Characters / MCU: Groot

Main Character Index > Heroic Organizations > Guardians of the Galaxy > Peter Quill | Gamora | Drax | Rocket Raccoon | Groot | Yondu Udonta | Nebula

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Spoilers for all works set prior to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

Groot

Tropes involving both Groots

• Adaptational Attractiveness: He has the face of a stuffed animal here if it were stuck on the body of a strong tree man, whereas his design in the comics and most other adaptations emphasize that he's an alien with a monstrous appearance. Baby Groot has the adorableness factor turned up a notch, while in the comics he looked like a miniature adult Groot.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Despite his limited vocabulary, the Groot from the comics is a bona fide Genius Bruiser. His MCU counterpart is more of a straight-up Dumb Muscle, though he does have a few moments that show he can occasionally be smarter than he looks.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, he can be reduced to a mere splinter without actually dying. In the MCU, while Groot is able to grow back after being reduced to a twig protecting the other Guardians from a Kree warship's explosion, it resulted in him undergoing Death of Personality, and is essentially a baby slowly growing up into adult form once again. Subverted with Groot II by the time of Vol. 3 as he's able to regenerate from a severed head and shows a lot more versatility with his powers.
• An Arm and a Leg: Owing to his ability to easily regrow lost limbs, Groot is regularly subjected to this. Both of Groot I's arms get chopped off by Gamora in their scuffle on Xandar, while Groot II cuts his own arm off to use as Stormbreaker's handle.
• Baritone of Strength: Their level of strength happens to correspond with how deep their voices are. The big and strong Groot I has an incredibly booming bass, while the small and weak Baby Groot II has a light squeak, with his voice getting increasingly deeper as he grows older, bigger, and stronger.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Groot II is the son of Groot I, who was grown out of one of the twigs from Groot's body.
• Breakout Character:
  • He and Rocket became explosively popular due to their unique and quirky designs and personalities, and are heavily used in the promotion of the films. This caused both of them to get their own comic series in the mainstream Marvel Universe.
  • As the son of the already immensely popular Groot, Baby Groot became even more beloved due to being cuter and having even more funnier scenes. To date he's one of the most heavily marketed MCU merchandise. He even gets his own series of shorts called I Am Groot.
• Character Catchphrase. "I am Groot", which is his only phrase, really.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Groot can be quite goofy at times. Drinking from a decorative public fountain, eating a leaf that grew from his own shoulder, and accidentally setting off a prison riot, for instance. Groot II is even worse; Vol. 2 reveals that he hates hats because he keeps mistaking them for people having weirdly-shaped heads.
• Combat Tentacles: His main form of attack is to grow his arms into these.
• Combo Platter Powers: He's a Plant Person, with all the associated abilities. He has Super-Strength and Super-Toughness as well as a Healing Factor, can reshape his own body at will (including limb extensions and forming shields out of branches), and can also manipulate his own biology, producing anything from simple flowers and leaves to clouds of bioluminescent spores.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: A single instance of "I am Groot" can contain a paragraph's worth of meaning. Vin Diesel's script had the meanings of what he was saying laid out so he could convey just the right tone, although what he actually said was... well, you know.
• Exposed Extraterrestrials: Groot doesn't bother wearing any clothes. Groot II is made to wear a Ravagers suit in Vol. 2, but he dumps it as soon as possible.
• Extendable Arms: Groot is able to increase the length of his arms to turn them into impaling spears or Combat Tentacles. He can also stretch his legs if he needs to be taller.
• Full-Frontal Assault: He never wears any clothes, not that it stops him from kicking his enemies' asses.
• Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: Groot I is about twice the height of a human, but his offspring Groot II is only a few inches high.
• Green Thumb: Groot can manipulate his own biology, producing virtually anything that is plant-related. This includes flowers and bioluminescent spores, in addition to regrowing limbs or altering his physical structure to fit the situation.
