In honor of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which opens on Friday May 5^th, here is a look at the journey of Rocket.

MASSIVE SPOILERS

Rocket Racoon has been through a lot. Rocket and Groot have been a team for a long time when they meet up with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Rocket typically rides on Groot’s shoulder since Groot is substantially bigger than Rocket. In order to save Rocket’s life and the rest of the Guardians, Groot sacrifices himself. Rocket and the Guardians are able to stop Ronan (Lee Pace) from using the Power Stone and they save the Galaxy.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, roles are reversed where Baby Groot typically rides on Rocket’s shoulder. Rocket takes care of Baby Groot along with the other Guardians. Rocket bonds with Yondu (Michael Rooker) who winds up joining the Guardians against Ego (Kurt Russell) a powerful celestial, as well as Star Lord’s father. Rocket and the Guardians are able to successfully defeat Ego with the help of Mantis (Pom Klementieff).

In Avengers: Infinity War Rocket and Groot go with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to get a new weapon from Eitri (Peter Dinklage) after his hammer, Mjolnir was destroyed. The three of them head to Wakanda to fight The Black Order. When Thanos (Josh Brolin) shows up, the heroes face off and lose. Thanos succeeds in getting the last Infinity Stone and wipes out half of the universe. Rocket once again loses Groot who blips out of existence. Rocket is left alone with the remaining heroes Thor, Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Okoye (Danai Gurira).

In Avengers: Endgame Rocket reunites with Nebula (Karen Gillan) after the other Guardians blipped out of existence when they were on Titan. They go to face Thanos and learn that he destroyed the Infinity Stones. Afterward, Thor kills Thanos and Rocket and Nebula head back to space. Five years later a plan is formed to bring everyone back by time traveling to different periods of time to get the Infinity Stones before Thanos got them. Rocket goes with Thor to Asgard 2013 to retrieve the Reality Stone. After the Avengers successfully get the Infinity Stones, they make a new gauntlet and Smart Hulk snaps his fingers to bring everybody back. The Avengers compound is attacked by Thanos from 2014. Rocket reunites with Groot who is brought back along with the other fallen heroes. Rocket helps the Avengers fight Thanos and his army.

In Thor: Love and Thunder Rocket along with the Guardians say goodbye to Thor who heads off on his own adventure.

In the Guards of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Rocket celebrates Christmas with the Guardians.

Where will Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 take Rocket? This is the movie that will provide Rocket’s backstory. All that has been known so far is that Rocket was experimented on. The audience will finally get answers and meet the person who experimented on Rocket, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). Will Rocket get a happy ending? Will Rocket survive the movie? I hope Rocket will get a happy ending, whatever that might look like. If Rocket survives, I think there can still be a future for him. It would be interesting to see where Rocket’s journey would go after the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.