Groot facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Groot
Groot on the cover of I Am Groot #1. Art by Flaviano Armentaro.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales to Astonish #13 (November 1960)
Created by	Stan Lee Larry Lieber Jack Kirby
In-story information
Species	Flora colossus
Team affiliations	Guardians of the Galaxy S.H.I.E.L.D. Paranormal Containment Unit Nova Corps
Partnerships	Rocket Raccoon
Notable aliases	Monarch of Planet X Seed of Slaughter Tree
Abilities	Superhuman strength, stamina, endurance, durability, and senses Regenerative healing factor Elasticity/plasticity Plant manipulation Immortality

Groot is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales to Astonish #13 (November 1960). An extraterrestrial, sentient tree-like creature, the original Groot first appeared as an invader that intended to capture humans for experimentation. The character can only say the repeated line "I am Groot", but has different meaning. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star-Lord, Thor, and Rocket Raccoon are able to understand him.

The character was reintroduced as a heroic, noble being in 2006, and appeared in the crossover comic book storyline "Annihilation: Conquest." Groot went on to star in its spin-off series, Guardians of the Galaxy, joining the team of the same name.

Groot has been featured in a variety of associated Marvel merchandise, including animated television series, toys and trading cards. Vin Diesel voices Groot (with Krystian Godlewski playing the character via performance capture) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and cameoed as Groot's son (also named Groot) (with James Gunn playing the character via performance capture for dancing), colloquially known as "Baby Groot". Diesel reprised the role in the MCU films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. He portrayed Baby Groot in the short form series I Am Groot, and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Fred Tatasciore voices Groot on the Disney California Adventure ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout and Diesel voiced Groot as a cameo in the film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).

Characterization

Powers and abilities

Groot can absorb wood as food, and has the ability to regenerate. Groot can control trees and plants, using them to attack others, and appears to be resistant to fire. Groot is able to sprout dramatically increasing mass which then severely inhibits movement.

Groot has been seemingly killed on multiple occasions, each time regrowing from a sprig.

"I am Groot"

Black Bolt's brother Maximus the Mad asserted that whenever Groot is saying the trademark "I am Groot!" he has actually been saying a number of things, and his varying inflections of the sentence are the equivalent of words and sentences. People who have interacted with Groot are gradually able to decipher the meaning of the inflections and can carry on full conversations with Groot as time goes on. The mature form of Groot's species is robust and heavyweight, which causes the organs of acoustic generation to become stiff and inflexible. It is this nature of Groot's larynx that causes people, who are oblivious to the subtle nuances of Flora colossi speech, to misinterpret Groot as merely repeating his name. It could not be determined whether Maximus's claim was true or merely another manifestation of his madness, though Groot did genuinely seem to be assisting Maximus with highly advanced engineering. Later, in All-New X-Men #23, Jean Grey telepathically links with Groot, showing that Groot's thought processes are indeed complex, and the declaration of "I am Groot!" usually represents attempts at highly intelligent communication.

In Avengers: Infinity War, which takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor explains that Flora colossi is offered as an elective in Asgardian schools. Filmmaker James Gunn has interpreted this as a joke on the part of the character of Thor.

Cultural impact and legacy

A statue of Groot in Peru

Accolades

• In 2015, Den of Geek ranked Groot 16th in their "Marvel’s 31 Best Monsters" list.
• In 2018, CBR.com ranked Groot 7th in their "25 Most Powerful Guardians Of The Galaxy" list.
• In 2018, Vanity Fair included Groot in their "Stan Lee’s Most Iconic Characters" list.
• In 2021, Screen Rant ranked Groot 12th in their "20 Most Powerful Guardians Of The Galaxy Members In The Comics" list.
• In 2022, The A.V Club ranked Groot 37th in their "100 best Marvel characters" list.
• In 2022, CBR.com ranked Groot 2nd in their "10 Cutest Marvel Heroes" list.

Impact

Mike Fenn of The Daily Dot asserted, "The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest entry, Guardians of the Galaxy, has resulted in the spread of the Internet’s latest meme: I Am Groot." C. M Crockford of Looper wrote, "Groot quickly became an Internet meme thanks to his simple vocabulary and pleasant nature, with his catchphrase "I am Groot" spreading into popular culture."

In other media

Television

• Groot appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Michael Korvac", voiced by Troy Baker.
• Groot appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, originally voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan (in "Guardians of the Galaxy"), and by Kevin Michael Richardson in subsequent episodes.
  • Additionally, an alternate reality version of Groot appears in "Return to the Spider-Verse" Pt. 2 as Captain Web Beard's sentient pirate ship, the Groot.
• Groot appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Masato Funaki in Japanese and John Eric Bentley in English.
• Groot appears in Guardians of the Galaxy, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson. This version's home planet was invaded by Ronan the Accuser, which left Groot the last of his kind. In the present, Star-Lord has a vision of the Flora colossi, which eventually leads to the race's revival.
• Groot appears in Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears in Rocket & Groot, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes - Guardians of the Galaxy: The Thanos Threat, with Kevin Michael Richardson reprising his role from various Marvel media.
• Groot appears in Spider-Man, with his child form voiced by Connor Andrade. In the episode "Amazing Friends", Star-Lord sends him to Earth to warn Earth's heroes of a Klyntar invasion. In the episode "Vengeance of Venom", Groot becomes possessed by one of the Klyntar, but Max Modell captures and frees him to combine his pollination abilities with the Anti-Venom symbiote to cure the Klyntar's victims and fend off the invasion.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Groot and his son Groot II appear in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), both voiced by Vin Diesel, who also provided voice work for a number of languages the movie was released in and some motion capture elements for the characters.

Film

• Vin Diesel voices Baby Groot in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Video games

• Groot appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers Alliance.
• Groot appears as an assist character for Rocket Raccoon and "team-up hero" in Marvel Heroes.
• Two incarnations of Groot and Rocket Raccoon appear as a hybrid playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, with Troy Baker reprising his role from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 2.0, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• An alternate universe version of Groot known as King Groot appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Marvel: Future Fight.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Disney Infinity 3.0, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, voiced by Adam Harrington.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Stefan Ashton Frank. Additionally, Small Groot (based on Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) and Small Groot with a Ravager uniform appear as different variations.
• Groot appears as an assist character for Rocket Raccoon in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, voiced again by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• Groot appears as a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.
• Groot and Rocket Raccoon appear as a hybrid playable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, with the former voiced again by Adam Harrington.
• Groot serves as inspiration for an outfit and "backbling" in Fortnite Battle Royale.
• Groot appears in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, voiced by Robert Montcalm.
• Groot appears in the digital collectible card game Marvel Snap.

Toys

• A Groot action figure was released in the Marvel Universe toyline as part of a Guardians of the Galaxy pack.
• A Rocket Raccoon and Groot figure set with a "Dancing Baby Groot" will be released by Hot Toys.
• Funko announced a "Dancing Groot Funko POP" vinyl figure on August 26, 2014 and released it shortly after Christmas 2014.
• Groot received multiple figures in HeroClix.

Theme parks

• The adult MCU incarnation of Groot appears as a meet and greet character at Disney California Adventure as part of Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!.
• Baby Groot appears in the aforementioned Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!, voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

Telecommunications

• In 2014, Twilio employee Ricky Robinett set up a phone number at which Groot can be texted, (866) 740–4531, which results in the character's familiar response "I am Groot".

Collected editions

See also

In Spanish: Groot para niños

• List of Marvel Comics superhero debuts