• Healing Factor: Groot can regrow just about any part of his body, although growing back entire limbs seems to take a few hours. After Gamora cut off both of Groot's arms, we can see stubby arms partially regrown during the mugshot scene, and they're fully regrown once they're in the Kyln. It's also not quite From a Single Cell-tier, since Groot I is reduced to twigs in his Heroic Sacrifice and only lives on through his son.
• The Heart: Is the kindest and most heroic member of the team and ultimately holds them together.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: While in some cases, the meaning is obvious, in most cases only Rocket understands Groot. The other Guardians learn how to speak Groot and thus understand what he's saying as time goes on. Thor also knows the language of Groot.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Groot has a tendency to run into action before Rocket finishes explaining his plan.
• Mighty Glacier: He is tough and strong with a lot of reach, but not really fast.
• Meaningful Name: Groot is actually a Dutch surname meaning "big/tall", which is appropriate given that he's a Gentle Giant. That said, in Dutch "groot" would be pronounced [groht] with the double o pronounced as a long 'o' sound.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Groot can do anything as long as it's plant-related, often to the surprise of his teammates.
  Drax: [after seeing Groot release luminescent spores] When did you learn to do that?
  Peter: Pretty sure the answer is "I am Groot".
  [Groot nods]
• Nice Guy: Unlike the other Guardians, Groot is gentle, supportive, and cooperative.
• No Biological Sex: Implied with Rocket's frustrated exclamation of "Learn genders, man!". Of course, being a sentient plant, he really wouldn't have any need for sex to procreate.
• Plant Aliens: He's an alien that looks like a tree.
• Plant Person: He's also capable of speech and cares about being paid.
• Pokémon Speak:
  • The only thing Groot ever says is "I am Groot", which only Rocket is able to understand. However, you sometimes have an idea of what he means based on context and intonation. Subverted in the case of two words with a Heroic Sacrifice, where Groot I instead says, "We are Groot."
  • With Groot II, it begins with him being misunderstood by everyone except Rocket, but by the time of Infinity War all the Guardians (and Thor) have learnt to understand Groot, a trait also picked up by Nebula by the time of Vol. 3. Initially, Time Heist!Gamora due to not sharing these experiences just assumes he's saying his name ad nauseum, so the others have to translate for him. By the end of the movie, both her and Groot are pleasantly surprised to find that she can understand him now.
  • Vol. 3 ends with Groot stating "I love you guys" in English, but Word of God states that he didn't learn English, the audience can now finally understand him.
• Screaming Warrior: Whenever Groot goes into combat, he roars at the top of his lungs.
• Series Mascot: Due to his popularity, both Groots are heavily used in promoting the films.
• Sizeshifter: Groot can change size at will.
• Shapeshifter Baggage: Played with. Groot can produce weapons from his body, stretch his limbs, and pull other tricks without apparent trouble, but it takes him a few hours to regrow two lost arms and his Heroic Sacrifice comes from using all his available mass to form a cocoon to protect his friends.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: Groot can form his limbs into weapons if need be, such as a large spear to impale people or shields to block gunfire.
• Starfish Language: "I am Groot" actually contains a sentence's worth of meaning. According to James Gunn, people only learn the language by getting to know him, which is why Rocket is the only one who can understand him in the first film.
• Starring Special Effects: He is a Breakout Character and a CGI creation.
• Super-Strength: Groot's pretty big. But he's strong enough to lift a Kyln inmate almost twice his own volume. Groot II is also strong enough to, as a baby, knock over a Ravager and chuck him off a walkway.
• Super-Toughness: Groot's wooden body is tough enough to shrug off bullets, and his Healing Factor, adjustable physiology, and lack of obvious vital organs combine to make seriously injuring him very difficult. Using himself as a crash shield in the finale shatters him.
• Token Good Teammate: Unlike everyone else on the team, Groot doesn't start off as a Jerkass and despite having a criminal record, he's the kindest member on the team.
• The Unintelligible: "I am Groot."
• Unskilled, but Strong: Groot is immensely strong, incredibly tough, and has a large mixed bag of useful abilities, but he's also rather slow to act in a fight and generally doesn't demonstrate an understanding of tactics outside of "smash the enemy". Despite being well below his weight class as far as physical abilities go, Gamora still manages to overpower him in their initial scuffle thanks to her superior fighting skill.
• When Trees Attack: He's a humanoid tree, and alongside Drax, he's The Big Guy of the team in the first film.

