Vin Diesel Is Ready for a Groot Spin-Off – And He Wants an Incredible Avenger to Join Him

Nick Schager
·Writer

Vin Diesel is currently starring in the action sequel XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, and his Fast and Furious sequel, The Fate of the Furious, will be hitting theaters in April. But those aren’t the only franchises he’s involved in, of course: He’s also going to reprise his voice role as Groot — correction: as Baby Groot! — in this summer’s eagerly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Before that sequel has even hit theaters, however, Diesel is already letting the world know that he’s ready for his tree-like Marvel hero to get his own spin-off — and he has ideas about the not-so-jolly green giant who should join him in that adventure.

Related: Watch Vin Diesel Ski Through the Jungle in an Insane Clip from ‘XXX: Return of Xander Cage’

In a new interview with MTV News UK, Diesel reveals that his big dream is to see his Guardians hero standing face to face with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk: “I’m really interested to see what happens when him and the Hulk are in the same room…I could imagine Hulk could say something or Rocket Raccoon could say something wise, like a smart-ass, to the Hulk, and the Hulk get all ruffled and all angry.” (Watch our video above.)

As for a stand-alone Groot film, Diesel is confident it could become a reality, since Guardians director James Gunn has already talked about it. “I think it’s inevitable,” Diesel said. “He was already one of the most unique characters in the Marvel universe…. I think he’s such an interesting character, and there’s so much to learn about him. I’d love to go back to his planet and learn more about him — and I think the world would. He’s really a genius on a lot of levels, and it’s just that we can only hear him say ‘I am Groot’ because of our sophistication level, not his.”

Diesel is certainly excited about his second go-round as the voice of Groot. He told Collider late last year that the reborn tyke version will be a far cry from the more mature Groot featured in the original Guardians of the Galaxy: “He couldn’t be more naive as Baby Groot. I always think of the Groot that we saw on the first Guardians as a college-level Groot, so he’s not fully grown yet, but he’s a man. And once he sacrifices himself at the end of the movie, now he has to start all over, so to speak.”
And if you’re wondering how the baritone-voiced Diesel is going to handle such duties for a baby character, well, James Gunn has let fans know that his star is capable of more than merely one vocal register.

While we have no idea if Diesel can convince Marvel Studios to grant him a Groot spin-off, the character — on the basis of the below trailer — seems like he’ll be front and center in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (due out May 5). Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, meanwhile, will next team up with another Marvel character — Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder — in November’s Thor: Ragnarok.

And both heroes may yet appear on-screen together in a future Avengers movie — although according to James Gunn (via Cinemablend), it won’t be in summer 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.

Watch the trailer: