History Characters / MCURocketRaccoon

!!! '''Voiced By:''' Creator/BradleyCooper (English), Creator/SeanGunn (young, English), Noah Raskin (infant, English), Sergio Zurita [''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'' to ''Film/AvengersEndgame''], Creator/EnriqueCervantes [''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' onwards] (Latin-American Spanish dub), Juan Logar Jr. (European Spanish dub), Koji Kato (Japanese dub), Creator/AlexisVictor (French dub), Maël Davan-Soulas (Canadian French dub), Mckeidy Lisita (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

->''"Oh, '''[[LetsGetDangerous yeah]].'''"''

[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Heroic Organizations > [[Characters/MCUGuardiansOfTheGalaxy Guardians of the Galaxy]] > [[Characters/MCUPeterQuill Peter Quill]] | [[Characters/MCUGamora Gamora]] | [[Characters/MCUDrax Drax]] | [[Characters/MCUGroot Groot]] | '''Rocket Raccoon''' | [[Characters/MCUYonduUdonta Yondu Udonta]] | [[Characters/MCUMantis Mantis]] | [[Characters/MCUNebula Nebula]]-]]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Heroic Organizations > [[Characters/MCUGuardiansOfTheGalaxy Guardians of the Galaxy]] > [[Characters/MCUPeterQuill Peter Quill]] | [[Characters/MCUGamora Gamora]] | [[Characters/MCUDrax Drax]] | [[Characters/MCUGroot Groot]] | '''Rocket Raccoon''' | [[Characters/MCUYonduUdonta Yondu Udonta]] | [[Characters/MCUNebula Nebula]]-]]]

* SmarterThanYouLook: His impulsiveness, prone to {{Malaproper}}, and coarse personality make him come off like an idiot, and, for obvious reasons, him being a small, cute animal makes most of the people he comes in contact with not take him the least bit seriously, but he's actually stunningly intelligent (outright said multiple times to be the smartest out of all the Guardians) and a very capable GadgeteerGenius.
* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: He is a snarky cynical raccoon with a HiddenHeartOfGold.

** The odd little tablet device he carries throughout Volume 3 is the key he used to escape his cage. He's carried it his entire life, likely to remind himself how he failed his friends.

* PsychopathicManchild: In the first two movies he comes across as this frequently getting into temper tantrums that lead to him almost killing people. Starting with ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' while he is still a bit surly and grumpy he has matured a bit until he finally completes his arc in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3''.

** He initially viewed the High Evolutionary as his father and clearly admired him, albeit while fearing him to a certain degree. His image of the man was shattered when he revealed he only viewed Rocket and his friends as failed experiments, was going to have them killed because of it, and mocked Rocket for ever believing otherwise. It got worse when he [[spoiler: killed Lylla in front of him, and cruelly mocked his anguished crying upon losing her.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: This is how his rivalry with the High Evolutionary begins. In his youth, Rocket manages to find the error in the High Evolutionary's machine that keeps getting his test subjects highly unstable. This, however, made the High Evolutionary hate him with every fiber because his ego couldn't handle how one of his failed subjects is able to solve something that even he couldn't be able to figure out.

** ''Vol. 3'': The opening scene reveals that despite his character development, he regurally swipes Quill's Zune.

* TheAce: He may be The High Evolutionary's greatest achievement, having mastered science and technology at a very young age and perfecting THE's own work when the man himself was at a loss for how to proceed. He then shows himself to be ''morally'' superior to the man as well, [[spoiler:doing everything he can to rescue his test subjects and refusing to kill him.]]

* RunningGag: He hates being referred to as an animal. Naturally, everyone calls him an animal name when they meet him. And aside from Quill, Natasha, Scott, [[spoiler:Lylla, and eventually himself]], they always call him something other than a raccoon. To wit:
** Garthan Saal called him a hamster.
** Ego called him a monkey.
** Mantis called him a puppy.
** Yondu called him a rat.
** Nebula called him a fox.
** Thor and several Asgardian warriors called him a rabbit.
** Ayesha and Adam Warlock called him a squirrel.
** Stakar called him a hedgehog.
** Alternate Gamora called him a badger.