Groot I

"I am Groot."

Species: Flora colossus

Affiliation(s): Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Krystian Godlewski (Motion Capture)

Voiced By: Vin Diesel (English, Latin-American Spanish, French and Canadian French dubs)^{Foreign voice actors}Gonzalo Martín (European Spanish dub), Kenichi Endo (Japanese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy

"Groot: He's been traveling recently as Rocket's personal houseplant slash muscle."

— Rhomann Dey

A mobile, sapient tree-like alien who serves as Rocket's friend/transportation.

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Tropes involving Groot I

• Accidental Kidnapping: At the beginning of the first film, he and Rocket attempt to capture Peter Quill to get the bounty on his head, but Groot ties up and almost kidnaps Gamora instead of him due to his difficulty to differentiate the various genders and species.
• Adaptational Heroism: The first time he appeared in the comics, Groot was a villain who tried to attack Earth, and it wasn't until much later that he became a hero. In the MCU, Groot is portrayed as a good guy from the start.
• Alien Gender Confusion: When Groot tries to kidnap Gamora instead of Peter Quill in Vol. 1, Rocket tells him to learn his genders.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Groot can only speak one sentence, and is nearly at all times just following his friend Rocket's instructions. He seems childlike, growing flowers for people he likes, and fiercely protective when people threaten his friends. He also impales a line of soldiers, thrashes them around until everyone stops moving, only to turn around to the rest of the group and give them a dopey smiley almost as if he's looking for approval for what he's just done.
• Badass Adorable:
  • After impaling several Sakaaran soldiers and beating several more soldiers to death with them, he turns to Peter and Drax and gives a huge, adorable grin.
  • No other character goes out of his way to be nice as much as Groot. He is only ever violent when his friends are threatened, and he's constantly kind and gentle to everyone around him. But when he's pissed, he's scary.
• Badass Boast: While he always says the same thing, he does manage to get one of these at the start of the prison riot on the Kyln, based entirely on the tone and bellowing volume he uses.
  Groot: I... AM... GROOT!
• Bag of Kidnapping: When Groot and Rocket go after Peter Quill on Xandar to get Yondu's reward in Vol. 1, Groot brings a large bag to put him inside.
• Barrier Warrior: He can form his arms into wooden shields capable of taking beatings and even gunfire. He also does this with his entire body and around the entire team to save them when the Dark Aster is crashing.
• Bash Siblings: With his best friend Rocket and the other Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a Gentle Giant in the first film, but mess with him or his friends and you will feel pain.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: At the end of the first film, Groot performs a Heroic Sacrifice to shield the other members from the Dark Aster's crash-landing.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: His partner is Rocket, the short-tempered planner.
• Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Rocket's brains. Rocket is the resident Gadgeteer Genius while Groot is one of the team's muscles.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Groot is incredibly tough, but he's also a big, adorable softie.
• Character Death: James Gunn confirmed that Groot died during his heroic sacrifice, and Baby Groot is actually his son.
• Do-Anything Robot: An organic version, but he fulfills the exact same role nonetheless. Drax has drowned? Groot can create a hollow needle with his finger to help him breathe and clear the fluid. Room pitch dark? Groot can make glowing spores. Spaceship going to crash? He can form a shield around everyone.
• Dumb Muscle: As opposed to his Genius Bruiser comic counterpart, Groot is powerful, but incredibly airheaded. It's played with in that he makes use of creative attack strategies and knows how to resuscitate a drowned Drax without causing him fatal injury via a punctured lung, suggesting that he's more of a Genius Ditz.
• Establishing Character Moment: His Friend to All Children scene makes it clear who's the most kind on this team.
• Friend to All Children: Goes out of his way to give one of the impoverished asteroid-dwelling children a flower, just 'cause it's a nice thing to do.
• Gasp!: Groot gasps in shock when Rocket mocks Drax's grief over the death of his wife and daughter on Knowhere.
• Gentle Giant: The biggest member of the team, and by far the nicest, though pissing him off would be hazardous to your health.
• Glowing Flora: One of his powers. When the Guardians break into the Dark Aster to retrieve the Orb from Ronan at the end of Vol. 1 and explores a dark chamber, Groot expels a cloud of bioluminescent seeds to light the darkness.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Groot gets beaten up quite a bit during his first fight on Xandar, even losing both of his arms. However, as Rocket points out, he has a Healing Factor that allows him to regrow them so it's no big deal.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Having a Green Thumb is a whole lot more versatile when you're a ten-foot tall walking tree and can use your powers on yourself.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Uses his body to form a sphere to protect his team as the Dark Aster crashes. This kills him, leaving Rocket his son.
