Rocket Raccoon’s Backstory In ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’ Has Revived Interest In A Scrapped ‘Endgame’ Sub-Plot

WARNING: Minor SPOILERS for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, the third film in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, and thirty-second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has proved a hit with audiences. Focusing heavily on the origins of Rocket Raccoon, the film is being touted by many fans as the best MCU film since Avengers: Endgame.

Interestingly, the focus on Rocket has revived interest in a scrapped Endgame sub-plot, one which would have paired him up with another fan favourite MCU character.

A Different Endgame

The release of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, and Endgame the following year, are easily the two biggest cinematic events of at least the last decade, if not all time. While the basic plots of both films remained more or less unchanged through the production process, the question of who would survive Thanos's Snap in Infinity War to fight another day in Endgame was not always set in stone.

Writers and Directors the Russo brothers toyed with a few different character combinations before settling on Endgame's final line up. This resulted in some interesting alternate teams and stories for Endgame's Time Heist. In one draft of the script, Wanda Maximoff was to have survived the snap, and would have spent at least part of Endgame paired with Rocket Raccoon.

How would this have played out?

The potential sub-plot in question would have apparently seen Wanda and Rocket embarking on a road trip. If this trip took place during the Time Heist portion of the film, we can assume that they were on Earth, which narrows down their mission possibilities to retrieving either the Time, Space, or Mind Stones. Of these, the Mind Stone is most likely, given Wanda's personal connection to it as the partial source of her own powers, as well as it's connection to her lost love, Vision.

Wanda can be seen as similar to Thor in that the most notable loved ones they lost during Infinity War (Vision and Loki) died prior to the decimation, meaning that they would not be revived by a successful Time Heist. If she had survived, Wanda would likely be carrying guilt regarding Vision's death. In another similarity, as Thor lost his Mother, Frigga, in Thor: The Dark World, Wanda lost her twin brother, Pietro, in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

If not following the Battle of New York, as occurred in the final film, the most obvious point in time to retrieve the sceptre/Mind Stone would have been sometime during Age of Ultron. This would likely have put Wanda in reach of her brother before his death, and, like Thor with Frigga, she would have been tempted to save or at least warn him.

In that case, we would have probably seen Rocket give Wanda a pep talk similar to the one he gives Thor in the released version of Endgame, reminding her of those who were truly gone, versus those they still had a chance to save.

Why has Rocket's backstory got people so interested in this unused team-up?

There are a couple of reasons. One, is that Rocket's MCU origin involving the High Evolutionary gives him a link to Wanda from the comics. In the comics, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were kidnapped by agents of the High Evolutonary as subjects for his experiments soon after their birth. In current Marvel Comics canon, Pietro Maximoff's powers are, at least partially, currently credited to the High Evolutionary's experiments. While The High Evolutianary would like to claim credit for Wanda too, in reality, her powers stem from her status as a Nexus Being, and magic inherited from her biological Mother, Natalya Maximoff, the original Scarlet Witch.

While the High Evolutionary connection is somewhat interesting, the boost in interest in this seemingly unlikely character pairing is fans realising that Wanda Maximoff and Rocket Raccoon have actually had a surprisingly similar character journey. Both were the subject of experimentation that unwit2tingly enhanced an existing advantage (for Rocket his brain, and for Wanda her magic), and both, at one point or another, lost everything important to them.

The two would probably be able to relate to each other on these levels, so while the Endgame team up didn't pan out, some fans are hoping to see Rocket and the Scarlet Witch share the screen in the future, possibly in a What If..? Episode, or the upcoming Secret Wars. After her villain turn in Multiverse of Madness, Wanda is in need of a redemption arc. The Guardians of the Galaxy were built on second chances, so Rocket may be more willing than most to give Wanda hers.

We can't wait to see what the future holds.