James Gunn Reveals Heartbreaking Detail About Groot In Avengers: Infinity War

Contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War

Get ready to ugly cry, Marvel fans. 

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has revealed a heart-shattering detail about Groot in Avengers: Infinity War, and it has people absolutely reeling. 

What's all the hullabaloo about? The teenage tree-like Guardian's final line in the film, uttered just after Josh Brolin's Thanos snaps his Infinity Gauntlet-rocking hand to kill half the universe's population. Groot, voiced by Fast and the Furious franchise star Vin Diesel, was one of the heroes that disintegrated into a flurry of ashy space bits — joined by a number of others, including Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther, Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, and Tom Holland's Spider-Man, who had what was largely considered the most agonizing and tear-inducing death in Infinity War. 

Until now.

A fan asked Gunn on Twitter what Groot's final line was before he evaporated into nothingness, writing on Twitter, "Might be too soon to ask this, but do you know what Groot's last line is at the end of the movie?" Surprisingly, Gunn answered quickly and candidly, disclosing that Groot's last word was "Dad," in reference to Bradley Cooper's Rocket Racoon. This means that not only does the slightly bratty, video game-obsessed teen space tree look at his fellow Guardian as his father, but he also holds such a deep affection for and meaningful bond with him that he stepped outside his usual "I am Groot" vocabulary to convey that to him.

We are Groot, and we are broken — and we're not alone. One Twitter user responded to Gunn's reveal to say something we're all feeling: "That Groot and Rocket s*** devastated my heart and soul. I have NEVER imagined a time where a talking tree calling a talking raccoon 'dad' would be this ... unironically sad. Marvel, what have you done to us?"

Gunn later reiterated that the line was "in the screenplay" and that he didn't make it up on the spot when asked about it. However, the script in question is the exclusive "Groot version" that only goes to Gunn and Diesel, so we'll simply have to take the director's tweet reveal at face value. 

While Avengers: Infinity War continues to blaze through box office records, recently passing the $1 billion milestone in record time, we'll be quietly sobbing in the corner about all this.