• Implausible Deniability: During their first scene, Groot gets scolded by Rocket for drinking water from the fountains of Xandar. Groot tries to pretend that he didn't do anything, even though he just did it right in front of him, as Rocket is quick to point out.
• Innocently Insensitive: After Drax mentioned his dead wife and daughter at the Knowhere bar in a deleted scene, Groot curiously asks him if he cried when he saw them being slaughtered by Ronan, to which Rocket immediately calls him out for being insensitive.
• Innocent Plant Children: Inverted since he is an adult with a playful personality.
• I Taste Delicious: Groot is not averse to the taste of... himself. Or at least the taste of his leaves. Granted, being a tree creature, he could be an autotroph^*an organism that creates its own food, but leaves are normally used to make food for the plant, not be food.
• Killed Off for Real: The Groot who dies at the end of the first movie and the one from Vol. 2 and onward are two separate characters.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Groot has this move where he extends dozens of quills from his body, which serve no purpose other than to make him look more intimidating. Like he would need to.
• Light 'em Up: Can send spores and flowers glowing in a rich golden light to illuminate the darkness. Light Is Good applies, since he's the kindest character in the movie.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Groot can manipulate his body to form a bulletproof wooden shield on his arms, which he does to protect himself and Rocket from the drones' gunfire during the prison fight.
• Morality Pet: For Rocket, and eventually to the others as well, he brings out their inner hero.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Both Gamora and Peter Quill constantly forget to include Groot whenever they discuss splitting the money for the Orb between them in Vol. 1.
  Gamora: If you free us, I'll lead you to the buyer directly and I'll split the profit between the three of us.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: Four of us. Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per frickin' usual.
  [Later]
  Drax: I have no interest in money!
  Peter: Great. That means more money for the three of us. [Groot makes a noise] For the four of us. Partners.
• Odd Friendship: With Rocket: One is a Pintsized Powerhouse with a Hair-Trigger Temper, the other a Gentle Giant.
• Oh, Crap!: Outside of combat, and when fully lucid, Groot seems to live in a perpetual state of mild distress.
• One-Man Army: Best demonstrated during the final battle in the Dark Aster when a large squad of Sakaaran soldiers arrives to fight the Guardians, only for Groot to stick his arm through a whole row of Sakaarans at once before using them as a bludgeon to batter the rest of the squad into submission. Once there are no Sakaarans left standing, Groot turns to Quill and Drax and flashes a huge grin.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Groot gets both of his arms chopped off by Gamora during their first encounter on Xandar but it doesn't seem to bother him. Justified, as he can grow his limbs back.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the first movie, when he prepares to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to save his comrades, he parts ways with his friend Rocket by re-assuring him: "We are Groot." — something which seemed to be impossible, due to his limited vocabulary.
• Outrun the Fireball: When The Collector's residence gets blown up by the Power Stone in Vol. 1, Groot grabs Rocket and hightails it outta there.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Groot does this twice during the first film:
  • The first time happens in the Kyln prison when he's about to fight the drones and the guards.
    Groot: I! AM! GROOOOOOT!
  • He does it again just before sacrificing himself to save the other Guardians at the end.
    Groot: We. Are. Groot.
• Spanner in the Works: The group would have had a much easier time escaping prison if Groot had not triggered the alarms while Rocket was still explaining the plan.
• True Companions: With Rocket before meeting the others as they've been bounty hunting together for a while.
• Truly Single Parent: Groot II was born solely from one of his father's remaining twigs.
• Undying Loyalty: While a gentle soul at his core, Groot's primary motivation in life is Rocket's happiness, and he is perfectly willing to break laws and smash people if it will make Rocket happy. This eventually expands to the team as a whole, with him showing a lot of compassion and sympathy towards Drax at his sadness over the loss of his family, and becomes as protective of him, Gamora and Peter as he is of Rocket. "We are Groot" indeed.
• Wrestler in All of Us: While this is Drax's forte, Groot gets in on the action as well, taking out one mook with a chokeslam.

