Sunday, July 2, 2023

Character Analysis: Rocket Racoon

 

Background

  • Full Alias: Rocket Raccoon

  • AKA: Ranger Rocket, Subject 88213

  • Height: Approx. 4’ | 1.22 m

  • Weight: Approx. 100 lbs | 45.4 kg

  • Member of the Guardians of the Galaxy

  • Species: Halfworlder/Mutate (Not a raccoon!)

  • Likes: Groot, stealing body parts, McDonalds

  • Dislikes: Earth, Spider-Man, guitar, porn

Rocket’s (frequently-retconned) tale begins on the planet Halfworld, in the galaxy known as the Keystone Quadrant. He was born a normal (albeit alien) animal just like many of the planet’s inhabitants, but he would not stay that way. When a number of humanoids settled on the planet and converted it into an asylum for the criminally insane, they modified its animal inhabitants to possess an elevated degree of sentience, and experimented on some of them to grant them enhanced abilities. Rocket was one such test subject, and after brutal modifications to his DNA and physiology, he became the mutated warden of the planet and legendary hero, Ranger Rocket.

During his time as the planet’s ranger and warden, Rocket experienced many misadventures protecting Halfworld, fighting alongside allies like Lylla and Wal Rus against his archnemesis, the mercenary Blackjack O’Hare. This was only part of the story, however, as Rocket was also tasked with managing the asylum in place of the humanoids who had experimented on him. Eventually, Rocket abandoned his role as a hero and left the planet, had his memories suppressed, and became a mercenary (a convoluted retcon to reconcile his early comics as the defender of Halfworld with his later appearances) alongside his lover, Otta Spice.

At first, Rocket maintained a strict no-kill policy as a mercenary, until one day a mission got out of hand. Afterward, Otta betrayed Rocket and turned him into the authorities, breaking his heart and sending him to prison for the first time. From this moment on, Rocket’s heart was hardened, leading him down the path to becoming the wisecracking criminal everyone is familiar with.

It’s here that different versions of Rocket’s backstory most clearly differ, and there’s… really no completely official or coherent explanation. In some comics, when Rocket was first sent off to prison by Otta, he immediately met Peter Quill, a fellow lawbreaker who was looking to put together an unlikely team of mercenaries, who would then become the Guardians of the Galaxy. As a member of the team, Rocket would meet fellow heroes Groot, Gamora, Drax, and more, becoming a superhero who would save the galaxy countless times.

In other versions of the story, Rocket meets Groot before any of the other Guardians, first encountering him in prison and breaking out together, becoming a dynamic duo and best friends, who would go on many adventures before later becoming members of the Guardians together. The reason for this inconsistency is likely the fact that the Guardians were reinvented in the mid-2010’s to align more with their movie counterparts; many of them were completely different personality-wise beforehand, Rocket and Groot’s relationship was a bit different, etc. The version of the story in which Rocket first met Peter Quill is the original version of events from the 2000’s, the one with Groot was introduced later on in the 2010’s.

However, some 2010’s comics have stuck with the original version… so it doesn’t really make sense. The most “holistic” interpretation would probably be that Rocket met Groot first upon being sent to prison, broke out, and then later got sent back to prison, at which point the two of them met Quill and were drafted into the Guardians. It’s not a perfect explanation but it works.

In any case, after becoming one of the Guardians, Rocket’s snarky attitude and selfish demeanor remained, but he changed inwardly over time. The experiments that created him left deep scars, and Otta’s betrayal hardened him, but with the Guardians, Rocket found something new to fight for and believe in. He might rarely express his emotions genuinely, and does… admittedly care more for some of them than others, but in time he came to view his misfit companions as a surrogate family. And together with them, he’s saved the galaxy too many times to list. Perhaps maybe, just maybe, he never truly abandoned his heroic heart after all. 

