The Marvel Cinematic Universe offers an assortment of different adventures covering the grand calculus of the multiverse. The franchise is popular for an established formula, part of that is the never-ending barrage of quips and one-liners.
Unfortunately, Bautista’s Drax has had enough.
Too Silly
Professional wrestler known as “Batista” turned actor, Dave Bautista plays the well-loved character “Drax” in Guardians of the Galaxy. Bautista revealed that it’s one of the major reasons he’s leaving the MCU. Bautista recently told GQ Magazine:
“I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him. But there’s a relief [that it’s over]. It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down. And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy – it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.”
This isn’t the first time The Blade Runner 2049 and Dune alum had been vocal in stating his irritation with how Drax’s potentially-powerful character arc was quickly abandoned in favor of having him become little more than a walking punchline.
In 2021, Bautista told Collider that he was unhappy with Marvel’s treatment of Drax’s character.
“Selfishly, as a performer, that would have given me the opportunity to show different sides of Drax, emotionally. And physically as well. Because, if you notice, Drax, although he looks like a badass, you look at him and he looks terrifying, but Drax gets his ass kicked more than any other Marvel character…The whole ‘Destroyer’ thing they just threw that out the window… people just fell so in love with the comedic side of Drax they tapped into that, then they tapped into it more, then they really dug a hole into it. But we missed a huge boat on that character and I don’t think it’ll ever come back around. But I’m really just looking forward to finishing out this whole journey.”
Splits
MCU fans are expecting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which comes out May of this year. The installment marks Bautista’s final performance as Drax the Destroyer, a role that spanned the MCU for 10 years. This won’t just mark the end of the road for the current guardian lineup, but also for the franchise’s writer and director, James Gunn. Gunn will also be bidding farewell to the MCU in just a few short months when his DC band of cosmic guardians headline their long-awaited third movie. Of course fans won’t be disappointed that several of the cast members are sure to stick around, but the former WWE star won’t be one of them. Bautista added in his Collider interview-
“That’s a full journey. We started together, not a lot of people, unless you were seriously into comics, even knew who the Guardians were. People were speculating, oh, a professional wrestler is playing Drax, is this gonna be the first Marvel movie to flop? It was a lot of that out until the film came out and people fell in love with it. These are not my words, I don’t want to get beaten up for this, but I’ve heard people say this is like the new Star Wars. People are going to look back on Guardians the way our generation looks back on Star Wars. Someone saying that, like that’s a bold statement. That hits me. It’s yet to be seen, but if I can have somebody feeling that way about Guardians the way I feel and look back on Star Wars, that’s a life worth living. That’s a legacy, man. I’m really excited to wrap up this whole journey with these guys. I love them. I love the Guardians cast like family. They know it. I think everybody knows that I’m pretty vocal about it.”
Bautista’s on to more “dramatic stuff”
Bautista said his other 2023 film projects are a step in the right direction when it comes to shaping his post-Marvel acting career, reported Variety. He is set to show his undoubted talent and versatility to more sizable speaking roles.
He’s in the line up for M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin and an expanded role in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune sequel. He’s also recently seen in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Bautista plays influencer Duke Cody.
So will this be the end of Drax?
Drax isn’t going anywhere, luckily. Bautista said in an interview with Digital Spy, “By the time G3 comes out I’ll be 54 yrs old for gods sake! [I’m] expecting everything to start sagging any second now.” He added that Gunn had pitched a Drax and Mantis spin-off feature.
Hopefully, MCU fans won’t miss Bautista’s Drax too much. #
