If you are a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the date May 4th, 2018 likely rings a bell for you. For some, it will simply represent another Star Wars day (May the fourth sounds like May the force for those who do not know). But for hardcore Marvel movie fans, that is the day the next Avengers film, most appropriately titled, Avengers: Infinity War, will be hitting theaters.
For those of you who are not aware, Infinity War is going to be a mega story. Not only will it be the third installment of the Avengers franchise, but also the first time the entire MCU comes together for one large film. Iron Man will be there. Spider-Man will be there. You know Doctor Strange would not miss out on the fun. And of course, Thor will be as well.
But there will be another group of characters that are set to join in on the fun as well. That group is everyone’s favorite space-going misfits, the Guardians of the Galaxy. In this particular article, we will be focusing on one specific Guardian, Groot.
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Back in Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot was the powerhouse of the group. He was the big man, who could us his size to his advantage. But towards the end of the film [SPOILER coming], he would sacrifice himself to save the rest of the team. As a result, he was blown to pieces, leaving nothing but twigs behind. A sad Rocket would pick up one of those twigs and place it in a pot. Before fans left the theater, they were treated to Baby Groot dancing while Drax was not looking.
So we know at the conclusion of the first Guardians film, Groot was so small he was simply a dancing twig in a pot. Now flash forward to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which will be hitting theaters on May 5th, 2017. In this film, we will have Baby Groot, who is still extremely tiny. But now he is able to run around and is no longer restricted to his pot we saw him in at the end of the first one.
That brings us to the time gap between the two films. Typically with the MCU, films are set in real time. So if a film comes out today and the next one comes out in a year from now, the time lapse within the MCU would also be a year. But this is not the case for all MCU films, with Captain America: The First Avenger being the biggest deviation. That brings us to the two Guardians films.
It has been confirmed that the time between the two films will be a few months. Given our space heroes have not interacted with any Earth-dwelling heroes, this can be done easily. The main takeaway here is that over the course of a few months, Groot grows a little bit, but not a whole bunch.
Which now leads us into the question regarding Infinity War. Since the Guardians films do not follow the normal MCU time lapse, we cannot say when exactly those films take place within the MCU. The first film could be occurring during the time of the first Iron Man film. Or maybe it took place around the time the first one actually debuted, meaning the second film would be taking place in late 2014, roughly.
The timing of the second film is key, as that will determine how much time Groot has to grow prior to the next Avengers flick. One potential clue is Vin Diesel’s foreshadowing of Groot vs Hulk. This clash would most likely occur upon the first meeting between the two teams. In such a scenario, the main reason a Groot vs Hulk matchup would have appeal is the fact that they would both be powerhouses.
So if this showdown is actually going to happen, I would have to image our favorite tree-like hero is back to full size. Placing the timing of the sequel in late 2014 could give the Grootster roughly three and a half years to go from the adorable little guy we will see this May to the behemoth we saw back in 2014. That certainly seems like enough time for that type of transition.
If the second place was the one that happened in real MCU time, he would have one year to have his growth spurt. Most likely this would lead to a “teen” Groot. Now it would certainly be interesting to see a third iteration of the same character, so I will not rule this out completely. But when all is said and done, I image the freedom they have in terms of the timeline with the Guardians will lead to them going back to the fully grown version of the tree-man when Avengers Infinity War rolls around.
What do you think? What version of the character will appear in 2018? Tell us in the comments!