Experience & Skill

Rocket is arguably the smartest of the Guardians’ standard members. He has years of experience fighting in multiple cosmic wars and guarding the galaxy from various extraterrestrial threats, and he has picked up a variety of skills from his many criminal exploits, and later superheroing. Notable skills include: 

Tactical Genius: Rocket is a tactical genius with perfect instincts, which allows him to almost invariably achieve positive results in any given situation. Peter Quill has acknowledged that Rocket possesses the most brilliant tactical mind he’s ever met, he is referred to at one point as the galaxy’s foremost tactical genius, and in the far off future that Cable comes from, he is regarded as a famous folk hero and one of the greatest tacticians in history. He has used this tactical genius to develop plans to stall Gladiator, outsmart the Star Thief, and even defeat Dormammu when he was possessing Ego the Living Planet. It should be noted however that Rocket’s reckless attitude has caused him to come up with bad plans, possibly on purpose.

Heavy Weaponry & Demolitions Expert: What he is most well-known for; Rocket is a savant when it comes to handling weapons of heavier ordnance, frequently carrying around weapons larger than he is and unloading them with great prejudice into any bad guy that moves. He’s an expert demolitionist too, having destroyed the Statue of Liberty, a moon, and a spaceship, among many other things. Interestingly, after taking down a Progenitor with one of his guns, Gamora commented that this was more firepower than Rocket’s usual weapons, and Rocket responded that he’s getting old and doesn’t feel like “working so hard”. This implies that even with their insane firepower, he may have purposefully made his older weapons weaker than they could have been, in order to give himself more of a challenge.

Marksmanship: Being a weapons expert, Rocket is naturally an accurate shot, though somewhat relies on just raining automatic fire on his target. He is described as the fastest trigger in six systems, and has proven accurate enough to tag spaceships.

Engineering & Mechanics: Rocket is an extremely gifted engineer and mechanic, frequently creating his own weapons and new gadgets in order to help him in the field. He has fixed damage to spaceships, fixed a broken gun with a nanosecond to spare, and cobbled together an improvised flamethrower out of random materials from a prison. He has even built giant mech suits for his own use, and casually assembled a bomb that was powerful enough to destroy a moon.

Hacking & Programming: Rocket is a master hacker and programmer, having hacked into the security systems of five different galactic empires. He has also reprogrammed a computer to speak Flerken, and hacked into a prison’s systems in order to escape.

Infiltration & Theft: Rocket is a master of infiltration, theft, and escape. He has made a ship undetectable to a planet’s defense system, describing it as a joke. He has broken out of Devin-9, the highest level security prison in the known universes (as well as multiple other prisons). He has even built a Galactus-shaped mech to act as a Trojan Horse, allowing the Guardians to infiltrate a highly-guarded area and steal a “baby universe”.

Martial Arts: In addition to gunslinging, Rocket is also a capable hand-to-hand and melee combatant, having taken out groups of people with his bare hands, and demonstrated skill in swordsmanship and with pole weapons. His strength with just his fists is great enough to take down enemies much larger than himself. At one point, he was skilled enough to use a staple gun, a mop, some water jugs and a fire extinguisher to win a fight against an opponent with an actual pistol.

Acrobatics: Rocket has shown to be a skilled acrobat, frequently performing large leaps and flips in combat to maneuver around the battlefield.

Medicine: Despite having no training, Rocket is somehow a competent doctor. The reason given is that “he has spent his life learning how to take people apart, so he’s not so bad at putting them together again”. Sure, why not.

Gambling: Rocket is a capable gambler who has spent time gambling on the planet Gameworld.

Abilities

Thanks to the DNA-based and cybernetic modifications made to Rocket’s body, he possesses several notable superhuman abilities that can aid him in combat.

Artificial Vertebrae, Neural Implants, & Cybernetic Skeleton: Rocket’s experimental modifications include artificial vertebrae and neural implants. The exact specifics of what these implants do is unclear, but it is likely that they help facilitate his elevated physique and intellect. He also has a cybernetic skeleton, which is presumably more durable than a normal one.

