Early Life[]

Groot was a Flora colossi from Planet X, the capital of the Branchworlds, five gardens of suns and planets created by the Gardener.^[8] Groot and his fellow Flora colossi, Tweeg and Gleef, were raised by their parents and the Arbor Masters, who served as teachers, protectors and monarchs. They learned through photosyntesis, as sunrise transmited the collected consciousness of generations of Arbor Masters into Groot and his peers.^[11] Growing in the environment, Groot did not get along with his fellow saplings, instead preferring the company of the "Maintenance Mammals" who the other saplings treated with prejudice.^[12] Living in the Herbaceous Habitats, these small animals and living fungi maintained the root system and the drainage, ran the Mycelium engine room, broke down compost and converted it into energy for the trees, and did the bidding of the Arbor Masters. Although they felt oppressed, only Groot ever took notice of this, and campaigned for their rights, an act that inspired them to form an Undergrowth Resistance.^[3] In turn, Groot also felt alienated from the adults of his species, as they went to different worlds to conquer them or kidnap test subjects, such as Groot XXCVII did.^[12]

When Groot was still a kid, he walked alongside his father when he witnessed the arrival of a Leviathon called Furnax, who burned 80,000 square kilometers of forest and everything inside it in a single night, shoving anything that couldn't run away into its own body to use as fuel. Groot and his father surveyed the damage, and Groot was traumatized.^[9]

The first Flora Colossi, matriarch elder Granopy, told Groot and his peer stories and to never go into the Deadwoods. However, one day, out of curiosity, Groot, Tweeg and Gleef checked the forbidden area, only to be captured by the criminal organization known as the Spoilers. They were taken off world to an outpost of the Spoilers on another planet, where they were freed by Private Mar-Vell of the Kree Starforce. Although wary of Mar-Vell at first, Groot and his friends got along with him as the Kree Private and his superior Captain So-Lar went to Planet X to see possible Spoiler activity there.^[13]

However, they were ambushed by the Spoilers' Chainsaurs which killed So-Lar, while Groot, Gleef, Tweeg and Mar-Vell were saved by the intervention of the Centaurian hunter Yondar. Going to safer place, Yondar explained to the three little Flora colossi that she had a personal vendetta against the Spoilers and had arrived to Planet X after finding a piece belonging to a Flora colossi. She further elaborated that the motionless Flora colossi were already silent when she came and was unsure why they refused to speak, though she believed they were afraid and ashamed of the Spoilers' presence in their world. Telling the group that the Spoilers were stationed in the Deadwoods, Mar-Vell decided to attack it to prevent further worlds from falling to their hands. Groot and his fellow saplings accompanied Mar-Vell and Yondar into the Deadwoods, but again were attacked by the Chainsaurs, resulting in the capture of Mar-Vell, Tweeg and Gleef, while Groot and Yondar barely managed to escape.^[14]

Learning that the Spoilers were led by a mutated Flora colossi named Agz, Groot reunited with Yondar. Groot saw that Yondar was hiding something and at his insistence she revealed that the reason why she had been after the Spoilers was because they had eradicated her colony, but had by now given hope at defeating them. Groot, determined to save his friends, went to Granopy and alongside Yondar implored her to help them. As Groot screamed for Granopy to hear him, she used his voice to send a message to the Kree Space Fleet, notifying them of the Spoilers' lair in Planet X.^[15] Groot and Yondar then went to aid Mar-Vell, Gleef and Tweeg in defending themselves from the Chainsaurs, until the Kree arrived at last and destroyed the Chainsaurs along with most of the Deadwoods. In the aftermath, Agz was taken prisoner, and the Kree began preserving Planet X in order to let it rebuild itself. Following Mar-Vell and Yondar's departure, Groot and his saplings would tell the younger generations stories about the heroes that helped their world.^[16]

One day, Groot witnessed a group of saplings brutalizing a maintenance animal, and in a fit of rage, Groot killed one of them.^[11] On top of that, Groot found a human subject that had been kidnapped from Earth for scientific purposes, and he helped her return home. For these crimes, he was exiled from the planet. With no place to go, Groot set to explore other galaxies.^[12]

Annihilation: Conquest[]

Decades later, into his adulthood, Groot found himself in Kree space, where he was promptly captured and imprisoned. While in jail, he met his cellmate, Rocket Raccoon. Although they didn't get along at first, after several months Rocket stood up for Groot when the Kree Guards kept bullying him for only being able to speak three words. In return, Groot made Rocket a flower bed. When Guards disabled their cell's cameras and went in looking for revenge, Groot and Rocket did short work of them, and Rocket realized he could now understand Groot's speech. The two became friends from there on.^[17] Later, the two were assigned to a covert ops team led by Starlord, whose goal was to assault Hala and prevent the Phalanx from unleashing a virus. Afterwards, Groot's body was mostly destroyed, but a small twig of him split off, preserving him. Groot regrew himself soon after their mission was complete.^[18] Groot then continued to help Starlord and the others he had teamed up with to defeat the Phalanx, once again sacrificing himself to save the others and regrowing from a twig.^[19]

Guardians of the Galaxy[]

When Star-Lord felt the galaxy was too fragiled and needed protectors, he commanded his friend Mantis to mind-control several of his allies into agreeing to join a team.^[20] Among these, Groot joined Star-Lord's Guardians of the Galaxy, though he did not at first fight alongside the team as he was still regrowing himself.^[21] The team lasted until the presumed deaths of Drax the Destroyer and Star-Lord, who were trapped in the Cancerverse.^[22]

Mojo TV[]

In their time as solo adventurers, Groot and Rocket Raccoon were having a libation in a low-down dirty spacer bar in low-down dirty spacer space when they were accosted by a group of Badoon who attempted to arrest them for 'Crimes against the Royal Brotherhood'. A quick shootout ensued and Rocket created an avenue of escape by shooting holes in the beer barrels causing the saloon patrons to stampede for the free beer. The duo made a hasty exit and were soon rocketing away when they found themselves pursued by Badoon Attack Cruisers. Rocket ordered Groot to take evasive action while he went to boost the stardrive to allow them to escape. He found the stardrive compartment empty and the scene cut to a shot of the surprised Rocket with a cliffhanger closing credits and Mojo proclaiming "Best Pilot Episode Ever!"^[23]

They then found themselves staring at an empty compartment where a stardrive should be and questioning why they were hearing voices like suddenly their lives just got a narrator. Their ship blew up and they appeared in space in combat space armor bewildered at what just happened and how they got there. They targeted their Badoon attackers forcing one of the pilots to eject. They squeezed into his craft and it began to plummet to an ice planet below. Mojo called for the scene to cut and hit the Bio-Stasis on his stars. He proceeded to plan for the next scene expecting to make enormous money on the show. In the background, Rocket's Timely Inc. Shipment Processing Device analyzed the situation and informed the duo they were caught up in an artificial dramatic construction. They blasted through a wall realizing they were in a "Flarkin' TV Studio" and were confronted by a hologram of Mojo who opened fire with real weapons.^[24]

Groot and Rocket Raccoon were transported to the Mojoverse by the inter-dimensional TV producer known as Mojo. He had decided to use the pair in his latest reality television show. He recruited various criminals that the heroes had fought in the past. He placed the pair in scenarios where they would have to battle them again, however, if an innocent life form was caught in the crossfire, they would be killed in the process.^[25] As the duo moved from one scenario to another, Mojo began advertising action figures with a collection pack that allowed buyers to assemble their own 12" Groot figure after collecting all five. The demand was so high, Mojo stood to make a fortune until the Timely Inc. Shipment Processing and Analysis Device decided to take control of the situation and held a B-00-M Meson Beam Gun to Mojo's face. It allowed the reality system to stop just long enough for the heroes to escape. They confronted and destroyed Mojo who was revealed to be a robot controlled by Major Domo.^[26]

Return of the Guardians[]

After Star-Lord and Drax returned from the Cancerverse, the Guardians of the Galaxy were reformed. Groot, along with the rest of his team, aided the Avengers in fighting the returned Thanos.^[27] Thanos managed to get a Cosmic Cube from the United States Army, with which he escaped to Moord, the homeland of the Badoon. The Guardians arrived at the Avengers Tower and informed the Avengers about the situation. They joined the Guardians to fight Thanos and the Badoon.^[28]

After Thanos apparently killed the Elders of the Universe, to impose his supremacy, he became one with the Cosmic Cube and killed the Avengers as well as the Guardians. But actually, they were sent to the Cancerverse along the Elders, there, Tony Stark found that Thanos' weapon wasn't actually a Cosmic Cube and that it had defects. They bargained with the Collector, in exchange of a weapon capable of deactivating the "Cube" and return to Earth, the Avengers and the Guardians would let Thanos to be defeated by the Elders. With the help of other members of the Avengers, Thanos was defeated and sent to punishment by the Elders.^[29]

Black Vortex[]

Soon after joining the Guardians on behalf of the Avengers as a liaison, Agent Venom started losing control of his symbiote. After it was taken from him by the Guardians as a precaution, the symbiote escaped confinement and bonded with Groot for a brief time.^[6]

Together with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot was one of the many heroes involved in the hunt for the Black Vortex, an ancient power-bestowing artifact. After being captured by Mister Knife, Groot and X-Men members Iceman and Cyclops came across the Black Vortex while escaping from the villain's mobile fortress. Groot submitted to the power of the Black Vortex and tapped into a cosmic level of powers.^[30] When he rejected the powers imbued by the Black Vortex once it had been secured, Groot's appearance was slightly altered. Instead of being composed entirely by barky wood, his body became formed by vines topped by protective slabs of wood.^[31]

Shattered[]

After a period grounded on Earth,^[32] Groot and the other Guardians were barely on speaking terms. Agreeing to do one final score before going their separate ways, Groot accompanied Rocket to the Stohlad Ring, where Groot was attacked by the Elder of the Universe known as the Gardener, who had been driven mad by Loki. Claiming that Groot had been corrupted by the Guardians and deviated from his original destructive purpose, the Gardener shattered Groot. Rocket managed to escape with a splinter of Groot which he subsequently planted so he could regrow his body.^[33] However, the Gardener used Groot's remains for the same purpose, planting a garden of twisted maniac Flora colossus whose growth prevented the original Groot from growing bigger than a sapling.^[34]

The Guardians of the Galaxy eventually caught notice of the Gardener's use of the army of Flora colossus, and faced them on the planet Telferina. During the battle, Groot managed to get close to the Gardener, and used his healing powers to purify the Elders' body of the poison that drove him mad. In return, the Elder used his abilities to restore Groot's body, not only returning him to his normal size, but also restoring his locution, allowing him to speak full sentences, albeit in third person.^[35]

Shortly after this, Rocket abandoned what little remained of the team without warning when he noticed his body started rejecting his modifications and he was dying. This caused Groot to develop a punk, rebellious personality. Groot chased Rocket to Halfworld, where he convinced him to seek help.^[36] As Rocket healed, the team put their differences aside and came together as a family once and for all.^[37]

Dark Olympians[]

When the Guardians of the Galaxy were approached by Nova for their assistance in stopping the conquering rampage of the Olympians, who had been reborn as bloodthirsty rogue gods, Groot was one of the Guardians who refused out of concern for the safety of each other.^[38] Some of the members, including Star-Lord, snuck away to assist Nova and were successful in their mission of trapping the Dark Olympians in an alternate dimension at the apparent cost of Quill's life.^[39] As a result, Gamora broke off the team with the other Guardians who had stayed behind, including Groot, and formed their own team of Guardians of the Galaxy to return to their mercenary ways.^[40] During their first mission, which consisted on the assassination of Rocket Raccoon, Groot tipped his friend off about the attempt on his life and even stopped the hitman, Rocket's rival Blackjack O'Hare.^[41] In the aftermath of the mission, both teams reached a truce, but Groot even defected back to the original team.^[42]

