your unique self.

I love rocket in the movies so much, I can’t read rocket in any other voice than Bradley Cooper

Now that the third movie is on Disney Plus, I'm curious what you think of it. (All I'll say is that Rocket is now my favorite Marvel character after watching it)

Bro should have at least a million subs by now just because of this.

Isn't it just the molecular structure of comics, cartoons, movies and series to make each new iteration it's own? Details change. Audiences change. Times change. The only constant is change.

I loved watching this. Saw the amount of subs u have and almost audibly said no way.

Bro is the first yt video where I didn’t get an ad at the very start

One of my favorite marvel characters I luv him so much

That was a very beautiful video. Had some audio issues here and there that need to be ironed out in future videos, but the love and passion put into this was undeniable. Thank you for getting me to better understand and love a character that I had already fallen in love with from the Guardians movies. Also, could you please tell me what cover of Rocky Raccoon you used for the end of the video? I want to listen to it on its own so bad. It's beautiful.

This is very interesting! I do love Rocket, and I dont really know much about Star Wars, but I really like the Skottie Young run on Rocket, it's my favorite run on him. And I like diferent interpretations of this character no matter 2008 or more

I absolutely love the modern rocket and the guardians of the galaxy. (Mcu drax, not wo much) I think reimagining characters can be a good thing for new generation or people like me who didnt get to get into comics. And the guardians of the galaxy got me into comics.

What is with these perfect videos for me? Is the algorithm working?

I used to read obscure marvel comics before the MCU even existed and it is surprising how well Rocket and Groot were translated and used on screen.

Using some music from the original, “Trigun”, anime series!!! Props to you, Sir, props to you!!! Also, cheers!

I’m going through a similar character obsession (but with moon girl and devil dinosaur) except “mail-bag and devil dinosaur” was closed a long time ago and the wiki page already exists… I’m still reading everything they’re in! (Even if their 2022 series is atrocious)

Bravo. I'm going to give you some context. The vid I watched before this was a doktor skipper video on oppenheimer and barbie. I realized how fast everything was only 20 seconds in. It was like watching something in 2x speed edited to make sense to you on 1. Vids like that suck your attention, and tak your time, but they don't leave you with anything once the time is gone. And then I found this. When you presented the past, what rocket used to be, I realized what you felt you had lost, realized what I had lost. When ou talked of how bendis bastardized the original, the same. And when you showed how and why the original creator wasn't around to send the message on what he was meant to be, I understood. I've been missing content like this. Not slow, but contextual. Methodical, fully understanding and being able to translate how you feel directly from you to me. Skipper may use a random meme or movie gif to display his feelings, but you've made words enough. Thank you. You've been a breath of faesh air. Here's a sub. Also, I heard a bit of breakbeats on this. If you're looking for reccomendations, try out bittertooth (especially one called poison, it feels like nostalgia), 495, namii (their older work specifically), and sorry about my face. Edit: On Doktor Skipper. His video on MCU's rocket is up there with this one (watched it right after this one). If you want to understand rocket's character arc without watching or giving money to disney, his video might be up your alley.

well theres a new groot miniseries out that deal with groots home planet, so maybe we'll get some more answers there. they already explained how rocket is able to understand groot. apparently groots can only be understood by someone who has a deep emotional bond with them or something like that.

This is a great video! Though, something that keeps making me do a double take is your repeated mention of the modern era comics being created after the movie, and yet i can say with 100% certainty that i read, collected, and was familiar with that version of those characters for a considerable amount of time before i had even seen confirmation that the movie was a thing that was coming out. I wasnt online much in those days, and maybe it was a regional thing, but i was 100% watching a direct adaptation of the comics i read when those movies came out. Your perspective is making me question literally everything lol. This isnt me trying to correct you, just trying to make sense of the timeline in my head. I guess it tracks if the "Marvel now" comics were written while the movie was in production, but even then... i was deep into that run when the movie was released. Like there isn't a doubt in my mind. I saw the foul-mouthed version of rocket what feels like years before i knew he would ever be on screen. Maybe thats my memory playing tricks on me, but it was definitely still before the movie... Edit: i googled it because i felt insane lol. So it looks like the movie came out in August 2014, and the comic run started in March 2013. So definitely a good bit before, but maybe the ambiguity comes from people being more aware of the movies production at the time than i was. I started reading comics literally in march of 2013. GOTG was just a cool series i picked up. I remember mostly just hearing speculation about a potential movie at the time, at most though, even if it was known internally, which is why the way you described it through me off so much. In my head, that movie was always adapting the modern era of comics that i had been familiar with for over a year prior to the release of the film, so the connection to the creation of the movie honestly blindsided me. Idk, as someone who seems much more familiar on this topic than i am, what are your thoughts on the descripancy? Anything I'm missing here? Edit 2: rewatched the video and you totally did mention that they came out befire oops. was too busy questioning my reality to notice lol. I will say though, if its any consolation, the dramatic turn into pure comedy that the movie took was actually still jarring for me at the time. Even as someone who wss familiar with those new versions, there was a visible distinction for me there

