How Old Is Rocket Raccoon in Every Guardians of the Galaxy Movie?

The mysteries in Marvel Cinematic Universe were always around despite some of the characters being part of the universe for almost ten years. These mysteries mostly revolve around character origins since MCU didn’t always follow the script of the comics. In the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, we get the team members’ brief origins, but one remains the mystery the entire time – Rocket Raccoon. This will certainly change with the upcoming movie, but his age is still a mystery in the MCU. This article will discuss Rocket’s potential age in each Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Since there is no exact information about Rocket’s age in the comics and MCU, we must base our speculation on real-life raccoons. According to multiple studies, wild raccoons have a relatively short life span of 2 to 3 years, while captive ones could live up to 20 years. Since Rocket is an enhanced creature from Halfworld, we assume that the Guardian is around three to four years of age in both Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2, while the third and last installment of the trilogy sees Rocket much older and around ten years of age. The Snap really wore him down, and we saw Rocket aging rapidly over five years, meaning his lifespan could go from 11 to 15 years.

There is no information on Rocket’s age in Marvel Cinematic Universe and comics, meaning we must refer to real-life raccoons and implement his origin story into the MCU timeline. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

How old is Rocket Raccoon in the Marvel Comics?

Despite having one of the more interesting origins stories of Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon’s age was never revealed. We know that Rocket’s origin stems from the planet called Halfworld, where centuries ago, a group of alien humanoids settled on the largest planet in the Keystone Quadrant star system. During that time, Halfworld was a designated place for the insane, where animals were genetically manipulated by sentient robots who conducted those experiments.

One of them was Rocket Raccoon, who gained human intelligence and superhuman strength, which made him the protector of Halfworld from outside threats. This is the default origins story of Rocket, but in Marvel Comics, specifically Guardians of the Galaxy #8 from 2019, Rocket’s origins story is in more detail. When Ill Rocket tells Moondragon and Groot about his past life, the comic book panel refers to “Halfworld, a long time ago …”

However, we also see a really young creature bred in the cage to become a service animal to Khevix, one of the mentally ill patients. The story continues with Rocket talking about gruesome experiments we will most likely see in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but overall, there is no indication of how old is Rocket the Raccoon in the comics.

We also have to understand that comic book timelines are scattered everywhere since this media loves stories from different perspectives, realities, and just different characters. Rocket could be Rocket in two comic book stories, but his fate and origin story could be vastly different.

Interestingly enough, in the same Guardians of the Galaxy comic book story, Rocket abandoned the team because his body started shutting down, or simply, Rocket was dying. It seems that enhancements bestowed on the creature stopped working, proving that Rocket has a somewhat short lifespan and that he wasn’t supposed to live that long. – or he could be hundreds of years old, and enhancements stopped working after so much time passed. We will have to uncover that mystery by ourselves in the comics.

How old is Rocket in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

We know that Rocket isn’t supposed to live that long, which takes us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As in the comics, it was never confirmed how old Rocket is in Guardians of the Galaxy movies or his true origin story, which will be told in the third movie. Because there is no information about Rocket’s age, we have to look for the main inspiration for the character – the real-life raccoon.

Raccoons are mammals native to North America and known for being very intelligent and adaptive but notorious for consuming food waste in populated areas. This last point makes them the target of hunters; toxic waste and vehicles also kill them the most in the wild – raccoons digest everything in their sight. The captive raccoons could live up to twenty years, which could be applied to our Raccoon, who obviously has superhuman powers and an enhanced physique.

Before we kickstart this speculation, we must consider what happened to Rocket in his past, which will be shown in GotG 3 in more detail, and his abrupt aging during five years after The Snap in Endgame.

How old is Rocket Raccoon in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie?

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie came in 2014 (also the year in the MCU), and it revolves around the introduction of the members of the team, where we discover the origin stories of Drax, Gamora, Groot, and Peter Quill.

