When Guardians of the Galaxy exploded onto the scene last year, the blockbuster hit with an all-star cast, broke box office records, and catapulted a new crew of characters to the forefront of pop culture icons. One of these was the loveable alien tree, Groot, voiced by action superstar Vin Diesel. Now, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on the horizon, Diesel shared the one thing he needs to see from the sequel.
Diesel told IGN that he put in a personal request to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 writer/director James Gunn that he would love to see Groot as a supersized monolith, and even postulated that he could chow down and get large on trees in New York City’s famed Central Park. He said:
I'd love to throw him into a forest and see how much mass that he consumes after devouring all the trees. Imagine throwing him into Central Park in New York City. I just want to see Giant Groot.
Groot can absorb wood as food, sort of like a vegan Galactus, and has the ability to regenerate, control trees, form and use plants as weapons, and sprout to enhance his size. While it might seem that the simple counter attack to a giant Groot would be a flame thrower, Groot also has the benefit of being resistant to fire. He’s a lot like a cross between Superman and Wolverine, if either of them were made out of recycled tree branches.
It may surprise fans of the character to know that Groot was not always so loveable. He was introduced in Marvel’s Tales to Astonish #13 in November of 1960, created by iconic comic creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, as well as Dick Ayers. Back then, Groot was an extraterrestrial invader whose intent was to capture humans and perform experiments on them. The character was resurrected in 2006 as a hero in Marvel’s crossover event, Annihilation: Conquest, the sequel to Annihilation, which saw the central figures from Guardians come together for the first time.
Groot hails from Planet X, the capital of the branch worlds, and formed a bond with his sidekick Rocket Raccoon after the pair joined up with Star-Lord’s strike force. In an attempt to escape capture, the team tries to exit via a drainage pipe that Groot cannot fit through, and he stalls their captives long enough to allow Star-Lord and Rocket to escape. Groot is presumed dead, but survives as a sapling, a poignant moment in the comic that was re-imagined for the Guardians of the Galaxy feature film.
But, none of this matters to Diesel, who, much like a kid who constantly thinks things like, “This ice cream sundae is great, but you know what would make it awesomer? If it was GIANT SIZE!”
Come to think of it…giant Groot does sound kind of awesome.