Groot II

"I am Groot!"

^{Click here to see his adult form}
"I love you guys."

^{Click here to see his teenage form}
"I am Groot!"

Species: Flora colossus

Affiliation(s): Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Terry Notary (motion-capture, 2018-2022), Austin Freeman (motion-capture, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

Voiced By: Vin Diesel (English, French, and Canadian French dubs)^{Foreign voice actors}Óscar Bonfiglio (Latin-American Spanish dub), Miguel Ángel Muro (European Spanish dub), Kenichi Endo (Japanese dub), Duda Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | Thor: Love and Thunder | I Am Groot | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Groot's son, who is very different from his father.

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Tropes involving Groot II

• 11th-Hour Ranger: Groot, Rocket, and Thor join the battle in Wakanda after they have completed the creation of Stormbreaker.
• Affectionate Nickname: In Vol 2, Yondu oftenly calls him "Twig". Which Groot affectionately remembers after Yondu unfortunately dies. Thor warmly refers to Groot the second as "Tree."
• Ambiguous Situation: Is this Groot just the first Groot reverted to infancy? Or is it the original Groot's offspring? Comments by Kevin Feige indicate the former, but James Gunn seems to believe it's the latter. In either case, they share the same DNA, but the new Groot doesn't seem to have the first Groot's memories.
• An Arm and a Leg: Performs a voluntary version of this during Infinity War when he sacrifices his left arm to form the handle of Stormbreaker, Thor's new weapon. Said arm does grow back, however.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: He's aggressive and rude compared to his benevolent father/predecessor until he reaches young adulthood by the time of the Holiday Special, becoming kinder and more thoughtful again.
• Are We There Yet?: Implied. During the journey to Nidavellir in Infinity War, Adolescent Groot asks "I Am Groot" in a bored way and Thor responds with "You'll know when we're close".
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Looks to be a massive problem for him, going from dancing to the music to catching a bug to attacking the lizard that got the bug after it got away from him... but this actually works to his advantage later, when he gets the bomb to Ego's brain without getting lost by following the blue glow (a rare case of this trope taken literally!)
• Back from the Dead: As with the rest of the heroes who got dusted by Thanos in Infinity War, he appears alive and well again in time for the final battle in Endgame thanks to Bruce Banner using the new Infinity Gauntlet made from Stark tech.
• Backing Away Slowly: Having accidentally stepped on the Grunds city at the end of I Am Groot episode 2, Baby Groot makes two steps backwards in embarrassment before running away as fast as he can.
• Badass Adorable: Tiny and cute as he may be, he's much stronger than his size would suggest. He even deployed a bomb inside Ego's brain and can snare human-sized enemies and toss them around with his extendable arms.
• Badass and Child Duo: He gets changed over to having this dynamic with Rocket in Vol. 2 because he is now the smaller of the pair and much younger.
• Bash Siblings: With Rocket, Thor, and the other Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even being a baby, he's only slightly less dangerous.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Now Rocket is the big guy compared to him. At least in Vol. 2.
• Birdcaged: Following Taserace's mutiny against Yondu in Vol. 2, Baby Groot gets captured and locked in a small birdcage where he's being terrorized by the Ravagers.
• Boring Insult: In The Stinger of Vol. 2, Adolescent Groot insults Peter Quill by calling him "boring" when he complains about his Bratty Teenager attitude, which Peter throws back at him.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Peter: I'm not boring, you're boring!
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Gender-inverted, but still applicable. In one of The Stingers to Vol. 2 he is revealed to have grown up into a rude, lanky youngster with an addiction to video games. In Infinity War he swears at Quill for telling him to put his handheld console down and whines about his, Rocket, and Thor's journey to Nidavellir taking too long and the pod they take not having a bathroom.
• Chasing a Butterfly: At the beginning of Vol. 2, Baby Groot chases around and nearly eats an alien bug while the rest of the Guardians are busy fighting the Abilisk. Rocket immediately notices from 50 feet away and zooms over to stop him.
• The Chosen One: Through a Prophecy Twist according to the Watcher, Groot is destined according to an ancient prophecy to grow into a great hero that will spread peace throughout the universe.
• Children Are Innocent: The rest of the Guardians treat him as such, teaching him how the act and being very gentle with him. Near the end of Vol. 2, he even sits on Peter's leg who lets him listen to his music much like a father and a kid.
• Clingy Costume: During his capture by the Ravagers, Baby Groot is made their mascot and is forced to wear a small outfit. He tries to take it off in every possible way, but the outfit won't come off. However, he eventually manages to remove it off-screen after arriving at Ego's planet somehow.
• Cower Power: In I Am Groot, Baby Groot cowers on the ground after encountering a race of tiny aliens that assume he is hostile, arming weapons and ships at him.
• Cucumber Facial: Not actual cucumbers, but when Baby Groot takes a bath in a puddle on the planet Gangalor in the episode "Groot Takes a Bath", he puts mud all over his body and face, and then picks two alien fruits that look like cucumber slices to put them on his eyes.
• Cute Bruiser: Baby Groot may be the size of a baby, but he still has some of his father's Super-Strength and Leeroy Jenkins tendencies.
• Dance-Off: Upon encountering the shapeshifting alien Iwua in the episode "Groot's Pursuit" and seeing him turns into his doppelganger, Baby Groot challenges him to a dance off, which his opponent is more than happy to oblige.
• Dead Guy Junior: Even though he is essentially the child of the original Groot, everyone just calls him Groot as well.
• Deadpan Snarker: This Groot has a type of snark that produces amusing responses from those who can understand him.
• Defiant Stone Throw: At the beginning of Vol. 2, Baby Groot throws a rock at Drax when he tries to take credit for the defeat of the Abilisk, even though he actually caused more trouble than anything else during the fight by stupidly jumping into its mouth in a vain attempt to kill it from the inside.
