Warning: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and the entire run of Daniel Craig’s James Bond movies, are all in play. If you haven’t seen either, and want to avoid any surprises, you’ve been warned.
While looking back at the journey that Rocket Raccoon has taken throughout the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, I didn’t expect to find parallels between Bradley Cooper’s Marvel Cinematic Universe character and the James Bond from the era of Daniel Craig. However, that’s exactly what happened as I watched James Gunn’s new Marvel movie, thanks to certain elements of my favorite Guardian connecting to things that happened in the most recent era of 007 adventures.
The way both characters have been developed over their respective films has led to a surprising handful of strong parallels. In fact, there’s even a moment that involves Rocket executing his own take on a classic Bond series hallmark. So grab your refreshing drink of choice, and prepare to learn how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 mirrors Craig's era of James Bond.
Rocket Raccoon And James Bond Both Have Their Own Iconic Numbers
To start things off, one pretty interesting coincidence is the fact that James Bond and Rocket Raccoon both have alternate handles that involve cold and calculating sounding numbers. In terms of Commander Bond, we’ve always known about the 007 handle he was given through Ian Fleming’s iconic literary canon. But thanks to James Gunn re-introducing Rocket’s own alternate moniker more prominently in the Guardians' series show-stopping finale, we now know that some would prefer to call our fierce little trash panda-turned-hero by another name.
The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), in particular, loves to call Rocket by the name of “89P13,” which to be fair almost sounds like the Marvel version of Javert calling out Jean-Valjean by his prisoner number in Les Miserables. But at the same time, plenty of exasperated authority figures and nemeses of James Bond have also derogatorily referred to him simply as “007.” No matter how you look at it, these are both characters that are partially defined by the names and numbers that the universe uses to signify their presence.
Loss Generally Forms Both Characters From Their Early Years
Another foundational similarity sees both 007 and 89P13 defined by another common thread: childhood loss. By flashing back to the latter's unfortunate loss of innocence as a kit, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finally revealed the trauma that caused Rocket Raccoon to become the embittered “secret protagonist” with trust issues. Losing his actual family, and then his chosen family from the High Evoutionary’s Batch 89, shaped him in such a way that he never truly shook the tragedy until later in life.
While we didn’t really learn about the cinematic James Bond’s childhood trauma until Skyfall and Spectre, what we did find out adhered to his Ian Fleming-crafted backstory. After losing his parents -- Andrew and Monique -- in a fatal climbing accident, the good Commander would eventually drift through life as an orphan, with his loved ones only coming in the form of his adopted family.
Secrets From James Bond And Rocket’s Past Had Massive Consequences
The next common thread for our blockbuster heroes once again pertains to their tragic pasts. Only this time, we make note of the fact that their shadowy backstories are also an imminent threat to the future. Whether it’s Rocket refusing to talk about his time in captivity as a High Evolutionary test subject, or James Bond omitting the fact that his step brother eventually became Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), the past never truly died for them; and it incurred a pretty high cost.
No Time To Die’s ending left its hero in a very different place than where we saw Rocket end up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s finale; so one could argue those costs definitely weren’t on the same scale. Despite 007 dying and 89P13 surviving, you can’t deny that the secrets they kept eventually impacted them in ways that massively threatened their lives.
Rocket’s Loss Of Lylla Is Similar To Casino Royale’s Heartbreaking Loss
Both of the beloved protagonists have that one true love that runs deep in their bones, putting a bow of heartbreaking loss on top of ultimate betrayal. While the MCU's Lylla (Linda Cardelini) isn’t a turncoat like Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale, both of their deaths shake their respective heroes to their cores. So much so that both Rocket Raccoon and James Bond turn to some of the same sources of solace.
Inspired to seek vengeance and forego happiness in the face of ultimate justice, Rocket and 007 harden themselves to the world. Overcoming these losses is what stand in the way of happiness and a well-adjusted life. And again, both of these heroic figures make an effort to heal those long held wounds. How successful they are ties into their respective endings, even if they learned some of the same lessons along the path to supposed enlightenment.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Borrows A Special Lesson From Quantum Of Solace
If James Gunn isn’t a James Bond fan, then these last two parallels are even more interesting to make note of. Especially when Rocket Raccoon learned the most important lesson that coincidentally helped Quantum of Solace define the Daniel Craig era of 007. As it turns out, both Rocket and James show great personal growth through the people they spare in a crucial moment.
For Rocket, sparing the life of the High Evolutionary allowed him to survive for potential future trouble. But allowing him be confined to Knowhere is still a sign of improvement, as a previous version of this raccoon character would have probably just iced his creator without a thought.
That frosty heroism is exactly like what we saw in Quantum of Solace’s ending, as James Bond let both Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and Yusef Kabira (Sunil Bakshi), Vesper’s supposed “boyfriend,” walk away with their lives. Neither character needed to pull the trigger in those trying times, they just needed to let nature or whatever processes were in play do their respective thing.
Iconic Name Drops Cement James Bond And Rocket Raccoon’s Personal Journeys
This final parallel between James Bond and Rocket Raccoon is potentially my favorite, as hearing Bradley Cooper say the line “The name’s Rocket. Rocket Raccoon” had only cemented my thoughts that connected his Marvel Studios character to 007 himself. Fully confident in knowing himself, the new leader of the Guardians straight up identifies himself and blasts his foe with a well-placed, but non-fatal, shot.
It’s literally a mirror of the same moment where Daniel Craig’s James Bond disables Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) with his own sharpshooting. The only real difference between these moments is the lack of the James Bond theme in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and I’ve got plans to fix that upon the film’s eventual release to those with a Disney+ subscription. For now, I’m just going to leave this final comparison as the capstone to why I feel we should be talking about Bond and Rocket with the same sort of reverence.
Come to think of it, running through this list of reasons only further enforces why Rocket Raccoon’s Guardians of the Galaxy story confirms he’s my favorite member of this Marvel team. It also makes me even less excited about the promised return of “The Legendary Star-Lord,” as one could very easily craft a side mission or two focused solely on this ringtail with a slick trigger finger.
While it’s not guaranteed in the case of Rocket Raccoon, much like James Bond I hope I get to see the MCU hero return sooner rather than later. For now, anyone who wants to catch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will have to venture out to a movie theater to do so. However, it's presumed that Rocket's finest hour will be available on Disney+ at some point within the year.