Very undertated video but very good

as a 90s woman, i missed comics for msot of my life, never saw one or met someone who read them, that i knew. i dont care for super hero stories so whent he dc/marvel movies started coming out, i ignored them. last year or so we got the disney thing and i watched all of the marvel movies. mostly cause i wanted to catch up with the cool kids. im glad you got your dreams in movies.

I have come to the conclusion, that one of the big draws of marvel/dc, is they provide nurds with a near infinate pool of crazy stuff to nurd out about, to discus and debate.

30:24 Gee, I wasnt aware of how many artistic renditions this guy has holy moly.

The thing is, this isn’t a new thing with comics. They’ve always had this issue of media synergy where they make the comic version more similar to their movie versions (for better or for worse)

It’s so insane to see somebody who cares about the character as much as I do! Really great video, your perspective/opinions on how Rocket has been handled + issues with continuity are ones I was pleasantly surprised somebody shared with me :))) Two questions for you, 1. How do you feel about the current GotG run? With Rocket being Star-Sheriff and the way he’s written so far, especially after Ewing’s 2020 series? 2. Is there a link to the page shown (at the beginning of the video) with every time Rocket has appeared in the comics? I’d like to think I’ve read every appearance of his (616 or otherwise) but I’d like to use it to make sure! Thank you, and have a nice day :)

The Trigun background ost...the nastolgia is tingling up my spine

That Trigun ost. Damn that's nostalgic

What's interesting to me is that MCU Rocket started a lot of the convoluted mess plaguing comic Rocket, but his character arc over the movie trilogy actually shows him going from greedy criminal to heroic ranger. From stealing prosthetics and batteries to standing as the leader of the Guardians in defense of the innocent. Likely without asking for a reward, too. Meanwhile the introduction of movie 1 caused the comics to take Rocket in the reverse direction, going from good-natured hero to a proper bastard. When you put the Hero's Tale in reverse but *don't* create a villain, you just end up with a messy character.

this makes me wish I had been into comics as a kid. I just couldn't get over computer games and TV.

Im going to be honest. MCU didn’t rlly portray the Avengers as well as the comics did, but James Gunn made a more compelling story from a series of heroes who aren’t well known and made them known. I think the Guardians are better portrayed in the movies than the comics. I’d say Iron Man was also much better in the movies, but that’s another story.

ah yes Lupin III jazz. love it

i think i first heard about rocket after the sonic comics kinda had ended(or at least i couldnt get them anymore), it was like oh hes the precursor to the whole anthro freedom fighter motif most people know abnett from his work with black library

All the Persona 3 Music got me

editing error at 23:13, overlapping dialogue. also idk if you were trying to cover the swear words in the story section with the bleeps but it does not. just so you know, otherwise great video

Wait how die you have less than 1000 subs this video was well put together and dint I watch

I’ve noticed a lot of creators using Trigun music recently. Is the music like rights free or something?

While I dont agree with everything you said, this was still a great video. I do agree with the fact that Al Ewing wrote rocket great. Al Ewings Rocket is my favvorite series i have ever read. I really hope he writes another Rocket solo series now that the movie is out. I also have a question. Did you like Al Ewing's Guardians series? I loved the first 5 or so issues but i found that it lost that personal touch the guardians normally have after that. Maybe that was because there was so many other characters I didn't recognize. Idk. Rocket had less and less of a role as the series went on and he lost that personality established in the Rocket series.

i enjoyed the short lived Guardians cartoon series, which used the first movie as a base but changed some continuity drastically (like Peter's dad). it went into Rocket's origin being the lab experiment tale, but with a slight twist. similar to the movie, he was picked up on Earth. only coincidentally, at the same time Peter was abducted by Yondu. so the 2 share the same history in that sense. Rocket was taken alongside his mother and 2 brothers, who all got sold off to a lab. he was the first one experimented on, evolved, and subsequently escaped. at some point of the runtime, the Guardians return to the planet Rocket broke out of, and found his family had undergone the same experiment. his mother was disappointed and outright nagging him for leaving them to suffer, but he manages to get them to come around and freed in the end

imagine rocket meeting Deadpool 😂..... bullets everywhere and then they proceed to trashing a bar after getting wasted 😂😅. I'd love to see that.

