Yes, it’s pretty horrifying to see Floor (Mikaela Hoover), a cute bunny who’s been inexplicably fitted with mechanical spider legs and a muzzle to go along with her enhanced intellect. Yes, seeing the wheels and eye gears of Teefs (Asim Chaudry) or the mechanical arms of Lylla (Linda Cardellini) can be disconcerting. That being said, much of the horror lies in their character design, and aside from Rocket’s initial pain, the other members of Batch 89 seem largely indifferent to their significant changes. They’re a friendly, positive, and upbeat bunch until the very end — and if the sight of Rocket’s cardiac arrest is any indication, the fun continues far beyond the veil. Additionally, Rocket and his team later go out of their way to save every animal from the doomed ship in High Evolutionary, so the overall tone of the movie is very pro-animal on every level. He’s the antagonist of the movie who is not.
Besides the obligatory friendship, one of the film’s most obvious central themes is that it takes a truly vile person to torment animals. The High Evolutionary is one of the very few villains in the MCU that doesn’t have any redeeming features. He is a cruel and ruthless man who devotes every moment of his waking life to playing God. He cares so little for others that he treats his creations as entirely disposable intellectual property and openly mocks Rocket during the worst time in the young raccoon’s life. This bad guy isn’t just a bad guy, he’s the worst guy.
As such, as graphic as the Batch 89 modifications might be, it’s abundantly clear that only a civilization-destroying madman like the High Evolutionary would do such things to them and his other experiences. As a result, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ isn’t so much a film about animal abuse as it is an impassioned commentary. against animal abuse.