15 Superpowers You Didn’t Know Groot Had

0
A split screen of Groot.


Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket the Raccoon, Yondu, and Star-Lord. Suffice it to say, the Guardians of the Galaxy are one awesome team, with some very impressive superpowers to boot. Given what they’ve been through, it is a good thing too. But of them all, there is one that stands tall as having the wildest abilities this side of Knowhere. He is Groot!


With Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and the galactic tour de force known as Baby Groot taking the world by storm one tiny yell at a time, one might think there is little left to learn about this woodland hero. Especially considering he seems like the least complicated member of these Cosmic Avengers. But non-comic book readers might just be blown over by how much he can accomplish with some bark, vines, and three simple words.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

UPDATE: 2022/11/22 23:34 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS

The Guardians of the Galaxy return this holiday season with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special before finishing up their run in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023. With that, heroes like Rocket Raccoon should get their big moment, and that also means that Groot should get some big moments as well since he is Rocket’s closest companion. The big hero should be closer to fully grown after reverting to childhood and his teenage years in the past few appearances. This could mean that the MCU might finally see more of Groot’s powers from the comics.

Dendrokinesis

Groot's Powers of Dendrokinesis to Control Trees.

Groot is one of the few known in existence to possess the power of dendrokinesis – the ability to control things made out of wood, living or dead. Groot could make anything wood attack someone on a whim. As a skilled wood manipulator, he can psychokinetically create, shape, and command any wooden substance to do whatever he likes, whenever he likes. Just like Magneto, only with timber.

Groot put this power to use when he brought an entire forest to life. Ever since, he’s been calling upon his wooden surroundings to squash his foes and pull off some pretty awesome feats. He can even mutate wood by rearranging its DNA, which he puts to good use when a clown posse attacks or he needs to create an army of mini-Groots.

Groot Can Fly in Space

Groot Flying Through Space.

One of Groot’s best comic book storylines came in his 2015 solo comic. It’s lighthearted fare for all ages, with gorgeously playful artwork. It takes some liberties with the character and muddles his backstory, but Marvel has been all over the place with this sentient tree ever since he first appeared as a villain conducting human experiments. One of the cooler aspects of the book is getting to see some of his rarely-shown talents, like flying through space.

While en route to rescue Rocket Raccoon from a bounty hunter, he gets sidetracked by some neon smoke swirling outside his spacecraft. A bit more shocking, however, is that to investigate, he nonchalantly jettisons out of the spaceship and propels through the empty abyss towards its source. This means Groot doesn’t need oxygen to survive, and he can maneuver in outer space however he sees fit.

Bioluminosity (Making Things Glow)

Groot lights in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Remember that scene in Guardians of the Galaxy when Groot spontaneously releases a firefly-like swarm of lights? It’s tough to say exactly what those winged balls of illumination were – insects, samaras, glowing spores – but one thing was for sure, Groot has the power to inherently generate light.

When the scene occurs, Drax comments, “Where did you learn to do that?” This is an in-joke, as this is a new trick, one Groot never showed before in the comics. However, for a while during the Guardian of the Galaxy’s third run, his body was depicted as being filled with bulbous, glowing orbs. His new bioluminescent anatomy is never explained or used in any meaningful way.

Plasticity

Groot using Plasticity Superpowers.

Like Reed Richards, Groot can extend his limbs at will, able to shoot them out long distances or even reshape them into different forms. While he appears for the most part to be a tree-like humanoid, Groot also possesses the characteristics and makeup of vines. As such, he is able to manipulate his body in all sorts of ways, but he’s always able to snap back to his original state when the job is done.

This happened during the Guardians raid on the Dark Aster in the first film when he single-limbedly took out a troop of Ronan’s army. The true unknown here is how far Groot can actually grow his limbs. In 2008’s Guardians of the Galaxy #7, he extended them into the Cancerverse for what seemed like miles.

Super Strength

Groot using the Superpowers of Strength.

Like pretty much all giant wooden behemoths, Groot is strong. He can flex his lumbering muscle with the strongest of heroes. Early on in his career, he could absorb wood to enhance his strength. Nowadays, he doesn’t have to rely on any wooden supplements and is naturally as strong as an oak. Marvel’s Strength Scale ranks him with an incalculable might capable of lifting in excess of 100 tons.

This basically makes Groot the hired muscle of the Guardians of Galaxy. When confronted with the Monster of Badoon, a cyborg beast strong enough to manhandle the Silver Surfer, Thing, and Colossus, Groot simply took its head off in a single swipe. Even more impressively, on two separate occasions, he has delivered blows that knocked Thanos off his feet.

Genius Intellect

Groot's Genius Intellect with Mad Maximus.

Groot may sound like he only knows three words, but don’t let that fool anyone. This walking, talking tree is a genius. All members of Groot’s race are exposed at a young age to highly advanced “Photonic Knowledge,” which is the equivalent of gaining the combined intellects of Albert Einstein, Yoda, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Apparently, of all his sentient tree-like brethren, Groot was top of his class.

During 2009’s Guardians of the Galaxy #17, the team has a run-in with the Inhuman supervillain and occasional hero Maximus the Mad. While joining forces, Maximus reveals that not only does Groot come from “an ancient and ennobled sap-line” but “as befits the scion of an elite royal house, he has received the finest education from the most gifted tutors.

Durability

Groot using the Superpowers of Durability.

Most of the time, trees are pretty easy to take down. An ax, some matches, termites, and the Hulk’s fists will all do the trick nicely. That is not the case with Groot and his super-durable bark. It is composed of a bioreactive material native only to his homeworld known as “sentient wood.” This dense wooden hide is tough enough to withstand most conventional weaponry, making him a Flora Colossus.

Groot’s best feat of durability came within the pages of Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon and Groot: Steal the Galaxy! Towards the end, Groot finds himself locked up in an adamantium cage as it’s being lowered into a vat of super hot energy. It’s so hot, it melts the near-indestructible adamantium bars into nothingness. Groot emerges not only unfazed, but having absorbed the energy, momentarily transforming into the single most powerful being in the universe. Groot’s husk is tougher than adamantium.

Size Manipulation

Groot and Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Considering that Groot can manipulate his limbs and extend his roots to near-infinite lengths, it only follows that he can alter the size of his entire body. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies showed it takes time for Groot to grow from a dancing sprout to a petulant teen, but his appearances in the comics have shown otherwise. In 2013’s Guardians of the Galaxy #3, Groot rises from a potted seedling to gigantic proportions in a matter of seconds to free the team from the Spartex Royal Guard.

He similarly turbo-boosted his cellular growth during an attack on the Babel Spire in Annihilation: Conquest #5. Another time, Hulk threw a tiny Groot at Thanos, only for him to balloon in size and lay the smackdown. Conversely, on several occasions, he has shown the ability to just as easily and quickly shrink down to a pint-sized sapling.

Instant Cellular Regeneration

Groot using Regrow Regenerate Superpowers.

Groot is always putting himself at the forefront of danger. When he first joined up with the Guardians, he got himself killed not once, but twice on kamikaze missions. Since then, he’s been burned, shot, impaled, severed in two, eaten alive, blown up, decapitated, and fallen victim to pretty much every other horrific act imaginable. Given all that, it’s safe to say he has endured some nasty wounds over the years. Luckily, he has a healing factor that is enough to make even Wolverine jealous.

As seen at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot heroically sacrificed himself for his fellow teammates, but he can grow back from almost anything. As there’s some good soil and a pot around, he is basically immortal. In the comics, he can immediately regenerate and promptly get back to saving the day.

Fire Resistance

Groot using Fire Resistant Superpowers.

While being resistant to flames might not seem all that special, for a giant wooden tree, this power is nothing short of miraculous. Groot’s alien wood composite provides immunity to most fire. The first glimpse of this remarkable talent came during his debut in Tales to Astonish #13. He terrorized a small village and the townsfolk threw torches at him.

Since then, he’s found himself surrounded by blazing infernos all over the galaxy without ever getting so much as a burn on his bark. That’s not to say that Groot can’t light up with the best of them. During the raid on the Babel Spire in Annihilation: Conquest #5, he altered the makeup of his sap to be flammable so that he could be turned into a giant Molotov cocktail.

He Can Create Fully-Functioning Mini-Clones

Groot Miniature Clones Annihilators 4.

What’s better than one tiny Groot? How about an infinite amount of tiny Groots. One of Groot’s more unusual superpowers is creating miniature versions of himself. What’s more, each of these mini-Groots has a mind of its own and comes equipped with the same abilities he possesses. This comes in particularly handy when a clan of cosmic assassin clowns made out of sentient wood attack.

During 2011’s Annihilators #4, a clown hit squad targets Groot and Rocket Raccoon. The only issue is there are too many for one Groot to handle. So he created a mini-Groot army, each clone taking control of its own clown through dendrokinesis.

He is Telepathic (Maybe)

Groot using Telepathy.

Rocket Raccoon’s ability to understand Groot despite only ever hearing three words could mean there is a telepathic connection between the two. However, Rocket has just spent enough time with this giant tree to have mastered reading all the different inflections and hidden meanings contained within “I am Groot.” That doesn’t necessarily mean Groot isn’t capable of chatting it up via his brain waves though.

In the final issue of the Groot comic series, he is partying with the X-Men. Over by the punch bowl, Scott Summers is hitting on Jean Grey when all of a sudden she hears an eloquent voice from above. Much to the readers surprise, it’s Groot, who is communicating with her through thought. It appears Groot was the one who initiated the telepathic connection, meaning he has telepathic powers.

Impossible Cosmic Powers

Groot, Cylcops, and Iceman with Black Vortex Cosmic Powers.

The Power Cosmic is not something to be trifled with. The Black Vortex, created by the Celestials themselves, lets any user access “impossible cosmic power.” In 2015’s Cyclops #12, Groot, along with Iceman and Cyclops, end up inside a flying alien space whale. To escape, they give themselves over to the Black Vortex. The result elevated Groot into a cosmic entity.

While Groot eventually lost his newfound powers, he was one of the most powerful beings in the universe for a few issues. All of his other superpowers were magnified to near-infinite cosmic levels. He gained the power to transport to any point in the universe instantaneously, breathe fire, and shoot splinters from his hands.

Good-Heartedness

Groot's Poem in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 #16.

Groot comes off as one of the most genuinely kind-hearted superheroes to ever grace the page and screen. His enhanced predilection towards altruism is one of his more defining character traits. There is absolutely nothing not to love about this giant tree, since all he does is germinate goodwill throughout the galaxy.

He can get as angry as a Hulk, but it is nearly always the result of one of his friends ending up in harm’s way or someone trying to do wrong to others. Groot goes with the flow, never putting up a fight unless forced to, and he’s unwavering in his loyalty. In 2016’s Guardians of the Galaxy #16, the rest of the Marvel Universe fought during a second Civil War while Groot rooted down in Central Park to illuminate the wonders of life and helping others, all with a poem.

Chlorokinesis

Groot using his Plant Manipulation Chlorokinesis.

Groot’s unique plantlike superpowers don’t stop at dendrokinesis and the power to control all forms of wood. He is also a master of chlorokinesis, possessing the ability to control all plant life. Vines, moss, leaves, seeds, fruits, and flowers all fall under the command of the Monarch of Planet X, as do plants in their concentrated forms like clothing or paper.

But unlike the villainous Poison Ivy, who holds a similar power, Groot more often than not puts his chlorokinetic abilities to good use, like building hammocks made out of vines for Rocket to sleep on or growing flowers to give to little children. Just like with the rest of his natural superpowers, be it to light the room with fireflies, cushion the fall from outer space, or kill clowns, Groot just wants to make the galaxy a better place, one plant come to life at a time.

NEXT: 10 Most Powerful Marvel Characters That The Guardians Of The Galaxy Have Beaten In A Fight



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *