On Twitter, Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn shared a still from Groot’s Last Supper, a scene that recreates Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting The Last Supper, with Groot taking center stage as a counterpart to Jesus Christ. “A still from the original Guardians that I cut from the final film,” the director wrote. The picture also features key characters Drax (Dave Bautista) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper), although Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Gamora (Zoe Saldanha) are noticeably absent.
As to why this scene was cut from the first Guardians movie, Gunn wrote: “It was too ostentatious and interfered with the flow of the story. It was the right choice.” When Gunn was asked if there was concern that the scene was too heavy-handed with its foreshadowing, he replied: “To a certain extent, too, but I’m not sure that people were expecting Groot to die in a Marvel movie, whatever it was.”
At the end of the film, the bulky tree-like creature not only dies, but sacrifices itself to save its comrades. Moreover, despite his death, Groot is soon reborn as a baby Groot, allowing him to go on further space adventures.
After Groot’s sacrifice, baby Groot appeared in the 2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. One of the many mid-credits scenes in this movie jumps ahead of time to introduce the teenaged Groot. Groot later appeared in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He is set to appear once again alongside his Thor: Love and Thunder co-stars.
After Love and Thunder, Guardians will return to the big screen in Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is scheduled for release on May 5, 2023.