• The Dog Bites Back: After having been repeatedly humiliated, doused with alcohol and kicked around by the Ravager Retch, Baby Groot ultimately gets his revenge during the escape from the Ravagers' ship by attacking him and throwing him to his death.
• Drives Like Crazy: Groot is capable of piloting a ship but isn't good at landing. When he remains aboard the Bowie when the others infiltrate OrgoCorp, he is later tasked to pick them up and crashes onto the landing zone.
• Don't Look At Me: He apparently doesn't like to be looked at.
  • During his first scene in Vol. 2, Baby Groot attacks some Orlonis because he didn't like the way they were looking at him.
  • In Infinity War, he also insists that Rocket and Thor don't look when he has to pee in a cup.
• Duct Tape for Everything: After the bomb he detonated blew a hole in the Guardians' starship in the fifth episode of I Am Groot, Baby Groot decides that the best thing to do is to cover it with some duct tape. Naturally, it doesn't hold for long and almost causes Rocket to get sucked into space.
• Emo Teen: One of the stingers of Vol. 2 shows that he's grown into a completely stereotypical adolescent phase.
• Fading Away: He fades from existence alongside billions as a result of Thanos' Badass Fingersnap in Infinity War. He returns to life in Endgame though thanks to Hulk's own Badass Fingersnap.
• From a Single Cell: Baby Groot grows from one of Groot's twigs. Subverted in that he's the original Groot's son.
• Generation Xerox: He is essentially a smaller, younger version of his father.
• Giant Foot of Stomping: Relatively speaking. Although Baby Groot's foot isn't really "giant", it is compared to the Grunds, who get accidentally stomped by it at the end of "The Little Guy".
• Handy Mouth: During the opening battle on Indigarr in Thor: Love and Thunder, Adolescent Groot carries a pair of binoculars in his mouth. An exasperated Rocket tries to take it off him, but Groot doesn't let it go easily.
• Helium Speech: As both a baby and an adolescent. His "I am Groot" is a lot higher in pitch than adult Groot's.
• The Hilarity of Hats: When an imprisoned Yondu gives Baby Groot his Ravager badge in Vol. 2 so that he can find the drawer that has the same symbol on it and bring back the prototype fin that is stored inside, Baby Groot doesn't unsterstand and puts it on his head. Rocket explains that Groot thinks Yondu wants him to wear it as a hat, which Yondu denies.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: He's relieved you don't want him to wear it as a hat.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: He hates hats.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: On anyone, not just himself.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: You see someone and think they have a weird head and then it just turns out part of their head is a hat. [Beat] That's why you don't like hats?
• I Got Bigger:
  • Groot went through a massive growth spurt in between Thor: Love and Thunder and the holiday special, having gotten bigger and burlier like a football player.
  • He's positively gigantic in The Stinger of Vol 3. As at least as tall as his father, and three time as wide.
• Informed Obscenity: At one point in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Groot apparently says something naughty.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Yondu: What's that?
  Rocket: He says, "Welcome to the frickin' Guardians of the Galaxy." Only he didn't use "frickin'."
  [Later]
  Rocket: We're gonna need to have a real discussion about your language.
  • He does this again as a teenager during his first scene in Avengers: Infinity War, shocking the entire team.
    Groot: I am Groot!
    Peter Quill: Whoa!
    Rocket: Language!
    Gamora: Hey!
    Drax: Wow.
    Peter: You got some acorns on you, kid!
• Innocent Plant Children: He is the epitome of this trope, even after he starts to enter his adolescent stage.
• Instant Expert: Played for Laughs. After just figuring out how to stack two twigs together in "The Little Guy", Baby Groot manages to build a massive fortress out of twigs in only five minutes.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Out-of-universe, he's never called "Teen Groot", but is referred to as "Adolescent Groot". The key reasoning seems to be that Groot is only four at the time that he's reached adolescence, and is therefore not a teenager.
  • When Rocket thinks he just called him a "raboon" in Vol. 2, Baby Groot clarifies that he said "raccoon".
    Groot: I am Groot.
    Rocket: I’m not a raboon, either.
    Groot: I am Groot.
    Rocket: "Raccoon". Whatever.
• Jar Potty: During the travel to Nidavellir aboard the Space Pod, Adolescent Groot says he needs to urinate so Rocket and Thor tell him to do it in a cup and then throw its contents into space.
• Jerkass Ball: Parodied in the credits of Vol. 2, where Baby Groot has apparently grown up into a whiny and bratty adolescent who refuses to clean his room and spends most of his time playing video games (he even speaks with a stereotypical moody teenager drawl "I Am GrooOOoot"), a far cry from his usual Nice Guy personality.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a teenager he’s surly, temperamental and antisocial, but when push comes to shove he proves he’s still a hero and a Guardian of the Galaxy. When Thor’s life is in danger he steps in to help revive him and joins the Battles of Wakanda and Earth in earnest to help fight Thanos.
• Just One More Level!: Once he becomes a teenager, Groot spends his entire days playing video games and doesn't stop no matter how many times Peter and Rocket try to tell him it's not healthy for him.
• Karmic Jackpot: After Adam Warlock lies weak and unconscious on the High Evolutionary's collapsing spaceport, Groot carries him to safety with the rest of the captives, even though Adam tried to kill the Guardians. How does Adam repay him? He saves Peter's life before he can freeze to death in the vacuum of space after the Guardians escape the High Evolutionary's crumbling fortress.
• Killer Rabbit: Yes, he's small and adorable as a baby and, honestly, kind of weak. Give him an edge, though, and he can be as vicious as his father.
• Klingons Love Shakespeare: Hinted at by his credits gag appearance in the first film. By Vol. 2, he's developed a full-blown and shameless love for Peter's 80s Earth music. He even spends the battle against the Abilisk dancing to one song in particular, and gets very upset with Drax for smashing the sound system by accident.
