Ever since Iron Man was first released in the summer of 2008, Marvel Studios has been slowly working towards next year’s Avengers: Infinity War, even if that might not have been clear to fans until Thanos’ first appearance during the end credits of The Avengers. Bringing together almost all of the main and supporting characters from the previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it will be a team-up film the likes of which cinema has never seen before. With Josh Brolin’s Thanos finally getting to do more than just tease his eventual plans too, it’s got higher expectations surrounding it than any Marvel film since, perhaps, the first Avengers.

Just last month, Marvel began official production on Infinity War, which is filming in Atlanta, GA. In their announcement video, the studio not only teased the eventual team-up between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), but also confirmed the presence of none other than Rocket Racoon in the film. Considering just how beloved of a character Rocket has become amongst fans, it wasn’t necessarily surprising how quick Marvel and Kevin Feige were to confirm that all of the Guardians would be appearing in Infinity War either.

As most fans already know, while Bradley Cooper does all of the voice acting for Rocket in the Guardians films, it’s actually, writer and director James Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, who does all of the on-set acting and performance capture for the character. It should come as welcome news to fans then, that James Gunn has confirmed on Twitter that Sean Gunn will be performing all on-set duties for Rocket on Infinity War as well:

He’s not a stand-in. He’s motion reference. We use Sean’s acting and expressions for Rocket. And yes he’s doing that. https://t.co/CAt97WUm4m— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) February 11, 2017

Sean Gunn had already teased he was appearing in the film, but until now it wasn’t clear if he’d be playing Rocket or his live-action Ravager character, Kraglin.

While this might not seem like the biggest of news to some fans, it should be noted just how integral to the creation of Rocket Racoon onscreen Sean Gunn has actually been. In addition to providing on-set banter and motion references for the other actors and filmmakers on the first two Guardians films, Gunn’s facial expressions have been instrumental in creating the Rocket Racoon animations and special effects. That’s not to mention that Gunn’s improvisational skills have led to some fairly memorable moments as the character, including when Rocket makes fun of all of the Guardians standing around in a circle together in the first film.

So Gunn’s involvement only further proves just how committed Marvel is to making sure enough of the correct and integral pieces to making Infinity War work are present and included on the film’s set. After all, Infinity War has the unfavorable job of having to provide a satisfying ending to the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until this point, while giving each and every single one of the heroes and supporting characters their due.  But with all of the actors displaying a legitimate level of excitement towards the project, and the fact that The Russo Brothers will be directing it, Avengers: Infinity War has managed to stack as many of the odds in its favor as it can. All that’s left to see is if it’ll be enough to make this enormous undertaking of a film work in the end.

Source: Twitter

Next: How The Avengers & Guardians of the Galaxy Could Meet in Infinity War

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