Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn let fans know that Bradley Cooper won’t be the only actor to voice Rocket Raccoon in this new movie.
Guardians 3 has a heavy focus on Cooper’s fan-favorite hero in its plot, with the team’s smallest member finally getting a deep look into his backstory for the first time during his nine-year run in the MCU.
Rumors have pointed to Bradley Cooper’s character being in danger of getting killed off in this threequel, and James Gunn hasn’t exactly denied that the cosmic trash panda may see his journey come to an end.
Although Cooper is back with Marvel Studios for the eighth time voicing the character, it appears that he won’t have to do the job alone this time around.
Bradley Cooper Not Alone for Guardians 3’s Rocket
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn revealed on Twitter that Rocket Raccoon will be played by multiple actors in the new movie.
Responding to an article highlighting the actors playing the new animal creations in Guardians 3, Gunn confirmed that Bradley Cooper will only play the adolescent/adult versions of Rocket.
Along with Cooper, Noah Raskin will voice baby Rocket while James Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, will voice the younger version of the character.
Guardians 3 will dive further into Rocket’s backstory than any prior MCU movie, which was just teased in a newly-released clip that shows Rocket alongside Lylla the Otter, Teefs the Walrus, and Floor the Rabbit.
Gunn also shared an image of himself with the four actors playing these characters, including Linda Cardellini in her second role in the MCU, looking back to the first day shooting the movie and commenting on how “intense” the process was:
“This is the very first day of shooting ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.’ The VFX process was so intense we had to shoot all of the motion capture & camera capture first because it would take so long to finish. It was a painstaking process, but this cast was extraordinary & the editors & I knew we had something magical before we ever animated a frame.”
This news also means that Sean Gunn is playing his second on-screen role in the MCU along with his part as Kraglin (and he serves as the on-set reference for Rocket Raccoon, too).
Bradley Cooper Shares the Love in Guardians 3
Although Sean Gunn is famous for his dual-role as Rocket’s on-set reference and Kraglin in the Guardians franchise, this marks a big shift for voice roles in the MCU as he brings a younger Rocket to life.
While this will only be his first of a few voiceover roles – a trend that will continue with his casting as Weasel in the DCU’s Creature Commandos – this will make for an interesting audible change for Rocket as he’s previously only been voiced by Bradley Cooper in his various MCU appearances.
Important to note is that Vin Diesel has actually played every version of Groot in the MCU, having gone through Adult Groot, Baby Groot, Adolescent Groot, and now Swole Groot over the past nine years.
And with James Gunn’s work already being praised as one of the MCU’s best movies in recent memory, seeing Sean Gunn take on this new responsibility will add a new level of excitement to the story being told.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will debut in theaters on Friday, May 5.