• Knuckle Cracking: When Baby Groot prepares to do a portrait of himself and the Guardians in the I Am Groot episode "Magnum Opus", he starts by interlacing his fingers and pushing his hands forward to crack them, then he cracks his neck as well.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Groot was blown up at the end of the first film, and this is his son.
• Legacy Character: The Groot that died in Vol. 1 stayed dead. The Groot that appears in subsequent movies is his son.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending most of Infinity War glossed over his video games, Groot starts taking the situation seriously again, starting with using his own limbs to make a makeshift handle for Thor's new weapon, Stormbreaker. He joins the Battle of Wakanda on the heroes’ side, as well as the Battle of Earth upon his resurrection five years later.
• The Load: As Baby Groot, he's unnecessary for most of the scenes he's in and even distracts the Guardians when fighting an inter-dimensional creature. He makes dumb choices (he releases Nebula — someone that tried to kill Gamora in the past movie and would have done so if it wasn't for Star-Lord almost sacrificing himself). One has to wonder why the Guardian's crew keep bringing and endangering what is almost a helpless kid to their battles. That last part is even lampshaded in the final song, "Guardians Inferno".
  David Hasselhoff: They ask me why I'm bringin' a baby into battle. That's really irresponsible. And getting them rattled.
• Lost in Translation: Happens whenever Baby Groot is asked to do something by other members of the team. He understands part of what he's being asked, but misunderstands key details. Yondu and Rocket are able to get him to go look for a replacement head fin so Yondu can control his arrow again, and even manage to guide him into the correct room, but he keeps bringing back the wrong objects, in some cases objects that are so radically different from their description of the head fin that Groot is clearly not picking up on the finer points of their description. In the climax, Rocket gives him the atomic bomb which only Groot is small enough to plant on Ego's brain, and Groot understands where he needs to take the bomb and how to set the switches to prime it, but doesn't understand to not push a button that would trigger the bomb immediately which would kill the team immediately, though he gets it right in the end.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Baby Groot's mentality is a combination of this trope and being "Groot's clone-son with Genetic Memory". Word of God is inconsistent about which is which. In either case, turning into a baby-like stature as part of his rejuvenation has really done a number on his mind. He's far more childlike in behavior, being prone to tantrums, wandering off, and having trouble understanding what the others are trying to say to him. In his dedicated credits gag, he's grown up into a stereotypical grumpy adolescent.
• Mirror Reveal: In the episode "Groot Takes a Bath", Baby Groot doesn't realize that leaves have grown all over his body until he looks at his reflection in the bath water.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: He is capable of growing more limbs to aid in battle. In Vol. 3, he uses this ability to hold multiple blasters and later, grows several arms on his back to form a pair of wings that allowed him to glide.
• No Body Left Behind: Is disintegrated along with half the universe after Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet.
• Odd Friendship: He forms one with Thor of all people in Infinity War.
• Offhand Backhand: At the end of the episode "Groot's First Steps", Baby Groot sits next to the bonsai tree to eat cheese balls, and slaps away a cleaning robot that was coming behind him without even looking at it.
• Overly Long Scream: Exaggerated in the second episode of I Am Groot. After the wooden fort he built on the planet Grundar got destroyed when a Vyloo climbed on it and was then attacked by a Manta Bird, Baby Groot screams in anger for 37 minutes until he falls on his face from exhaustion.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: In the third episode of I Am Groot, Baby Groot hears a spooky noise in the starship from his bed. He gets up to take a look while still wearing his pajamas, and finds himself confronted with a shapeshifting alien named Iwua.
• Pass the Popcorn: In Vol. 2, Baby Groot chows down on lollies while the Guardians are flying through an Asteroid Thicket. He's later munching on skittles when the Milano is just about to crash.
• Pet Gets the Keys: When Yondu and Rocket are locked in the Ravager ship's brig, they catch Baby Groot's attention and tell him to bring Yondu's prototype head fin so they can break out. Unfortunately, Groot doesn't quite understand what they're talking about and brings back a series of increasingly hilarious object — including a pair of underwear, a severed toe, and a desk — before a regretful Kraglin helps him out.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He is, in effect, a child due to what happened in the first film, and less than a foot tall, but still strong enough to knock a full-grown man down.
• Reduced to Dust: By Thanos' Badass Fingersnap at the end of Infinity War. It's undone five years later in Endgame.
• Replacement Goldfish: The rest of the Guardians pretty much treat him as if he is the original Groot.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: He's an absolutely adorable miniature humanoid tree. Even the mutinous Ravagers find him cute.
  Gef: Hey, what about this little plant? Can I smash it with a rock?
  Taserface: No, Gef! It's too adorable to kill!
• Rummage Fail: In Vol. 2, Baby Groot is tasked with retrieving a replacement fin for Yondu. Unfortunately, he doesn't even understand what it is he's supposed to be looking for. We get a rather long montage of him grabbing the wrong thing over and over, like a pair of underwear, an Orloni, a mechanical eye, an entire desk, and a freshly severed toe. Even by the time he finally gets into the correct drawer in Yondu's stateroom, he picks up some random tin that was lying next to the fin. Had Kraglin not intervened to deliver the fin, this probably would have gone on a lot longer.
• Same Character, But Different: His appearance is very similar to that of the original Groot, but he has none of his father's memories and shows a rather different personality due to his different upbringing. (Also the fact that in Vol. 2 he's only two months old.)
• Screaming Warrior: Even when he's only ten inches tall.
• Shy Bladder: On the way to Nidavellir, Groot has to pee but feels embarrassed.
  Groot: I am Groot.
  Rocket: Tinkle in the cup. We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig before.