Star-Lord returned from the other-dimensional world of Morinus, where he had spent a hundred of years of his life, albeit unaging, to herald the escape of the Dark Olympians from their imprisonment.^[43] The two Guardians teams came together for the final confrontation against the Dark Olympians which saw their defeat. During the battle, Groot was charred to a crip by a lightning bolt from Zeus.^[44] Rocket had new member Prince of Power use his abilities derived from the Power Stone in his possession to grow Groot back to life, although in the process he again evolved beyond language, limiting his vocabulary once again to "I am Groot." Following the defeat of the Dark Olympians, the Guardians of the Galaxy were sanctioned by the Galactic Council as protectors of the cosmos in light of the increasing uncertainty of the galactic landscape, providing them with headquarters in the space station Proscenium. ^[45]

Grootfall[]

After Nebula joined the Guardians, she combined the probability engine in her head with the Guardians' threat data to create an early-warning system that pointed to Groot's homeworld as the most likely threat vector to galactic peace. When Groot and Rocket landed on it, they found the planet razed to the ground. Granopy infected Groot with one of her branches, turning Groot into an out-of-control monster. As Groot became planet-sized, getting designated "Grootfall", he took out most of the Guardians and the Proscenium, and proceeded to launch pieces of himself at neighboring planets, annexing everything into his "Grootspace." This was a natural process the Gardener had programmed into the Flora Colossi when he created them, and Groot was merely covering the Branchworlds under his soil until the time he could "bloom" and rekindle the ashes, bringing the planets back to life alongside every being he'd captured. Although at first the Guardians thought Groot was lost to them, they were able to establish communication and help Groot bloom,^[46] bringing all of the "dead" back to life and restoring Groot to normal.^[47]

Flora Colossus Physiology: Groot is the member of an alien race of humanoid trees and as such, possesses various abilities unique to his species.

• Regenerative Healing Factor: Groot has been seemingly killed on three occasions, each time regrowing from a sprig. This may be a major contributor to his botanopathy.^[48]
• Size Addition: Groot can grow at an extremely advanced speed at will, growing to his normal size from a sprig,^[49] or growing from his normal size to a giant form.
• Plasticity: Groot has the ability to stretch his limbs for long distances and reshape them for a variety of tasks. He normally takes the shape of a large tree-like humanoid, but can also weave his limbs into a dense tangle of vines. He can grow individual limbs to currently undisclosed lengths, allowing him to have stretching powers, similar to Mister Fantastic.^[17] This may be related to his cellular regeneration and his control over plants.
• Superhuman Strength: Groot's tree like form provides him great strength and enables him to lift more than 100 tons.^[48] His strength allows him to overpower Armadillo.^[50]
• Superhuman Durability: Groot's hide is composed of wood dense enough and durable enough to make him immune to most conventional weapons, including gunfire and fire which would consume most woods.
• Chlorokinesis: Groot has the power to control other plants through psychokinesis, or his own physical form, therefore he can turn his hands into blades, or grow in size altogether, or even use that power to heal himself from fatal wounds.^[48]
• Healing Power: Groot is able to heal others. While the full capabilities are unknown, Groot was able to rid the Gardener of poison within a few seconds.^[35]
• Shapeshifting: Groot can manipulate his body and even grow new limbs.^[51]

Genius-Level Intellect: Groot has received the finest education from Photonic Knowledge of the Arbor Masters. He was highly intelligent and has a tremendous grasp of quasi-dimensional super-positional engineering.^[48] Again, allegedly, as reported by a man openly known as "Maximus the Mad".^[54]

Language Barrier: To most people, Groot appears to only say "I am Groot." This made communication with most people all but completely futile. Maximus the Mad asserted that whenever Groot was saying his trademark "I am Groot!" he had actually been saying any number of things. It was the hardened nature of Groot's larynx that causes people, who are oblivious to the subtle nuances of his speech, to misinterpret him as merely repeating his name.^[54] After spending some time with Groot, certain people such as Rocket Raccoon were able to pick up his nuances, and understand him.^[17]

• The Planet X that is home to Goom and Googam, as well as the Planet X of Kurrgo seen in Fantastic Four #7 - later named Xanth in the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe - are not the same planets as the planet from which Groot claims to come.
• Groot is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for "big."