Yondu's emotional funeral at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has a big impact on Rocket Raccoon. In 2017, director James Gunn released the much-anticipated sequel to his 2014 smash MCU hit, Guardians of the Galaxy. This time, the cosmic team is more familiar with each other, having been together for quite a while. While the gang expanded with some new members, notable allies met their end, including Peter Quill's surrogate father.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was fun like its predecessor, but the sequel dialed up the emotions. Gamora and Nebula had their first heartfelt confrontation about their abusive father; Star-Lord was faced with the harsh reality that his megalomaniac celestial father - Ego the Living Planet practically killed his mother, while Yondu was there all along; and Rocket realized just how important his friends are to him. The film had a bunch of gut-wrenching moments, some of which involved the odd duo that was Rocket and Yondu. In the end, the typically snappy and apathetic even Rocket teared up as they sent off the Ravager.

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Gunn provides context as to how Yondu's emotional funeral in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 meant for Rocket. This isn't the first time the hero dealt with death; the first film showed him grieving the original Groot. However, his reaction to Yondu's service is more than just him being sad that he's gone. During the sequel's watch party, Gunn revealed that seeing how his fellow Ravagers showing up Yondu's send-off proved to the character, that somehow, there's a more powerful being out there that listens to their pleas. Check out his full answer below:

In hindsight, this moment in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may have helped Rocket cope with the death of his "family" in Avengers: Infinity War. As the only member of the original team left, his loss due to Thanos' snap was typically overlooked, but as someone who hasn't had any type of tribe of his own, their demise had been devastating for the character. However, instead of plunging himself in depression like Thor, and some of the other remaining heroes did, he remained involved and in-contact with Black Widow. He could've left them and decided not to be of help, but he was optimistic and active throughout the whole time heist in Avengers: Endgame. His confrontation with Thor as they went back to 2013 Asgard was a testament to this - he held his ground, hopeful that just like how the Ravagers came through when they called them for Yondu's funeral, they'd be able to pull their mission through and bring his "family" back. Fortunately, they did.

While Infinity War and Endgame weren't really able to fully explore how the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 changed Rocket, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 can certainly do. Gunn has already teased how important the character will be in the threequel, with hints that fans may finally learn more about his devastating origin - something that was briefly discussed in his intense argument with Yondu as they raced to save the rest of their friends. Unfortunately, due to the the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the public would have to wait a little while longer to find out.  

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Source: James Gunn