However, we barely know about Rocket’s past and, more importantly for this article, his age, so we decided to speculate a bit. In the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 movies, we saw Rocket being the victim of brutal experiments. We saw subject 89P13, a young creature being experimented on that eventually became Rocket we know and love today.

Since he looks really young at the start of the experiments, we can safely assume that Rocket is barely one year old or even younger – honestly, he looks a bit older than the baby raccoon.

Further into the trailer, or better yet, a clip from the GotG 3, we see a young Rocket conversing with other animals, being a bit older than we first saw him in the trailer. He is probably around one year old there since the animals around that age start to mature – in human years, Rocket is probably a teenager.

In the first Guardians movie, we see Rocket with Groot “bounty hunting” around the galaxy, and if we compare him to the scenes from the GotG 3 trailers, he seems like a seasoned criminal. Rocket’s voice is deeper, his fur looks “sharp,” and he seems like an experienced warrior. There must be years between his life on Halfworld and the first Guardians movie, which would put him around four years old, more or less. Remember, animal years are much different than humans, and at four, Rocket is already a full-fledged adult.

How old is Rocket in the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie?

The time skip between the first and second movies is about two months since the Guardians defeated Ronan the Accuser. The second movie also presents us with the prologue of the Guardians joining the Avengers in the fight against Thanos.

When it comes to Rocket, he is taking care of small Groot after the battle on Xandar and joins the Guardians on the quest to defeat Peter Quill’s father, a Celestial named Ego. In this movie, Rocket is the same age as in the first movie, putting him around four years of age.

How old is Rocket in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame?

Before we move to the third Guardians movie, we have to mention the last two movies of Infinity Saga – Infinity War and Endgame. In 2018, Guardians got a distress call from the ship’s wreckage of deceased Asgardians, where they found the unconscious Thor. Everything kickstarts from there, and the Guardians join the Avengers to kill Thanos.

However, the Infinity War movie sees Avengers losing and Thanos doing The Snap, killing billions of people in the galaxy. Among them are Peter Quill, Groot, Drax, and Gamora, who died at the hands of her father, Thanos – only Nebula and Rocket stayed alive.

In 2018, Rocket was probably around eight years of age, if we follow our logic, but the next five years after the Snap and the final battle is what really made him seem old.

Avengers: Endgame is set just after The Snap of the Infinity War, where the remaining superheroes track down Thanos and kill him. In the next five years, Rocket and Nebula traveled the galaxy on numerous missions and reported back to Earth occasionally. In 2023, Rocket is around 13 years old, making him extremely old for real-life raccoons.

Thor: Love and Thunder movie is set in 2024, making Rocket 14 years old, and probably the old age for his species. The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special happens after the Love and Thunder movie, putting it on Christmas of 2024, before the happenings of GotG 3. Rocket is still around 14 years old, bringing us to the MCU’s third and final Guardians movie.

How old is Rocket in the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is just around the corner, and boy, are we excited. Especially because Rocket’s origin story will finally be told in the MCU, and seeing James Gunn so passionate about the project, we don’t have doubt he did a really good job.

The movie is set just after the Christmas special, making Rocket (by our estimations) around 15 years of age, making him really old compared to his raccoon doppelgängers. Rocket’s life is at stake in this movie, and if he dies, it would be symbolic that he lived so much more than most of his species.

It would also make sense for our age estimations since the real-life captive raccoons live around 20 years, while the ones in the wild are just up to three. Rocket is an enhanced being whose lifespan most likely got extended with numerous experiments, and would most probably be alive up to 15 years. However, all this info could be false since the comics don’t establish any age for Rocket, and MCU followed the same pattern. Maybe we get the exact age in GotG 3.

Rocket might be living much more than we expect, and knowing he would die in GotG 3, makes his death more bittersweet. Regardless of his age, Rocket is an iconic character of the MCU, and hopefully, we will see more of his character in future projects.