I Am Groot!

“I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot”.

I swear that was funnier in my head…

The next Guardian getting a look in is the fan favourite flora colossus, Groot. Hailing from Planet X, he is a hyper-intelligent, tree-like being whose linguistic capabilities are hampered by his robust and heavyweight physiology, causing his larynx to become stiff and inflexible. Thus limiting his speech to the phrase, “I am Groot”.

Background

He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales to Astonish #13 in 1960. He initially came to Earth seeking to capture and study humans but met his demise when he was seemingly destroyed by termites used by Leslie Evans. Sprouting up again in The Incredible Hulk Annual #5 in 1976 when Xemnu (this mad alien, cybernetic Yeti looking thing, also known as The Living Hulk) made a copy of Groot by creating a human and tree hybrid that was used to fight the Hulk, but he was destroyed in the battle. He also appeared in The Sensational Spider-Man #1 in 1997 in a nightmare of Peter Parker. It was revealed he had survived the scrap with the Hulk but was held captive by The Collector in his zoo in Canada. Groot would then be freed by the Mole Man and would go on a rampage through New York City with other freed creatures until they were stopped and dumped through a portal to the Negative Zone.

Groot would start to make a comeback with his appearance in the six-issue limited series Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos in 2006, when he was sniffed-out by Sasquatch and Abominable Snowman. Following a back and forth with the Commandos, he decided to help them defeat Merlin and his forces. Next up were his stints in Annihilation: Conquest  and the Annihilation: Conquest – Star-Lord limited series. He then went on to join the Guardians of the Galaxy in 2008 until its cancellation with issue #25 in 2010. However, Groot did appear in the follow-up limited series The Thanos Imperative along with his bestest bud and fellow Guardian, Rocket Racoon. He would then round out his guest tour of Marvel titles with Annihilators #1-4 (March-June 2011), Annihilators: Earthfall #1-4 (Sept.-Dec. 2011) and then Avengers Assemble #6-8 as a member of the Guardians. Finally he becomes a staple in the Marvel universe with Guardians of the Galaxy  vol. 3 in 2013 and even gets his very first solo series in 2015.

Origin

When he first landed on Earth in 1960 and met the scientist Leslie Evans, he told her he was the king of Planet X and was planning on abducting humans for experiments. Yes he could talk at the beginning. Could you imagine Baby Groot telling you he wanted to abduct and probe you? Yeah he’s not so adorable now, is he?

Proving to be tougher than your average weed, he was basically impervious to human-made weapons. He also had some mad skills and sealed off Leslie’s hometown by using psychokinetically controlled trees (say that three times fast!). Leslie was able to take him down by using specially-bred termites that effectively ate his insides, seemingly killing him.

Dun dun dun… he survived and was now in the possession of Taneleer Tivan (AKA The Collector), in his underground zoo in Canada of all places. He and some other creatures escaped with the help of Mole Man, and rampaged across New York City before being battered by The Hulk, The Thing, Giant-Man, and Beast. After all that, he is next seen having a nice little team up with the Howling Commandos to take down Merlin.

**It is worth noting that the 2015 series Groot did offer a new origin story for the character. It turns out that the other Flora colossi had been abducting organisms from other planets (nice little nod to his first appearance). One of these abductees was a human girl named Hannah. After discovering this, Groot manages to save Hannah and send her back to Earth. For getting all up in their business, the rest of the Flora colossi give Groot the boot and banish him from Planet X. After wandering the galaxy for many decades, he meets his future best pal, Rocket Raccoon.**

It is believed that a different Groot played a part in Annihilation: Conquest at which time it’s explained that Groot may be the last of the Flora colossi and was under arrest by the Kree for an unknown reason. It likely had something to do with his Nova Corps criminal record that includes 3 counts of grievous bodily harm, 15 counts of escape from incarceration and 3 counts of mercenary activity, but sure, “unknown reason”.

Groot did manage to earn his freedom by joining Star-Lord and his strike force, where Groot and Rocket Raccoon formed a strong bond. Probably because Rocket is one of the few beings in the galaxy with the ability to understand Groot’s language. The team fought their way through the Phalanx, but after losing Deathcry they decided to escape through a drainage pipe but Groot couldn’t fit. So Groot dies (oh noooo), but buys the team some time to escape. 

The team get a new Groot from a sprig offshoot (similar to what happens at the end of the first Guardians movie) and he continues to accompany the team on their mission to take down the Phalanx, but is quickly captured. Not to worry, they get freed by Mantis and in time, Groot’s body regenerated from the twig, and he grew back to full size.

Groot and the gang returned to Hala to prepare for the next round against the Phalanx, but Blastaar gets caught by the Phalanx and brought to their Babel Spire as he tried to carry Groot’s pollen spores. Groot and Rocket go ahead and sneak into the sub-basement of the Babel Spire.  The plan was to lay explosives in the Spire but that went pear-shaped when Star-Lord gets captured by Ultron. So Rocket and Groot go with plan B, Groot sprouts inside the Spire, growing colossal in size and filling a large portion of the building.

Mantis was able to do a job on Groot’s sap, making it extremely flammable, and so he lights himself up like a Chritmas-Groot and destroys the Spire. Again Groot died for the team (I’m seeing a pattern here). A cutting of Groot was kept by Rocket (Oh my god let the guy rest in pieces already) and he was able to regrow. Groot then joined Star-Lord’s new team, the Guardians of the Galaxy and began regrowing with the help of Mantis.

When the Guardians reformed (after that whole cancellation thing), Groot joined his friends Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer and Gamora and has been kicking ass and taking names ever since.