* VocalDissonance: He has a fairly deep and gruff voice for such a small creature, especially when he speaks more slowly (The way he said "Oh...yeah..." in the first movie as well as the way he said "Word" at the end of the third movie are probably the most prominent examples)[[note]]However [[TheOtherDarrin the guy they]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwzFSOM0qDA get whenever Bradley Cooper isn't available]] gives him an even ''deeper'' voice[[/note]]

* TokenNonHuman: When he and Nebula join the Avengers during the five-year skip in ''Endgame'', there the only ones not to be human, enhanced or not.

* TokenNonHuman: He is a talking anthropomorphic raccoon in the team of human (or human-like) Guardians.

%%* HairTriggerTemper

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Even among a ragtag team like the Guardians, all of whom have troubled and depressing origins, Rocket ''still'' manages to stand out as the one with the most [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 nightmarish backstory]]. [[spoiler:As a kit he was kidnapped from Earth by the High Evolutionary,]] captured, vivisected while conscious and with no anaesthetic, pieced back together with cybernetics and pumped full of mutagens to make the cybernetics take that also gave him sentience and genius-level intelligence, he was part of an experiment by the High Evolutionary to create a utopia and revered his master, but he and his three cellmates (including his FirstLove Lylla) were then revealed to have never been intended for the new world and the High Evolutionary callously orders his friends' executions and Rocket's dissection. He attempted to escape with his friends, but they were all killed despite his best efforts (and Rocket left the [[ArchEnemy High Evolutionary]] horrifically [[FacialHorror disfigured]] in a fit of UnstoppableRage, leaving him with a strong desire for revenge) and he was forced to flee the base to escape his former master and his impending execution, leaving him to fend for himself in an unknown and hostile universe while still an adolescent.]] it's a wonder that he's even half as well-adjusted as he is. His past is so sad that while [[spoiler:the Guardians looked at files from his past, [[EveryoneCries everyone]] (especially [[TheHeart Mantis]]) [[EveryoneCries tears up]] and Nebula even states that what he went through was '''worse''' than what she went through with [[AbusiveParents Thanos]]]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Even among a ragtag team like the Guardians, all of whom have troubled and depressing origins, Rocket ''still'' manages to stand out as the one with the most [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 nightmarish backstory]]. [[spoiler:As a kit he was kidnapped from Earth by the High Evolutionary,]] captured, vivisected while conscious and with no anaesthetic, pieced back together with cybernetics and pumped full of mutagens to make the cybernetics take that also gave him sentience and genius-level intelligence, he was part of an experiment by the High Evolutionary to create a utopia and revered his master, but he and his three cellmates (including his FirstLove Lylla) were then revealed to have never been intended for the new world and the High Evolutionary callously orders his friends' executions and Rocket's dissection. He attempted to escape with his friends, but they were all killed despite his best efforts (and Rocket left [[ArchEnemey the High Evolutionary]] horrifically disfigured in a fit of UnstoppableRage, leaving him with a strong desire for revenge) and he was forced to flee the base to escape his former master and his impending execution, leaving him to fend for himself in an unknown and hostile universe while still an adolescent.]] it's a wonder that he's even half as well-adjusted as he is. His past is so sad that while [[spoiler:the Guardians looked at files from his past, [[EveryoneCries everyone]] (especially [[TheHeart Mantis]]) [[EveryoneCries tears up]] and Nebula even states that what he went through was '''worse''' than what she went through with [[AbusiveParents Thanos]]]].

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Captured, vivisected while conscious, pieced back together with cybernetics and pumped full of mutagens to make the cybernetics take that also gave him sentience and human-level intelligence, and presumably dumped and forced to fend for himself in an unknown and hostile universe -- it's a wonder that he's even half as well-adjusted as he is. [[spoiler:''Vol. 3'' reveals that all of this has happened since he was a ''baby'' and that he was part of an experiment by the High Evolutionary to create a utopia, with him and his three cellmates being discarded once they had fulfilled their usefulness. Feeling angered and betrayed by this, Rocket attempts to escape with his friends, but they were all killed despite his best efforts.]] His past is so sad that while [[spoiler:the Guardians looked at files from his past, [[EveryoneCries everyone]] (especially [[TheHeart Mantis]]) [[EveryoneCries tears up]] and Nebula even states that what he went through was '''worse''' than what she went through with [[AbusiveParents Thanos]]]].

%%* DeadpanSnarker: For example, when he needs Gamora to recover a piece of equipment for their escape from the Kyln.

