If you weren't expecting to sob over a CGI raccoon next weekend, well, guess again.
Marvel closes out its current "Guardians of the Galaxy" story with the final installment in writer/director James Gunn's trilogy, which opens on May 5. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" centers on the shortest, furriest and crankiest member of the group of intergalactic warriors, Rocket Raccoon, and it gets emotional — just ask the actor who voices him, Bradley Cooper.
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"I cried hard," the Jenkintown native told "Access Hollywood" at the movie's world premiere, recalling his first viewing of the film. "I mean like, hard. I texted (Gunn) and was like, 'Bro I am weeping."
The movie delves into Rocket's origin story as the test subject of a cruel scientist with a serious god complex. Rocket, who insists throughout the trilogy that he's not a raccoon, started life as a normal baby animal before the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) performed a series of painful procedures on him, genetically engineering him so he could talk, walk upright and even understand complex science.
The latest movie sees the creator coming back for his prize pupil, but Rocket's friends — including Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillam) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) — won't let him go without a fight.
Cooper said he and Gunn discussed Rocket's "end game" from the very beginning of the series, which debuted in 2014.
"You know what's so weird, is James said when we first started talking about Rocket, he was like, 'And the end game is...'" Cooper said. "You never know if someone's really going to do that, and then lo and behold, the script came out, and I couldn't believe it."
Marvel teased that story in a clip posted Tuesday, which shows a young Rocket talking with an otter, a rabbit and a walrus, all outfitted with metal appendages. The four critters come up with names for one another while lying on the floor of a cage.
"It really is good to have friends," the otter (voiced by Linda Cardellini) says.
Cooper clearly isn't the only one who had an emotional response to the movie. Early reactions on social media indicate this will be a tearjerker, especially if you're an animal lover:
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