Groot is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in Tales to Astonish #13 (November 1960) and he was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.
As an alien and sentient tree-like creature, Groot originally appeared as an invader who intended to capture humans to experiment on. The character was retconned as a noble and heroic being in 2006, and appeared in the "Annihilation: Conquest" comic. He later appeared in the Guardians of the Galaxy comic, as part of the eponymous team.