Neither of them expresses emotions easily so it’s there in a little things. It first shows a bit when she gets him Bucky’s arm for Christmas and he made her her new one that she then uses to stab and ward off his attacker. The way Nebula fights for him from the start unwilling to let him die and pulling all of her family – including Gamora she kept from away from Guardians all this time. The subtle ways she looks devastated both by his injury and then by what she discovers when she reads his implants and then his history. The way she is the first person Rocket asks about when he wakes up (sure she was hailing but he noticed). How he instantly agrees to help save the kids. And of course the big one is her breaking down in tears when she hears his voice. Mantis has too speak for her because she is so overwhelmed by relief.

They were both remade to be of use to others without their consent and for purposes not their own. They lost the family that meant everything to them along the way but they got through the worst of it together and I was so happy to see them be there for each other.

And I loved so much that Nebula gets to use her extensions to save Rocket (and people in general). Throughout all the movies so far we saw the changes Thanos implemented in her through the lens of the pain and suffering it caused her. We see it used against her and against those she holds dear (in Infinity War it’s her torture when being taken apart again that brakes Gamora and leads to her death, in Endgame Nebula her own mind is used against her will – she doesn’t even own her memories because her father took even that). But now she finally owns it all and can use it as she wants. She can choose her own modifications – get rid of her face implants and get a new arm. She can use the fact that her body can fix itself and she can connect to databases with her mind for the benefit of her friends. She decides how to be and who she becomes.

And this too is mirrored in Rocket. High Evolutionary can consider him proprietary technology and think he owns his mind but he never did. He only gave Rocket parts but all the true advancements Rocket built himself with a little help from his friends. All the real sparks of invention were really Rocket’s all along and he was always perfect in all his imperfections. There was always love and generosity there that he even tried to extend to the High Evolutionary but there was nothing in that man that could appreciate it. But there were people who cherished it and helped it grow until Rocket too could accept all the parts of himself and fully embrace his past and create his own future.

In defiance of another a bad father (because what would MCU be without them and Guardians certainly have the worst - Thanos, Ego, High Evolutionary – you cannot pick a worst bunch). But as bad as Thanos and Ego were we only really watched them through the eyes of the adults they damaged. We see what Thanos’ “love” did to Nebula and Gamora in the scars on their bodies and souls but we never see their childhood pain directly. We experience their fear and hate and lashing out at others and each other but we are spared the gore of what happened (at east on screen). And we only see the remains of the countless lives Ego destroyed on his quest to become a God with capital G. The children he discarded when they didn’t fulfil his expectations. The lives he deemed unworthy once he realized they were of no use to him.

High Evolutionary combines both of them and we get to see it close and personal. This one shows us how it looked from the start when Rocket was too new to know how little he mattered to the one who created to him. Oh, Rocket knew he didn’t care about his pain and the callousness he treated the ones he deemed failure and how easily the anger and abuse came. This is why he stole the parts whenever he could. But P13 still had hope that if he’s useful enough he and his friends would get a reward and be allowed to live under the sky instead of the filthy cage in some dark storage room. He hoped for a better future until he was told he was only parts. That his friends were only mistakes. That there was no future for them.

And what could he do but to disagree and fight back? But even that rightful anger ended in tragedy. Standing up to injustice doesn’t guarantee success. Those he tried to save died and he lost everything. No wonder he’s so scared to try again through out the first two Guardians movies. But his new family allows him space to try and when he loses them Nebula is there to help get him through that loss again. He doesn't end up all alone this time.

It was so heartbreaking to see the casual cruelty of the High Evolutionary – from the big picture to the small details. The little things like dirty, unkempt cages where they are left while their wounds mend. And the cruelty of the whole uplifting process that only cares about the perfection as the end result but never troubles itself with pain of its subjects. Creating perfection to keep it imprisoned and forever subservient – even when they are allowed to be a civilization, they are never free and, like the Sovereign or Counter-Earth, still can be destroyed anytime. And it always will be because perfect creation is nothing but a lie High Evolutionary tells himself.

High Evolutionary could’ve never accepted a creation that would really be what he strives for because that he would have to set them free and he could never relinquish control. He would also have to accept that there would be someone greater than him and he cannot abide that. He spends so much time chasing Rocket to see what made him creative but even if he found it in Rocket’s brain he could never use it. He can’t stand Rocket being smarter than him and seeing the solution he missed. High Evolutionary always needs to be in control and to keep that he could never let anyone be better than him at anything. This is really why batch 89 had to die. He couldn’t stand someone surpassing him at anything. Especially not someone he considered so inferior.

So he is constantly disappointed by his creations and destroys them whenever he makes something newer and shinier. The Counter-Earth is destroyed with all its animal hybrid inhabitants – including the nice bat family Peter charmed into helping them and we barely have time to notice. At least with Rocket’s friends we have time to be properly horrified by High Evolutionary’s cruelty and he at least gets punished for it. But a whole planet of sentient creatures gets lost in explosions and the only one given a moment is Ayesha – everyone else is lost while we only think of saving Rocket. And then saving Nebula, Drax and Mantis.

And it’s horrifying because we learn that all that High Evolutionary’s creations really needed is care and time. We see it with batch 89 and with all the others. The kids they save might've not been creative enough just after he made them but look at Phyla in the New Guardians being her own person. Adam Warlock was naïve and dumb but he was awakened too early and after that he clearly learns fast. He even learnt empathy in 2 days - something High Evolutionary hasn’t managed in centuries. And Sovereign probably can learn too once free of High Evolutionary’s toxic ideas of perfection. There was more to the Counter-Earth than crime and they too could’ve been great once not trapped in the 1980s hellscape High Evolutionary put them in. High Evolutionary’s real failure is not seeing any of that.

All of them needed just time and love and High Evolutionary didn’t have it for any of them. Not for Warlock in his cocoon. Not for 89P13 who fixed his process. There was always the next shiny thing and the last one was left rotting in filth until it was incinerated.

This is all explains Rocket we know from the movies so well. This why he is kleptomaniac with compulsive need to collect technology – it saved him and you should be wary of those who hoard it. It also explains why was so self-sabotaging with his new family. Letting himself love them meant hurt if he lost them and he lost them all. The devastation of the Snap hits even harder now. But this time he at least had Nebula. He had someone who could really understand how deep that pain was even without the details.

Outside of High Evolutionary’s control Rocket has grown into someone who could weather the loss and came and save his new family and have them save him in return. Then they saved everyone they could from the High Evolutionary because he didn’t deserve any of his creations. They were all too good for him.

In the end we see the new Guardians of the Galaxy combining Rocket’s different families. They are made of people who were like Rocket made by High Evolutionary and the ones who joined the Guardians in previous instalments. He started with nothing and too afraid to try this friends and family thing again and look at him now – leader of this team. Working well with others. All of them getting the best of their second chances. And saving the Galaxy along the way.