I Am Groot is an anthology of shorts that was recently released on Disney Plus, all of them starring the lovable baby Groot as he engages in a number of capers and minor adventures. While the shorts may not lead to anything more, they were a delightful extra piece of MCU content to supplement an evening of viewing.
The shorts may not provide major details or references to the MCU as a whole, but there are a few easter eggs sprinkled into the shorts that will amuse viewers if they manage to spot them.
6 The Yaro Root
A subtle reference to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2, in the short “Groot’s First Steps” the audience is shown Groot’s potted plant sitting on the Milano. While the majority of the short involves him fighting a Bonsai Tree, there is another plant shown right at the beginning of the short.
This plant is, in fact, a Yaro Root. This was a running joke in the second Guardians movie, where Nebula wanted to eat one of these plants after being taken prisoner by the guardians, but was told repeatedly that it was not ripe yet, so she shouldn’t eat it. Eventually, she does so anyway and spits it out, proclaiming that they were right, and it isn’t ripe yet. It isn’t known whether the "I Am Groot" root was the same as that one, but either way, it’s a continued piece of world-building around alien fruits.
5 The Eclector
The short “Groot’s Pursuit” takes place on a Ravager ship also known to audiences from an appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. The huge interiors of the ship play home to Groot’s scenes with the Iwua, including the dance-off that was in itself a callback to Peter Quill challenging Ronin in Guardians of the Galaxy.
There wasn’t a lot behind this one, except that Groot didn’t spend a lot of time (that we know about) on the Eclector. This is one of the shorts which is more difficult to place in the timeline of the films, but the MCU timeline on Disney+ reveals that all the shorts after “Groot’s First Steps” take place after the second Guardians movie but before the post-credits scene of that film.
4 James Gunn
There isn’t a great deal of talking throughout the shorts, and therefore it is hard to fit in a lot of physical cameos. Even the other Guardians don’t appear in most of the shorts. Rocket turns up in "Magnum Opus" at the very end, and we are shown a quick shot of Drax showering, but none of the other Guardians make appearances in the shorts.
That being said, the director of the Guardians films does. James Gunn, writer and director of both films (and the soon-to-be third one) stars in “Groot’s Pursuit” as the voice of Groot’s irritating fitness tracker.
3 Alf
Alf is not something that a lot of younger MCU viewers will remember. But this sitcom ran in the 1980s and was surprisingly picked up for a run in Marvel Comics through their Star Comics imprint in the late 80s and early 90s. Groot finds a classic Alf comic in Star Lord’s backpack during "Magnum Opus" while searching for items to use in his art.
While this is an amusing joke, it begs the question what other comic books exist in the MCU when their characters are supposed to have been starring in them for the last sixty years? We probably won’t get any answers, but at least it is an appropriate item for Star-Lord to have in the satchel brought with him when he was kidnaped. This is because he was taken by Yondu and the Ravagers from Earth in 1988, the same year the Alf comic run began.
2 Thanos
As if other minor references to Guardians characters weren’t enough, we also get a glimpse at the Mad Titan himself. At least, in the form of a drawing on the front of a book that Groot reads in "Groot’s Pursuit." While it isn’t known what type of book Thanos would be appearing on, wearing his infamous gold armor set, there is something else about this that is particularly surprising.
Groot reading this book, we assume, means that Groot can actually read. There is no reason to think that he couldn’t, except that his language barriers make it easy to assume he is the least intelligent of the Guardians group. That title may yet go to Drax and his lack of metaphor after all.
1 The Anulax Battery
One final piece of Guardians trivia in the final short, "Magnum Opus," is shown while Groot is again looking for items to use in his creation of a family picture for the Guardians. It is one of the Anulax batteries which Rocket stole from the Sovereign, which leads to Ayesha sending her fleet after the Guardians. Not only did the theft of the Anulax batteries almost get the Guardians killed twice during the second film, but it could also lead to a major piece of the plot in the third one too.
Adam Warlock, a major character from Marvel Comics, is set to appear in the third Guardians film, played by Will Poulter, and it looks like Ayesha will be creating him with the intention of sending him after the Guardians. Given all of that, it is strange that the Anulax batteries are just left sitting around on the ship, but Groot only blew up a small piece of it, so everything is probably fine.