Warning! Spoilers for Heroes Reborn #4 by Marvel Comics below.
Rocket Raccoon and Groot just suffered their most devastating and brutal deaths ever. In the Heroes Reborn universe, the longtime Guardians of the Galaxy heroes are hired to take down the galaxy's most hated man, Doctor Spectrum. However, the mission doesn't go as planned, leading to both Rocket and Groot getting brutally murdered in an absolutely disgusting fashion by Marvel's Green Lantern.
Doctor Spectrum is one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe, in the current Heroes Reborn timeline where the Avengers never formed. Spectrum is part of the Squadron Supreme, which were originally conceived as Marvel's pastiches of the Justice League. Doctor Spectrum was originally based on DC's Green Lantern. In the Heroes Reborn universe, he takes the role of the most ruthless space cop in the galaxy, which earns him some serious enemies across the cosmos. In order to stop Doctor Spectrum's reign, Rocket Raccoon and Groot are hired by the Kree and Skrulls to bring them his head on a stick.
Heroes Reborn #4 by Jason Aaron, James Stokoe, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Cory Petit features Rocket Raccoon (with a robot arm and an eye patch) and Groot (who's becoming a living weapon) hunting Doctor Spectrum in the name of those across space he's wronged. Despite being the deadliest bounty hunter in the galaxy and hitting Spectrum with mini Groots and maggots, Rocket Raccoon is ultimately overcome by the galactic hero. After Spectrum uses the power prism to turn Groot into dust, Rocket gains the powers of the Starbrand and shoots a literal star at his opponent, but Marvel's Green Lantern hits him back by unlocking the Cancerverse on him.
As Rocket becomes overwhelmed with the cancerous attack, Doctor Spectrum grabs his body and shoves him headfirst into a supernova. Rocket's face is melted off as he's pushed against the exploding star and eventually, he dies against Spectrum.
Stokoe's detailed art really makes Rocket Raccoon's death particularly gnarly. Rocket has an ungodly amount of cancerous boils and tumors all over his body before he's literally burned alive by the Squadron Supreme hero. Meanwhile, Groot suffered a similarly grim fate, as he was shrunken until he was turned into nothing. Rocket tried to avenge his closest friends, but his efforts proved useless against the ruthless lawman. Among the depictions of Rocket Raccoon and Groot dying in the pages of Marvel Comics, their deaths against Doctor Spectrum were the most disgusting ever... by far. Heroes Reborn #4 is in stores now.