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Groot, a fictional character from Marvel Comics, is a Flora colossus or an extraterrestrial, sentient tree-like being from Planet X, which is ruled over by the “Arbor Masters”. Due to the stiffness of larynxes of the Flora colossi, the heroic and noble character's speech sounds like he is repeating the phrase “I am Groot”. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only Rocket Raccoon and Thor are able to understand his speech.
Groot has the ability to regenerate and control trees and plants to attack others. He can also dramatically increase his mass to overpower his enemies.
The character was introduced to the MCU with James Gunn's 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, and subsequently appeared as Baby Groot in his 2017 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and as Teen Groot in the Russo brothers' Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Taika Waititi's 2022 film Thor: Love and Thunder. Vin Diesel voices all three cinematic versions of the character.
The character features in Marvel's I Am Groot, an animated shorts series, which premiered on Disney+ with five shorts on August 10. Created by Kirsten Lepore, the animated series follows the journey of this endearing character between the events of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films as he gradually grows up in the galaxy and goes on adventures that get him into trouble. Five additional shorts are currently in development.
Check out these lesser-known facts about the adorable and goofy character who has stolen everyone's hearts.
Lesser-known facts about Baby Groot that you might not know
1) His look is based on real kids
The reason why he looks like an adorably cute baby with puffy cheeks, toddler pot-belly, stocky limbs, and oversized head is because the concept artist behind the character, Anthony Francisco, had modeled it upon his then 3-year-old son.
He stated in a Facebook post:
“GOTG Vol.2 was all about family and this character is so close to my heart because my kids were the inspiration that helped me in finding the design. And my son is much like baby groot, he is a handful but always cute and adorable.
2) The director wrote a secret “Groot Version” of the script
James Gunn wrote a secret “Groot Version” of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 script to help Vin Diesel correctly voice the character. In this script, all the lines attributed to the character are translated into English, which shows exactly what he says during all of his incredible moments, such as when he gleefully runs off with Rocket's nuclear button or when he has a rage-fueled outburst on Yondu's spaceship.
3) His dance moves are based on James Gunn
When Groot grooved to The Jackson 5's “I Want You Back” during the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy, it was James Gunn who was making those moves. The scene was animated using footage of the director dancing privately to the song.
After the popularity of his dance moves in the first film, the opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 featured the beloved character dancing to the tunes of Electric Light Orchestra's “Mr. Blue Sky”. The scene, which took the visual effects team nearly two years to complete, featured James Gunn as the motion-capture model once again.
4) He became an unofficial Earth Day ambassador
He became an unofficial Earth Day ambassador prior to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when Marvel collaborated with the Disney Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy to ask fans to dance like Groot without anyone knowing, and to share their videos with the hashtag #GrootDanceBomb.
Marvel donated $1, for every time the hashtag was used on social media to plant trees. They managed to plant 250,000 trees.
5) He had a cameo in Ralph Breaks the Internet
He had a cameo in the 2018 Disney animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet. Vin Diesel voiced the character in this cameo. The film is a sequel to the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph and follows the adventures of Ralph and his best friend Vanellope.
Don't forget to watch I Am Groot only on Disney+.
