James Gunn Explains Why Groot Is An ‘Adolescent’ Tree In Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel Studios revealed their first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War at SDCC 2017, and some fans have noticed that Groot in the trailer is still in his ‘adolescent' form. Since it took Groot a mere months to turn from his Baby form to this ‘teen' form, why is he not yet fully grown despite this movie set years after GOTG Vol.2?

Director James Gunn explains in an FB post that Groot simply doesn't age like a human does. He writes:

People are asking me a lot about how fast Groot grows, because in his appearance in the Infinity War trailer he was an ADOLESCENT (not a "teen" as has been reported in many places). This is exactly the same state of growth you see in the post credits scene of Vol. 2: Adolescent Groot.

In terms of how fast Groot grows overall, I can tell you this: Baby Groot appears two months after the Infant Groot we see at the end of Vol. 1. The post-credits scene with Adolescent Groot and Peter Quill is YEARS after the ending of Vol. 2. I won't say exactly how many years at this time, but be clear that it took him a fair amount of time just to go from Baby Groot to Adolescent Groot. (As a side note, I'll point out that Peter Quill can obviously understand what "I am Groot" means in the post-credits scene, so somehow he's learned to understand him in the same way Rocket has).

Like dogs, who grow at a different rate than humans, and spend a different percentage of their lives in adolescence than humans do, Groot and Humans do not grow at some exact exchange rate. So, although two months seems to be about two years (as Baby Groot seems to behave roughly like a two year old), it is not fair to assume that every month is a year to Groot. He has an alien biology and ages in a completely different way than a human being. Different aspects of his growth may take longer or shorter than a human's.

And, other than that, I'm going to leave you in suspense - frankly, for quite a while, as it will take years to show you how Groot goes from infancy to adulthood.

I'm interested to see where this character choice goes for Groot in the future. I don't know how his dynamic with the team works in his ‘adolescent' form, but maybe this is Gunn's way of making him feel just like everyone else on the team—instead of the towering Ent that he was in the first movie.

Plus, I think him still being ‘young' after so many years means something totally different for Groot's origin, and maybe he could have been hundreds of years old when we met him in the first Guardians movie. I do like the neat touch that even Peter Quill can understand Groot the way Rocket does. It just further bonds the Guardians closer as a family.

We may not have a release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but we do know that the Guardians will be making an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018.

See Also: Avengers: Infinity War Could Be The Longest Marvel Movie