The highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy 3 movie was centered around Rocket Racoon’s tragic origin story and the ruthless actions of the High Evolutionary towards him and other beings in the universe. Throughout his captivity, Rocket found solace in a group of friends, particularly in his close bond with an otter named Lylla. The film’s writer, James Gunn, skillfully portrayed their relationship on the big screen, leaving audiences heartbroken. But what exactly made their story so emotional?
Guardians Vol 3 Spoiler Warning: Major Plot details ahead
It is safe to say that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is one of the strongest MCU movies we have gotten since Avengers Endgame. The stellar writing from James Gunn perfectly closes the chapter on everyone’s favorite group of galactic heroes. But there was one particular story arc that stood out to many movie-goers, the heartbreaking and beautiful relationship between Rocket and Lylla.
The opening sequence of the film leaves Rocket in a critical condition almost instantly, after a surprise assassination attempt from Adam Warlock triggers a kill switch inside him. This had been placed there by his creator and Guardians 3 villain, High Evolutionary. We come to learn that it is with this scientist that Rocket was transformed into the hero we know and that he even had a group of close friends while imprisoned.
The writing of Gunn presents the opportunity of Rocket being in a coma to explore much of his early life. This non-linear narrative is supplemented by the clever use of flashbacks to add important context to the story. Despite being unconscious for most of the movie, we still get to see character development from Rocket by learning what he had to go through, including a look at his relationship with 89Q12, or “Lylla.”
Rocket and Lylla’s shared innocence
When Rocket first goes through the change from an ordinary raccoon to this more intelligent being, he is placed in a cage nearby three other enhanced creatures. We come to know these characters as Teefs, Floor, and Lylla, following an emotional scene of them each making their first real choice and naming themselves.
Rocket’s early years with Teefs, Lylla, and Floor show that, although they have been altered and now have enhanced intelligence, they are still new to it all and are also quite naive. This innocent friendship gives room for their grand ambitions of, one day, leaving the ship and living out their fantasies on High Evolutionary’s planet.
Out of this unusual group of friends, Rocket and Lylla seem to get on especially well, instantly revealing that there is chemistry between the two. The emotionally packed dialogue between them is capped off by excellent performances from all of the voice actors and animation team involved in bringing that moment to the screen. The start of this relationship imbues a sense of hope in both the characters and viewers, making it hard not to root for them.
However, the crushing realization they all have that they won’t ever be included in Counter-Earth, High Evolutionary’s perfect world with perfect species, really highlights how naive they ultimately were. As they all share in the struggle, they can easily overlook each other’s mechanical body parts, but others, like their creator, simply see them as a failed batch of test subjects.
Rocket’s tragic escape attempt
Unfortunately, their innocence was being stripped away piece by piece, until High Evolutionary finally reveals his plan to incinerate all of Rocket’s friends and start over with “Batch 90.” This causes Rocket to put an escape plan into motion, building a keycard from pieces of scrap that he had been collecting during his time on the ship.
However, despite building a working keycard, High Evolutionary foresaw the group’s escape attempt coming and fired shots at them just seconds after they set themselves free. High Evolutionary had all of them but Rocket was killed, which was truly devastating for the fan-favorite Guardian and also heartbreaking for viewers to watch.
Watching Lylla, Floor, and Teefs die is what sent him over the edge, causing him to go into a dark killer instinct mode we don’t often see from the galactic heroes. Rocket Racoon took immediate revenge, mauling and deforming High Evolutionary’s face. This also revealed the reason why has been wearing the unusual skin mask we see in the movie’s present day.
From this point on, Rocket has been harboring massive guilt for helping High Evolutionary perfect his technique on improving these advanced creatures more submissive. This is why he feels responsible for them later on in the story and takes further action to help them out. While flashbacks and other forms of non-linear storytelling can sometimes be jarring, James Gunn’s writing was purposeful and he did a great job of weaving these events in Guardians Vol. 3’s final act.
The promise of an afterlife together
When Rocket came close to dying, we saw visions of him approaching a bright light. Lylla emerges from it along with his other friends and they reveal to him that the life he had hoped for will await him in death. But, thanks to the efforts of the other Guardians, he is brought back to life and informed that he still has much more to do in Marvel’s Universe.
In the final battle, Rocket bravely fights on in honor of Lylla and everyone else he has lost, carrying a poignant reminder of them. He makes a commitment to rescue all of the animals from High Evolutionary’s ship, even though it risks the lives of the entire Guardians of the Galaxy crew. In one of the closing scenes, Star-Lord narrowly escapes, underscoring just how far they are willing to go.
This emotional moment is not just about Rocket’s heroism, but also about the Guardians’ values and how they perceive him. It highlights the team’s compassion for innocent creatures and the immense value they place on Rocket’s opinion. Ultimately, they rescue all the creatures, despite being the last priority after the evacuation of “higher-life forms.”
Gunn’s approach of promising Rocket an afterlife with Lylla, as well as adventures with Teefs and Floor, is the perfect resolution for Rocket’s final Guardians of the Galaxy chapter and anything else would have left us with a completely different reaction to his arduous journey. It was so impactful for many reasons but the writing made it easy for audiences to relate to him finding his true soulmate at the wrong time and place.