Superhuman Physicality: Rocket is stronger and faster than any ordinary human, allowing him to keep up with superhumans like Venom and Kraven the Hunter. He has dodged gunfire and laser beams, survived city block sized explosions, and punched hard enough to break metal.

Enhanced Intellect: Rocket is an extraordinary genius who is described to have “upgraded sentience”, allowing him to acquire the many skills listed above.

Superhuman Senses: Rocket has raccoon-like hypersensitive touch and hearing, not on the level of Daredevil but “outside standard sentient range”. This has allowed him to hear things coming sooner than Star-Lord could.

Sharp Claws & Teeth: Despite not being a raccoon, Rocket has the claws and teeth characteristic of his fellow procyons, allowing him to bite and scratch people with great prejudice. Notably, raccoon teeth and claws frequently carry various forms of bacteria, and wounds inflicted by them can easily get infected if left untreated.

Anesthetic Resistance: Rocket’s enhancements have made him somewhat resistant to anesthetic, allowing him to wake up sooner than expected after being subjected to it.

Arsenal

Traditional Weaponry

Rocketmatic Pistol: Pistol that Rocket carried when he was the Hero of Halfworld, mentioned multiple times to fire beams of light, which are refractive.

Other Pistols: Rocket has been known to carry around other pistols, some of which are powerful enough to blow off the Collector’s head.

Automatic Guns: Rocket has been shown using huge automatic firearms many times throughout the years, spraying bullets everywhere with far greater power than any ordinary gun.

Miniguns: Rocket has been seen using a minigun with a tripod mount. He has also carried miniguns that are not mounted.

Rocket Launchers: Rocket has carried many rocket launchers over the years, firing explosive missiles with immense power. One such rocket launcher was powerful enough to harm Yotat, a heavy hitter who can contend with Drax, Gamora, and Groot.

Explosive Ammunition: Several of Rocket’s guns, despite resembling normal firearms, have shown to be capable of firing rounds that explode upon contact with a target.

Rifles: Rocket has been shown carrying miscellaneous rifles throughout the years, which are typically fired from shoulder level, and cause their bullet to spin after being fired, increasing accuracy.

Bombs: Rocket has used a variety of bombs throughout his time as a hero, including ones powerful enough to destroy Groot’s body and blow up moons. He carries many with him, and some specific bombs can also levitate toward a target and detonate up-close, incinerating them.

Energy Guns: Many of Rocket’s guns have shown to fire energy beams, burning or blasting the target.

Plasma Guns: Likewise, Rocket possesses weaponry that can fire beams or blasts of plasma which can be powerful enough to harm the Hulk, or “atomize a big-ish moon or small-ish planet”. Plasma can notably reach temperatures up to 14,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Laser Guns: Similar to his Rocketmatic Pistol, Rocket has carried larger laser weaponry as well, powerful enough to burn a hole through a person’s torso.

Electricity Gun: Rocket possesses a gun which fires electricity, which could also suck up and store a portion of the Venom symbiote.

Sonic Guns: Rocket has been shown utilizing sonic guns in order to combat Venom, who has a weakness to loud sounds.

Rampart Arms Phasic Cannon: Rocket has a mech robot that uses a Rampart Arms Phasic Cannon, which utilizes cold fusion and outputs 20 megawatts of power. According to Rocket, it’s strong enough to melt a weakened Thanos’ face off, or paralyze him at a quarter power.

B-OO-M Meson Beam Gun: A specific gun that Rocket possesses which fires with enough force to blast through a wall.

“Melon Popper” Gun: Gun which is seemingly designed to blow off a person’s head (pop their melon), which Rocket used to kill a Super Skrull.

Detonating Guns: Some of Rocket’s guns can be set to detonate after a short period, exploding anyone close by at the time.

Grapple Gun: Rocket has a gun capable of firing a grappling hook and cable, with enough force to pierce straight through Deadpool’s torso.

Pole Weapon: Rocket has used a pole weapon for close-quarters combat. Such combat can involve striking an opponent’s weak spots, blocking attacks, and (in fiction at least) spinning the staff for greater momentum.

