What Is Groot’s Kaiju Form & How Big Can He Get?

Groot is one of the most beloved characters not just in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trilogy but in the MCU in general. He seems to be the one Guardian to go through most changes and obtain new skills and powers from film to film. Now, in ‘GotG 3’, we saw several new forms of Groot, including the ‘kaiju form.’ So, what is Groot’s ‘kaiju form,’ and how big can he really get?

In the movie, there’s a specific moment in the battle where Nebula tells Groot to go ‘full kaiju,’ to which Groot grows incredibly big, with branches spreading wildly in all directions. While it wasn’t disclosed how big Groot can get in the movie, Marvel Comics suggests Groot can be up to 23 feet (7 meters) tall.

That’s an impressive number, considering that Groot can also expand in width. It creates an amazing, malleable form that James Gunn decided to play with in the final ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film, so we got several new Groot forms, including the Kaiju Form. Keep reading to hear more about them.

What is Groot’s Kaiju Form?

We know that Groot can grow new branches and limbs incredibly fast, allowing him to heal from almost any injury imaginable. He can alter his body with stellar accuracy, and Groot is putting that amazing ability to good use. Now, we saw him get quite big so far in the MCU, but never bigger than his so-called ‘kaiju form’ from ‘GotG 3.’

Fans started calling it his kaiju form because, while in battle, Nebula told Groot to go ‘full kaiju,’ to which Groot responded by growing exponentially in size. He got taller and bulkier and started spreading branches wildly, scaring everyone. It was an epic moment that again showed us what Groot is capable of when at the peak of his powers.

That wasn’t even the end of it. I believe that ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ had the best Groot feats in the MCU so far, as the character grew into his new body and learned more about his incredible skills.

How big can Groot really get?

If you ask how big Groot can get in the MCU, the answer is quite ambiguous and perhaps not definitively answered. We saw Groot grow incredibly big with little to no effort in a few MCU films, but there’s no evidence to suggest he couldn’t go beyond what we’ve seen.

I guess the biggest we’ve seen Groot in the MCU was, in fact, in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ at that moment when he went into his ‘kaiju form.’ He was also pretty huge in the first Guardians film when he created the massive cocoon around the entire team, protecting them from harm and sacrificing himself in the process.

In the comics, however, we kind of have a more definitive answer to how big Groot can get. The beloved Guardian can get as tall as 23 feet (7 meters) and weigh as much as 8000 lbs (3629 kg). However, there is a storyline from ‘Rocket Raccoon #9’ in 2014 where Groot turned into Grootzilla – ‘able to eat tall buildings in a single gulp.’

Members of Groot’s species – the Flora colossi – can get even bigger. If that’s the case, you might be wondering why Groot is usually much smaller than that.

We learned more about his past in 2015’s ‘Groot #6.’ On Planet X, Groot’s native planet, the Flora colossi, was the dominant species, with vast intelligence, power, and universal knowledge. However, Groot wasn’t like most of his people, who had held Maintenance Mammals as cheap labor and treated them with indignity as lesser life forms.

The Maintenance Mammals included many species, even raccoons. Groot empathized with them and preferred spending time hanging out with the Maintenance Mammals instead of his own kin.

After an altercation led to Groot killing a Flora colossus sapling to defend a Maintenance Mammal, and after he released a human from captivity (that was held for scientific purposes), Groot was banished from Planet X. Having nowhere in particular to go, he started traveling across the Galaxy. Eventually, the Guardians of the Galaxy were formed; the rest is history.

That still doesn’t explain Groot’s size, right? Well, Groot was always much smaller than the rest of his species. But not because there was something wrong physically, but because he chose to remain smaller to be closer in size to his friends and other species in the Galaxy. Groot found that it was less intimidating to others.

While it was never disclosed in the MCU, perhaps Groot’s normal height isn’t actually his normal height. Perhaps he just stays smaller to be closer to those around him. That’s another theory that makes it impossible to answer how big Groot can get.

Other Groot forms from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

First, we had the normal, original Groot in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ who was around 7’10’’ (239 cm) tall and turned into a massive cocoon before passing away. Then, the new Groot regrew from a twig to Baby Groot, Teenager Groot, Young Adult Groot, King Groot – or whatever you want to call him in that post-credits desert scene.

But there are tons of awesome Groot forms in between those, and many new ones appeared in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.’

I’ve already mentioned the colossal ‘kaiju form’ of Groot, but the one that stuck with me the most was probably Spider Groot. In the initial confrontation with Adam Warlock on Knowhere, Groot was literally decapitated but then quickly grew several branches right out of his neck, using them as little legs and looking just like a huge brown spider. Or, that thing from The Thing.

It was kind of weird but insanely cool, which leads us to an even cooler Groot from what I like to call the ‘closet form.’ You see, upon entering High Evolutionary’s ship on Counter-Earth, Quill, and Groot had to give up all of their weapons. They did just that, but there was a catch.

Once inside, Groot casually opened up his chest to reveal numerous guns for him and Star-Lord to use for battle. It was an awesome moment and a very intelligent way for the Guardians to use Groot’s unique set of abilities.

Not long after that, we had the ‘glider form’ – as High Evolutionary’s ship was going airborne while also being seconds from blowing up, Groot and Quill just jumped overboard, freefalling to their death from way up in the sky.

Groot held Peter in his arms and grew a paraglider from his back as they flew and landed on the ground fairly safely. Were it not for Groot and his unique powers, yet again, they’d be toast.

Finally, in the film’s post-credit scene, we see the newly-formed Guardians team sitting in a desert next to a huge rock, apparently on a mission. Suddenly, the huge rock moves, revealing it was Groot all along – making us HAVE to call it the ‘rock form.’ Not the Rock, just rock, although both would make sense, I guess.

When he stood up, we could see that he was even bulkier and way bigger, looking a lot more like his stature from the comics. It means that Groot is still growing, and if we were to see him in the MCU again, I’m super excited to see another cool form he takes in the future.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still in theaters before eventually arriving on Disney+, likely late this summer.

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