Top 5 Facts About Groot
It's time to get familiar with everyone's favorite one-word spouting sentient tree! Welcome to WatchMojo's Top 5 Facts. In this installment, we're counting down the Top 5 Facts About Groot.
For this list, we'll be looking at some fun facts related to the comic book character Groot!
#5: He Was on Reality TV
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Groot has been called many things since his 1960 comic book debut, but reality TV star? That’s strange even by his standards. In the secondary narrative of the 2011 comic “Annihilators: Earthfall”, Groot and his companion Rocket Raccoon are kidnapped and forced to compete in a reality series by an evil alien TV producer named Mojo. No relation! The story begins like any good one, with our heroes relaxing in a bar, but they’re soon forced to fight for their lives across a variety of scenarios. Overhearing some suspicious narration, the pair quickly realize that they’re actually in a simulation, eventually managing to blast their way out. Now that’s a reality show we’d watch.
#4: He Was Part of S.H.I.E.L.D’s Monster Squad
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Before joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot had already served as a member of another colorful crimefighting team. The so-called “Monster Squad” appeared in the comic book miniseries “Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos”, first published in 2005. The team consisted of a motley crew of supernatural characters from the Marvel Universe, including Warwolf and the Living Mummy, tasked with taking down Merlin. Yep! That one. In the second issue, the team captured a significantly more talkative Groot, eventually inviting him to join their team. Though the series only spanned six issues, it brought Groot back into the world of comics, which in turn earned him a spot with the “Guardians”.
#3: He Was Originally a Villain
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This may be hard to digest, but typically when a character is described as being an alien tree monster, they aren’t going to be one of the good guys. And so it was for Groot when he was first introduced to the world in the 13th issue of the 60’s comic book series “Tales to Astonish”. In that issue Groot is a straight up villain, who comes to earth in search of humans that he might kidnap and experiment on. He was eventually destroyed, only to reemerge in a later issue wreaking havoc on New York City. It wasn’t until he joined S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Paranormal Containment Unit that he turned good for well…good.
#2: He Is a Royal Genius
The name Groot rolls right off the tongue; it’s short and sweet. You know what isn’t short and sweet… His Divine Majesty King Groot the 23rd, Monarch of Planet X, custodian of the branch worlds, ruler of all the shades. That Khaleesi style run-on sentence is Groot’s official title; and he earned it. In fact, Groot is far from the taciturn dummy many mistake him for. He grew up on Planet X, home to the Flora colossus, a race of highly intelligent sentient trees. It was there that he honed his skills in what can only be described as super complicated space engineering. So yeah, Groot is a royal super genius…who knew?
#1: He Might Be the Last of His Species
He might, he might not, and it’s still up in the air. The comics paint a complicated picture, one that flip-flops constantly over whether or not Groot is the last of his kind. In 2011’s “Annihilators” #1, Groot’s pal Rocket stops on Planet X and runs into a forest made up of beings similar to Groot. However, according to the Disney animated series “Guardians of the Galaxy”, Groot’s entire species was killed by Ronan, the bad guy from the first movie. Whether or not he is the last of his species remains a mystery. One thing we do know for certain? He’s certainly popular with fans.