* DeadpanSnarker: He gets a few in. For example, when he needs Gamora to recover a piece of equipment for their escape from the Kyln.

* HairTriggerTemper: Played for laughs as Rocket can have a very bad temper as he can blow a fuse without much provocation with his moments of frequent shouting at the top of his lungs much to his team's amusement. Although it's subtle, he's more calmer as his CharacterDevelopment goes on.

* TheHero: [[WordOfGod According to James Gunn]], Rocket is [[TheProtagonist the main protagonist]] of the series, and he eventually grows into the role, fully taking it in ''Vol. 3'''s climax.

* TheProtagonist: Despite the beginning of the first movie centering on Quill, [[WordOfGod James Gunn]] confirmed him to be the main protagonist of the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

* FireForgedFriends: With Yondu in ''Vol. 2'', after half of his Ravager crew mutinies and jettisons the loyal half to space, the two are forced to work together to escape. During this time, [[NotSoDifferentRemark Yondu ends up telling Rocket]] that the two of them are quite similar in that they both use a HiddenHeartOfGold-hiding facade to hide the pain of their pasts. Afterward, the two become genuine friends enough that Rocket is the second most devastated by Yondu's death after Peter himself.

* GadgeteerGenius: Rocket repeatedly demonstrates a talent for fashioning useful things out of random junk in a time crunch. To whit: the Hadron Enforcer, a weapon that launches highly explosive rounds, was made from random bits that Rocket stripped from the ''Milano''. He also made a couple of explosives while doing so, including that one that can apparently blow up moons, which is no empty boast as the sequel demonstrates when he rigs up a bomb to destroy a moon-sized living planet, aided by the batteries that he had stolen from the Sovereign.
** '' Vol. 3'' demonstrates that he is this on a savant level [[spoiler:as he is able to figure out what was wrong with the High Evolutionary's hyper-evolution chamber at a single glance as a kit with a mental age of maybe 13 years old. He also creates a working card key ''in seconds'' using nothing but scraps.]]

* ILetGwenStacyDie: Rocket feels responsible for [[spoiler:Lylla, Floor and Teefs' deaths because he was the one trying to break them all out. Even after many years, he still never forgave himself and apologizes to Lylla when he sees her again in the afterlife.]]

** Turns out Rocket scarred the High Evolutionary — ''in both senses'' — about as badly as he hurt him. Except Rocket was a ''lot'' more efficient about it.

* TheHero: [[WordOfGod According to James Gunn]], Rocket is [[TheProtagonist the true protagonist]] of the series, and he eventually grows into the role, fully taking it in ''Vol. 3'''s climax.

* TheProtagonist: Despite the beginning of the first movie centering on Quill, [[WordOfGod James Gunn]] confirms him to be the main character of the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

* BabysFirstWords: A targic variant; after given self-awareness as a ''days old cub'' by having his brain modified and his skull stapled back together ''without anesthetics'', his first words, wept to his new friends, defined his entire character.

** People who use their losses as an excuse for their actions. As Rocket sees it, there is no one in the universe who hasn't lost something precious, so you don't get to act like you're special because of it and you don't get to risk other peoples' lives. A touch hypocritical, considering that ''he'' uses the lack of compassion during ''his'' childhood as justification for his cruelty and cynicism towards ''everyone'' ; and his ''"toughen up or die alone for all I care'' worldview was proven ''spectacularly'' wrong in ''Endgame'' when it was '''not''' his dismissive slap for Thor's sadness that saved the depressed God from his downward spiral of self-pity, but a ''much'' needed loving hug of encouragement from him mother.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: With Lylla. [[spoiler: She was the first person he ever saw when he was imprisoned as an experiment and the first one to show him true kindness. Rocket became attached to her very quickly and he dreamed of living in the new world with her and their friends. She was similarly awestruck by his talent and wit and the two share many heartfelt moments together in their youth. Her death drives him mad with grief and causes his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of the High Evolutionary.]]

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Sometimes he's the one looking after Groot and telling him what not to do, like drink from the city's display fountain.

** He despises the High Evolutionary for everything he stands for and for all he did to him as a child.

* BabysFirstWords: A targic variant; after given self-awareness as a ''days old cub'' after having his brain opened and modified ''without anesthetics'', his first words, wept to his new friends, defined his entire character.