James Gunn's brother, Sean, has played Rocket Raccoon and Kraglin in the MCU since 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. While Bradley Cooper voices Rocket, Gunn handled the on-set performance, giving other actors someone to work with and bounce off.
Across more than a decade, Gunn racked up appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, What If...?, and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.
After following James to the DCU, where he's been cast as Justice Gang financier Maxwell Lord, Sean has now announced that he's officially retiring from the role of Rocket.
During a recent interview (via IGN), Gunn addressed the physical challenges that come with playing the pint-sized hero. "Everyone thinks it's my knees, but it's really my feet and my ankles," he explained. "Because I'm in a catcher's crouch and I'm pivoting a lot on my points of contact with the ground. I'm doing a lot of pivoting in my ankles and feet. And over the years, I think it had a little bit of an effect on my physiology."
"My knees are fine, but since I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I am retired from Rocket," Gunn continued. "Not that they've called, but if they did, I don't think I could do the motion reference for Rocket anymore. I'm too old."
There's no mention of Kraglin, presumably meaning Gunn would be open to reprising that role if asked. However, he's going to be very busy in the DCU, especially with Lord set to play a major role in the Justice Gang's formation (the expectation is that the team will eventually transform into James' take on the Justice League International).
Where this leaves Rocket remains to be seen. Cooper will almost certainly continue voicing the new leader of the Guardians, but Marvel Studios will need a new actor to fill in for him on set. As of now, there's no word on when or where we'll see Rocket and the team again.
Here's what Sean told us about his time as Rocket when we interviewed the actor in 2023:
"Rocket is a character that’s really close to my heart and to me as an actor and performer. I think that one thing that makes Rocket unique is that it takes a team of people to create him. It’s not just any one person. It’s my brother James writing and creating the character, and the work I do on set before the visual effects team takes those pieces and puts them together."
"Obviously, they hand it off, and Bradley is so magnificent at portraying the character we see on screen, putting it all together and making it pop. It’s so great. For me, it’s a reminder that art is a collaborative process. It’s never really just one person doing all of the work. I love being able to jump in and do my part, particularly for this third movie, where we dig so deep into Rocket’s backstory, and I lend what I can to make the character work was very special."