James Gunn is currently one of DC’s co-heads. Of course, his comic book movie tenure began with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and now James Gunn has opted to solve a 9-year-long MCU mystery.
The mystery began when a fan on Threads asked Gunn about a character named “Tibius Lark” from the original Guardians of the Galaxy. The character’s name was mentioned but his true identity was never released. Now Gunn reveals that this was part of a larger plan to explain the origin of Rocket and Groot’s friendship.
Interestingly, the origin would have also been the subject of a short film. Now Gunn has opened up about what could’ve been. Here’s what he shared:
“I wrote a short film explaining the origin of how Rocket & Groot met. It was even storyboarded & location scouted & we did test footage for it (it was seen at SDCC in the ‘trailer’ we cut together after 12 days of shooting). But I didn’t have time to do it as Vol 1 amped iup. In it Tibius Lark, Groot, and Rocket were all imprisoned in a a deep well in the ground. Tibius was on the verge of dying. He explained to Rocket he had been caring for Groot for years.”
He continued:
“He was a former zookeeper in a shitty galactic-side zoo. He explained he had saved Groot, who was on exhibit there, & that Groot was a loyal friend. He asked Rocket to please take care of him, & then he died. As he died Rocket looked down in the dark cell & noticed he was a robot, the lower body of his body smashed open and mechanical.”
James Gunn then finishes the Marvel story of Tibius Lark with the following conclusion:
“The guards above ground heard something rumbling & they turned & saw Rocket & Groot bursting up from the ground, Rocket on Groot’s shoulder, & in Rocket’s hands was a machine gun made from Tibius Lark’s body, & he shot all the guards & they escaped & were together until they met the Guardians. That’s who Tibius Lark was.💜”
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates on James Gunn and his upcoming projects as we have them. For now, Gunn’s likely too busy with DC and Superman: Legacy to go back and shoot this MCU short, but it’s nice seeing what could’ve been.