  Groot: [whiny] I am Groo-oot!
  Thor: Tree, pour what's in the cup out into space and go in the cup again.
• Shoulder Teammate: In an inversion of their dynamic in the first movie, now it's Baby Groot's turn to ride on Rocket's shoulder while the rambunctious raccoon delivers More Dakka. One scene on the Milano has the crew pass him around while the others work. The poster also has Groot on Quill's shoulder.
• Silent Snarker: When Drax believes he took down the Abilisk all by himself, an annoyed Baby Groot throws a rock at him.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: This is a bad habit that one will inevitably pick up when you are raised by a foul-mouthed family of space pirates/privateers, particularly when you have two "fathers" as rude and surly as Quill and Rocket. As a teenager, he is implied to have an unbelievably sarcastic and filthy mouth, as his sneered "I am Groot" in the opening of Avengers: Infinity War was enough to elicit horrified disgust from every other Guardian.
• Sizeshifter: Though not to the extent of Giant-Man, Vol. 3 reveals that Groot is capable of increasing his size at will. Nebula calls this ability of Groot "Kaiju-mode."
• Small Role, Big Impact: He spends most of Infinity War hanging out by Rocket’s side, except for when he used his arm for Stormbreaker’s handle. Without that sacrifice, Thor wouldn’t have made it to Wakanda in time to turn the tide and save the Avengers.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Baby Groot has several scenes in Vol. 2 dedicated to his cute, silly shenanigans often adding little value to the plot but just downright funny and adorable to watch.
• Starfish Language: Like his father, he's saying a lot of things within "I am Groot", but only those who know him personally for long enough like the Guardians can understand what he's saying. While Thor claimed he could understand Groot because the language was an elective at Asgardian school in Infinity War, James Gunn clarifies that he was joking.
• Strolling Through the Chaos: During the opening fight with the Abilisk in Vol. 2, Baby Groot remains unharmed while chaos unfolds left and right.
• Super-Breath: Downplayed. While Baby Groot's breath is nothing special, the Grunds are so tiny that he manages to send them flying when he blows on them in "The Little Guy".
• Tagalong Kid: Physically and mentally, he is nothing more than a young child. All the other Guardians are very caring towards him and treat him very delicately. Rocket is cautious of what Groot should be allowed to eat, when he tries to eat a bug. Gamora, Drax, and Peter all caress him in their arms much like how one would do with an infant.
• They Killed Kenny Again: He grew from the twigs of the original Groot who was killed in the first film, and it took him an entire film for him to reach a decent size... Only for him to get disintegrated in Infinity War. Subverted in Endgame, where Groot is restored (along with everyone else Thanos snapped) exactly as he was in Infinity War.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Inverted. As a baby, he has a lot less physical prowess than the adult Groot, as is painfully clear in the scene where the Ravagers torment and humiliate him despite his efforts to fight back. He does manage to play this straight when he manages to trip one fleeing Ravager and swing him off of the walkway during Yondu's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, but that's the only physical fight he gets into and wins in the entirety of Vol. 2.
  • Played straight in Infinity War, where teen Groot willingly chops off his own arm to help Thor complete the forging of Stormbreaker and later joins the battle against Thanos's forces in Wakanda, thrashing Outriders like nothing.
  • By the time of Vol. 3, Groot has gotten significantly stronger and burlier, being able to regenerate himself from a cut-off head, to being able to temporarily grow in size to scare off people.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: As a teenager, Groot is very bratty Dumbass Teenage Son who is addicted to video games and takes pleasure in mouthing off to his "parents", (mostly Star-Lord), and being dismissive of what's going on.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He grows out of his rebellious phase by the time of the Holiday Special onwards, where's his personality is much closer to being like his father's.
• Translation Convention: Groot's final line in Vol. 3 — "I love you guys." — isn't him speaking English, it's the audience understanding Groot.
• Trash of the Titans: Groot becomes a lazy teenager who'd rather play video games all day than take care of the mess in his room. When Peter comes to his room in The Stinger of Vol. 2, he realizes that the place is a dump with old vines everywhere and asks him to clean it up, but Groot is too busy playing his game to listen to him.
• Treasure Chest Cavity: In Vol. 3, he's able to store items inside of his chest, including a scalpel and a button-activated time bomb.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: This is a person we've seen trash a dozen Sakaarans with one arm — when he trashes that one Ravager he becomes terrifying. He also, apparently, severed someone's toe when sent to retrieve Yondu's prototype head fin.
• Villain Killer: In addition to having killed his fair share of Ravagers and Outriders, Baby Groot is notably the one who ends up killing Ego himself at the end of Vol. 2 by placing the bomb into his core.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Baby Groot really dislikes Drax and hits him whenever he gets the chance. It's implied to be either mutual or understandable on Drax's part.
  Drax: Out of the way, dumber, smaller Groot!
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After he, Rocket and Yondu have made far too many star-jumps in Vol. 2, Groot throws up on himself on-screen. Being a baby, he doesn't even notice.
• What Does This Button Do?: In the climax of Vol. 2, Rocket shows Baby Groot an explosive device and gives him specific instructions not to press the Big Red Button, as it would set set it off immediately, killing them all. Groot has trouble understanding. Fortunately, when Groot has to press the button, he nearly presses the wrong one, but stops at the last second and makes the right choice.
• Younger Than They Look: By the time of the Holiday Special, Groot's grown much taller and bulkier, even though he's still only a few years old. When Kevin Bacon flatly says "that man was a plant", Kraglin corrects him by saying that Groot's just a kid.

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"We are Groot."