Sword: Rocket at one point acquired a sick-looking sword, which he used to defeat a large tentacle-headed monster.

Knives: Rocket has been shown using two knives in combat with Kraven the Hunter.

Rocket-Propelled Hammer: A hammer propelled by a rocket to strike with greater force.

Improvised Flamethrower: Cobbled together when Rocket was in prison, this makeshift flamethrower can produce blasts of fire to scorch a target.

Flashbang Grenades: Grenades which explode with a blinding flash of light. Rocket once used one to blow Kraven’s dick off (yes literally).

Gravi-nades: Grenades of unclear purpose, Rocket has these but has never used them. Presumably, their effects are something related to gravity.

Antimatter Charges: While working together with Hawkeye, Rocket cobbled together arrows for him, one of which was carrying an antimatter charge powerful enough to blow a hole through a Kree Star Cruiser. When interacting with normal matter, antimatter reacts with that of equal mass to itself, destroying both and producing energy equivalent to the total mass-energy of the collided material. 

Laser Sights: Some of Rocket’s guns have shown to come with a laser sight, which can be used for aiming.

Orbital Stash: Though it likely depends on the planet, Rocket has sometimes shown to have a stash of equipment in orbit from which he can summon new gear. Hypothetically, this could give him access to most of the weaponry that he has used in the past. The stash can also deploy a rocket loaded with hyper-reactive terpenoids and silver iodide into the upper atmosphere, “seeding” the clouds and producing an instant monsoon.

Equipment

Rocket Skates: In his early appearances as the defender of Halfworld, Rocket possessed rocket skates which could produce bursts of fire to propel him through the air. He could also use these fire blasts as a projectile weapon to attack enemies.

Jetpack: Rocket has a jetpack which allows him to fly in combat, granting him much greater mobility and the ability to move around in outer space.

Goggles: Close-fitting headwear that Rocket can wear to protect his eyes.

Hacking Devices: Rocket has improvised several devices which can allow him to hack into various defense systems, whether it be a singular prison, an entire planet, or even an entire galactic empire. This has allowed him to do things like free himself from captivity, make his space-ship undetectable, and turn off the effects of gravity.

Timely Inc. Shipment Processing and Analysis Device: Handheld device that Rocket stole which grants a variety of functions. It can translate languages, and analyze any given situation to provide Rocket with expositional analysis. It has impact-resistant casing, and a teleportation function which can allow Rocket to escape from dangerous situations.

Guardian Tracking Devices: Tracking devices unknowingly fed to the other Guardians, which can locate them from across the galaxy.

Lie Detector Device: Device that can tell whether someone is telling the truth or lying based on signals.

Azalian Acid Capsules & Nanolingos: Small capsules which he can break off in his mouth to give himself acid spit strong enough to melt through metal. The acid bonds with him after the capsule bursts, preventing it from harming him. After a short time, the acid part wears off, leaving nothing but Nanolingos, which are microscopic bots which can be used to reform interfaces, capable of shutting down a protective force-field that surrounds an entire planet.

Space Propulsion Device: Rocket has a handheld device that produces waves of energy to propel himself forward while in space.

Space Barrier: He also appears to have equipment that projects a thin membrane-like barrier around his body, protecting him from the negative effects of the vacuum of space.

Laser Pointer: Rocket possesses a high-powered laser pointer which burns with enough power to cut cleanly through glass.

Force-Field Projector: Rocket has a wrist attachment which allows him to project a circular force-field in front of himself, to defend from attacks. It lacks feats of resilience, but it would probably be reasonable to assume that its durability is comparable in strength to Rocket’s other equipment. He also has a different (but similar) wrist device which can project spherical force-fields to catch and contain objects.

Screwdriver: It’s a screwdriver.

Vehicles

Rakk ‘n Ruin: Rocket’s spaceship.

Aircraft: Flying ship which shoots missiles, which split off into numerous smaller missiles. Used this to kill Ego’s lice problem.

