We didn't think it was possible, but the stand-in for Baby Groot is even cuter than actual Baby Groot

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy introduced us to one of the most entertaining and fun bunch of superheroes in the…well, galaxy. The franchise also introduced us to the most adorable hero ever which is (of course) Baby Groot. And in new behind-the-scenes footage from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we discover yet another cute figure — Baby Groot’s stand-in!

A stand-in is typically another actor who literally “stands in” for a main character while the crew gets a scene ready to shoot. Chris Pratt surely doesn’t stand there for hours while they get the lighting right. Rather, he comes around when it’s almost time to film. And it turns out Baby Groot had his very own stand-in on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 too.

No surprise, it’s completely adorable.

Image zoom Marvel

An actual, animate, tiny tree didn’t fill that role. GASP. In order to help the actors out on set, a Baby Groot stand-in was created. In a way, this kinda makes Baby Groot real, right? Well…he did help people escape from jail and also kill people. So…maybe we don’t really want him to be real. But this stand-in seems pretty harmless!

Image zoom Marvel

Wanna see more footage of the Baby Groot stand-in being adorable? You can watch the full behind-the-scenes video here: