Happy Birthday Bradley Cooper And Not Rocket Raccoon…

Bradley Cooper was born Bradley Charles Cooper on January 5, 1975, in Abington Township, Pennsylvania. This differs from his fury alter-ego from the MCU, Rocket who was created in 1982 by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen in Marvel Preview #7.

Cooper broke out in television with a role on Sex and the City opposite Sarah Jessica Parker in 1999, and then appeared in the unsuccessful, but loved, Wet Hot American Summer in 2001. However, he received his true successful start when he returned to television alongside Jennifer Gardner in 2001’s Alias. Things were looking once again to be successful for Bradley Cooper when he landed the role of the jerk fiance in Wedding Crashers in 2006. It’s insane to think that prior to 1999 the world had not been gifted with the amazing talents of Bradley Cooper.

Fun Facts:

Bradley Cooper used to come home from Kindergarten with his friends and cook them lunch.

Rocket Raccoon has a couple of other aliases like Rocky Raccoon and Ranger Rocket.

Rocket Raccoon is named from 1968 Beatles song Rocky Raccoon.

Bradley Cooper originally wanted to be a ninja.

While Rocket Raccoon is voiced by Bradley Cooper, the character is motion-captured by Sean Gunn.

The original preview had Rocket penciled by Mike Mignola, the creator of Hell Boy.

The Elephant Man is one of the movies that inspired Bradley Cooper to become an actor.

While Rocket is a popular character now, in the first thirty years of his existence he only showed up in 10 comic books.

It wasn’t until he was partnered with Peter Quill and Groot that Rocket began to see more page time in comic books.

It was also the play for The Elephant Man which convinced Bradley Cooper’s parents that he should become an actor.

Now, this is the Comics Round-Up so we have to showcase comic books, and with that in mind, we are going to tribute Cooper’s fury alter-ego and talk about our favorite, and most influential appearances of Rocket Raccoon over the years at Marvel’s Comics.

The Incredible Hulk #271 (1982)   The first actual comic book appearance of Rocket Raccoon. Hulk wakes up on Halfworld, a planet full of sentient talking animals. Discovered by Rocket and his friend Wal Rus, three take a shining to one another, and decide to work together to keep Halfworld safe from the evil Jakes. However, while Rocket was filling in the Hulk, Jakes was kidnaping Rocket’s girlfriend and stealing an item of importance. Now with the help of the Hulk, Rocket is able to save the day and reset the balance on the planet.

Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord #1 (2007)   After having been affected by the Phalanx, and having his implants corrupted, Peter Quill recovers on Kree. While on the planet, the government give him a quest to attack a Phalanx manufacturing facility with a group of other expendible warriors. While this is the first meeting of Rocket Raccoon and Quill, more importantly this is the first meeting between Rocket and Groot. Immediately the two strongly connect with one another, which is only made more tragic by the events that continue in the next issue.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (2008)   After the events of Annihilation: Conquest, Peter Quill decides it would be a good idea to form a group of warriors to combat threats around the galaxy, instead of trying to stomp out evil once it’s already causing galactic troubles. For this team he recruits a lot of the people you would recognize from the Guardian of the Galaxy movie including Gamora, Drax, Mantis, Rocket, and Groot. That isn’t all though as the roster is actually quite large! If you want to get a good understanding of the basis for James Gunn’s film then you need to read this series.

What is your favorite work with Rocket included? Are there any comic appearances of Rocket you think we should have referenced instead? Let us know!