Marvel confirmed on Twitter that the animated series of shorts, which features Vin Diesel reprising his role as Baby Groot, will start streaming on August 10. Unfortunately, the initial teaser was not a trailer. Instead, the first official poster shows the titular anthropomorphic sapling laid back on top of what looks like Peter Quill’s headphones and his Walkman as he listens to music on a pair of cans. The most interesting part about the poster is the initial appearance of the two mischievous-looking penguin-like creatures. We haven’t seen either of the two in any previous Marvel Studios film, so it looks like they’ll be unique to the new series. According to Marvel Studios, I Am Groot is a show about “Baby Groot’s glory days growing up, and getting into trouble among the stars.”
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) June 5, 2022 Disney nor Marvel is yet to reveal if the other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy will also appear on the show and who will voice them. Although we wouldn’t mind watching a show with just Groot and his limited vocabulary (wouldn’t that be something?). If nothing else, we can expect I Am Groot to take a page out of Disney’s other child-friendly short series like Olaf Presents (Frozen) and Ice Age Scrat Tales (Ice Age). I Am Groot is the first original Guardians of the Galaxy spinoff to air on Disney Plus. We’re saying first because a second one, Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, will premiere on the streaming platform in December. While I Am Groot isn’t Disney’s first foray into non-canon spin-offs, it is a relatively uncharted theory for Marvel Studios. Even last year’s Marvel’s What If…?, which we ranked low on our rankings of Disney Plus shows, was canon. However, from what we know about I Am Groot, it’s not canon to the main MCU continuity. Thus, the show raises the question if viewers will be drawn to a project from Marvel Studios that isn’t tied to the MCU canon. The MCU is built on its canonicity - everything in the MCU is connected, plot holes be damned. This would imply that fans might not be interested in projects that exist outside of the MCU like I Am Groot. Having said that, we are curious to see how I Am Groot will turn out. By existing outside of the MCU, the storytellers have more freedom to explore alternative narratives that might lead to better stories. In other MCU news, the release of I Am Groot will coincide with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Tatiana Maslany will make her MCU debut as She-Hulk on August 17.
