The Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy Ends With Rocket Raccoon at Its Heart

The space adventures in Marvels’s Guardians of the Galaxy films are nearing their conclusion—and with that, we’ll finally be learning the mystery behind the creation of Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Director James Gunn, who has since departed Marvel to be co-head of DC Studios, sounds excited to close things out with the character he’s often referred to as his proxy in the Guardians trilogy. He told Total Film, “The most important thing for me was Rocket’s story, and then, following that, everybody else. Rocket is the secret protagonist of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and has always been the center of it for me, and this is really fulfilling that. The reason I came back, and decided to do this movie, was because I really felt like Rocket’s story needed to be told—and it was left hanging after Vol 2. So that’s the most important thing.”

Even before Gunn accepted his new role at DC, it was known that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be the last adventure for his Guardians crew. This final film focuses on the found-family story Gunn created for the space misfits—who were more or less cult Marvel characters before becoming the center of a hugely popular live-action film franchise. Gunn teased that Vol. 3‘s story is “totally self-standing… for the most part, it works as a story by itself,” as well as being “the ending of a trilogy. The first movie is about the mother; the second movie is about the father; and the third movie is about the self. And that is what this journey is…”

The Guardians take their final bow with Gunn in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5.

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