Nitro Weapon Systems Model 357 Assault Sled: This sled is a flying vehicle that can transport him at high speed and fire missiles.

Transforming Motorcycle: Motorcycle which can also transform into a massive rocket-propelled jetpack, fast enough to fly into space.

Special / Non-Standard

Nova Helmet: At one point, Rocket acquired a magic helmet from the Nova Corps which allowed him to access the same powers as Richard Rider, AKA Nova. This includes the ability to access a massive energy source known as the Nova Force, which allows Rocket to fly and shoot energy blasts from his hands. When used by Sam Alexander, a similar Nova Helmet was capable of increasing the user’s reaction speed to massively FTL levels, matching Nova’s intergalactic flight speeds. However, Rocket only had the helmet for less than two issues before it was taken from him.

Pym Particles: A canister of Pym Particles that Rocket stole from Hawkeye, which he can consume to increase his size to massive proportions. Pym Particles have many complicated effects, but Rocket obviously does not have the same kind of control over them as someone like Hank Pym, and growing large seems to be the extent of his capabilities with them.

Nullifier Bomb: A powerful explosive that the Guardians stole, which is a prototype of Galactus’ Ultimate Nullifier. It was powerful enough to create a massive continent-sized explosion on the surface of the Earth. Used together, all of the charges that Rocket had access to were enough to destroy half a planet (supposedly, they seemingly didn’t live up to expectations), though it should be noted that he used all of them and no longer has access to them.

Galactus Mech: Mech that Rocket built which is shaped like Galactus, which Rocket uses in a manner similar to the Trojan Horse. By pretending to be Galactus, he causes mass panic among onlookers, and then takes advantage of the chaos to sneak into wherever he is going. The mech is built for speed, and capable of propelling itself into space from ground level via thrusters in its feet. It also is said to possess mag cannons and an EMP, though in its second appearance, its thrusters quickly fail and the mech falls apart on its own, so it may not be the most well-constructed thing ever.

Gundam Mech: At one point, in a story arc where Rocket was dying, he used a literal Gundam suit in place of his normal weaponry. It provides Rocket with life support, allowing him to continuously survive while on the brink of death, and automatically reacts to any detected threat to Rocket’s safety, manifesting a variety of heavy weaponry to eliminate them with. It comes equipped with large guns attached to its wrists and shoulders, and rocket boosters with which it can fly. The suit is durable enough to take a beating from a group of Drax clones, though was shattered by a single well-placed hit from Stormbreaker.

(Note that there’s no statement or indication that these Drax clones were as strong as the original, and the real Drax’s body was created and endowed with the strength of the universe by a cosmic being named Kronos. There is little reason to believe this empowerment would carry over to these the Church of Truth’s clones, which were created through different and much more mundane means.)

Feats

Overall

Strength

Physical

Weaponry

Speed

Physical

Weaponry/Vehicles

Durability

Physical

Weaponry

Scaling

Physical Scaling: Physically, Rocket is superhuman, putting him above any of the peak human characters in Marvel. He has even shown to be strong enough to hurt Miles Morales and contend with Spidey villains like Kraven and Venom, putting him roughly at Spider-Man’s level in strength and speed. As such he scales to most street level characters, excluding really high-tier ones like Iron Fist.

Weaponry Scaling: Rocket’s weapons are consistently capable of harming herald-tier Marvel characters including Thanos, Hulk, Groot, Drax, Maxilin, Angela, Yotat, Super Skrull, and more. As such his weapons are also in that general tier of power. They should also likely be comparable to the weapons used by other similar animal space mercenaries like Blackjack and Otta.

Weaknesses

Fun Stuff
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1 comment:

  1. OswaldJuly 2, 2023 at 10:44 AM

    Rocket:Can keep up and dodge attacks from heralds consistently
    Death bsttke" Emh actually he is only street tier. Like my dude spiderman has dodged attacks from heralds consistently for years

    ReplyDelete

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