Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 writer and director James Gunn has been recognized by PETA for telling the origin story of Rocket Raccoon’s early days being raised in a scientific laboratory.
Gunn received the “Not a Number” Award on Monday, May 8th — just days after the film’s release in theaters. The final installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy hearkens back to the cruel experimentation Rocket endured at the hands of the High Evolutionary, from whom he was eventually able to escape.
PETA hopes everyone can take inspiration from his story to speak out against animal experimentation and demand that corporations, universities, and government agencies switch to research methods that don’t involve animals.
Related Video
“Through Rocket, James Gunn has put a face, a name, and a personality on the millions of vulnerable animals being cycled through laboratories as we speak,” said PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange in a statement. “PETA is celebrating this as the best animal rights film of the year for helping audiences see animals as individuals and suggesting that just because we can experiment on them doesn’t mean that we should.”
On Friday, May 5th, Gunn posted a tweet about how Rocket’s story reflected his own. “At the end of the day, this is a movie about joy & compassion & learning to see beyond the rim of our own worlds & having empathy for all living things,” he wrote. “Rocket’s journey is my own & I’m so happy to have had him help me to learn to be a better person over the past 11 years — as have all of you.”
In our review of Vol. 3, Senior Entertainment Editor Liz Shannon Miller writes about “a gut-curdling amount of animal abuse that becomes genuinely hard to take at times” and describes the sequences as “easily the most disturbing things to happen in the MCU to date.”
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks Gunn’s final MCU film before officially taking over the reins at DC. Thus far, the plans for the new DC Universe include Superman: Legacy (which Gunn himself will direct), a Batman and Robin movie, Wonder Woman TV prequel series, and more.
Today is the day! #GuardiansoftheGalaxyVol3 opens in theaters! At the end of the day, this is a movie about joy & compassion & learning to see beyond the rim of our own worlds & having empathy for all living things. Rocket’s journey is my own & I’m so happy to have had him help… pic.twitter.com/TRtYxLNY0W
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 5, 2023