Fucking incredible video. Glad to see the "Rocket" comic acknowledged. On another note what was that cover you used of Rocky Raccon? Please I need to know

Bendis always has this tendency of bastardizing the characters that used to be great when they were first introduced. I only liked his stuff with Ultimate Spider-Man, but he's never reached that peak in writing quality since.

So the censoring was off time in that one story. You could still hear every word clearly. Not sure if that was intentional

“Written by Dan Abnett” … I’m sorry, are you telling me Commissar Gaunt and Rocket Racoon have the same writer?

Put the songs you used in the description. Otherwise good vid bro!

Wrote the article? I'm impressed, well donith

I loved movie Rocket because I've never enjoyed heroes that were too heroic. I'd rather read about the underdogs. Also, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies were actually funny. Everything you showed me about the comic Rocket, whether thesis, antithesis, or synthesis doesn't appeal to me because although I recognize that the jokes are jokes, they just aren't funny. And instead of being the underdogs, it seems like the comic Rocket was either too heroic or too villainous or both, never the underdog.

"And then All Ewing" OF COURSE IT WAS AL EWING

Ok, so, not to play defense for the movies, but, it SOUNDS like your problem's source is that the movie's Rocket was basically a soft reboot of the character. You watched this character grow and develop into a paragon of good, which meant he had little growing to do. Most of the people who know him now got to meet him in the movies for the first time and had to develop the connection you had with him, had to see him as an imperfect character with downsides who slowly develops into a better person. Now, you could argue that not every character who jumps from the comic pages does go through that transformation. And I would argue, that's why most of them are boring and badly written. Rocket, isn't. He's not your Rocket, he's not your friend for years and years, he's a new iteration of the character. As a fan of comics, you are familiar with the concept of characters meeting themselves from another universe, with that self usually being pretty different, if not evil some times. It's not a big deal, it's not a big leap. Maybe later down you mention how Rocket grows into a character who enjoys and seeks the intimacy of being pet and treated with kindness and care after he goes through his arcs in the movies. Your Rocket is here, and he's still in his core what made him so important to you. He's just a little more complicated and troubled now.

this video made me want to be your friend :)

Ah, Bendis touched it. Sorry.

I can't believe they brought lylla, teefs and floor from comics to the mcu. I haven't read the comics but i just watched guardians of the galaxy volume 3

I understand the frustration of seeing an objectively different, subjectively inferior version of your favorite character in an adaptation. For me, it was Anna Volovodov in The Expanse and its TV adaptation. You feel like there's already such an interesting tale there, and they're either botching the delivery of that tale, or discarding it for something no one asked for. That said, I don't think there was any chance we were going to see a 1 to 1 translation of any of the Marvel characters. For all that Joe Q. Public accepts superhero movies as legitimate now, there were always action movie norms and expectations that the comic adaptations were going to have to adhere to or subvert. They had 2 hours per movie to try to get people attached to characters that previously had mainly been appreciated by people who had followed the characters for decades. Which means some characters are going to change more than others. As someone who had never heard of Rocket Raccoon before the movie, if you'd described Rocket to me as you did in this video - heroic, noble, sociable - I'd assume he was a raccoon version of Captain America. I know you wish we could see Rocket the way you did. I do too. He sounds like a cool, inspiring character. But as part of the target audience - someone who had never heard of GotG, but was impressed by the MCU at the time and willing to give something new a try - it was special to me. It was different, and I felt for everyone...except Ronin. I encourage you to try to see it from my point of view. GotG was the movie that showed me that the MCU could handle some really cool stuff that was different than anything that had come before, movie wise. While I'd probably never be a comic collector, seeing the movie gave me an appreciation for everything these characters and these worlds could be. I'm pretty sure you felt something similar when you discovered YOUR Rocket.

0:06 Yep, for me too.

anyone know the cover of Rocky Racoon near the end of the video? Please I need it, its sounds beautiful

This was quite informative as some one whos trying to get into the comics. Im assuming you've seen Guardians vol3, so if you don't mind me asking what did you think of Rockets depiction in it? Towards the end of the movie it really seams like Rocket is on his way towards becoming more like his comic counter part, but Im not sure since I haven't read the original comics yet.

Interesting history.