Rocket Raccoon Originally Wasn't in 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and Other Tales from the Screenwriter

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ crew

What’s it like to co-write Guardians of the Galaxy, the biggest blockbuster of the year? Screenwriters and podcasters John August and Craig Mazin sat down with Nicole Perlman, co-writer of the summer’s big smash, to find out. On the new episode of their podcast Scriptnotes, August and Mazin asked Perlman about the secrets behind the Guardian's screenplay and her stint in Marvel's secretive (and apparently short-lived) screenwriting boot camp. Here are some of the tidbits we learned.

Rocket Raccoon wasn’t in the early drafts.
Can you imagine Guardians without its resident angry critter? Neither can we. But the fan favorite wasn’t always such a key player. “There were versions that didn’t have Rocket, early on. There was a fear that Rocket…would come across as too cartoony,” said Perlman. “But it all worked out.” Obviously cooler (or should we say hotter?) heads prevailed. 

Marvel used to run a superhero screenwriting school. 
Perlman wrote the script while she was part of the Marvel screenwriting program, in which writers dove into the comic company’s trove of superhero characters and tried to make them work for the big screen. (The program’s since been discontinued; apparently, Marvel makes enough movies already.) "The concept was, you join for one year. And if they liked you, and you liked them, you could come back for a second year," she explained. "While working for Marvel, Perlman wasn’t allowed to write any other screenplays — and for a while, she wan’t even allowed to tell people what she was doing. “It was a bit of a gamble,” she said.

Groot’s sacrifice was in the script from the beginning — and so was Peter Quill’s Walkman.
The scene in which Groot releases the phosphorescent spores was in each draft, as was the moving finale in which Groot sacrifices himself for the team. Ditto for the throwback references such as the Walkman, and the classic tunes — all of which were an important part of Quill’s character. “I wanted Quill, for all his bluster, to be homesick,” Perlman said.

Peter Quill is very different in the movie than he is in the comic book. Perlman said she saw the movie not as a typical origin story of a single character, but rather of a team. And a lot of those team members changed from their comic-book origins. Quill (Chris Pratt), for example, is “completely different in the movie versus how he is in the comics,” Perlman said, noting that that’s the contribution she’s most proud of. “He’s not a relic smuggler [in the comics]. He’s not this rakish fellow.”

Guardians of the…what?
It goes without saying that Perlman’s gamble paid off handsomely. But there was at least one person in her life who’s still less-than-impressed with the success of Guardians of the Galaxy. “My uncle calls it Masters of the Universe,” Perlman admitted.

Watch a clip of Rocket from Guardians below: