CinemaBlend participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
While millions of people knew "The Animal" Batista in the WWE, more were introduced to the actor Dave Bautista thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy. He brought the character of Drax the Destroyer to life in the ensemble film, and his character's particular mix of physicality and humor instantly won over fans. Bautista is on the verge of reprising the role of Drax for a third Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and while the actor says he'll always be thankful for what Drax has meant to his career, he also wishes that more had been done with the character.
Dave Bautista has said previously that he fully expects Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to be the end of the story for the character of Drax. Drax will have appeared in five MCU movies and a holiday special once the third Guardians film is released, and the character has certainly had an interesting journey, but Bautista tells Collider that he really thinks Marvel "dropped the ball" regarding Drax, because there was so much more story to tell. According to Bautista....
That role changed the trajectory of my life. It's always going to be special to me. Now that I’m four films in...I really wished they would have invested more in Drax, personally. Because I think Drax has more of a story to tell. I think Drax has a really interesting backstory which they dropped the ball on. That’s no dig on Marvel. They had their slate, I know what they’re focused on, that’s what they have slated out. But man, I think they really missed the ball on Drax. He has such a great backstory.
We learn in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie that Drax had a family, a wife and daughter that died, sending Drax on a rampage fueled by revenge. As the films have gone on we begin to learn more about who Drax really is, his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The character is quite complex, despite appearances, and Bautista clearly would have liked to do more with that.
Dave Bautista's time in the MCU is available on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.
Big Dave says he doesn't blame Marvel for not doing more with Drax. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive machine with a lot of moving parts and finding a place for a standalone story about Drax would have been tough considering there was no real plan for that. Dave Bautista admits that some of this just comes from a selfish desire to be able to do more as an actor, but he does believe there was a lot more that could have been done. Bautista goes on...
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.
Dave Bautista is probably right that Drax's story is coming to a close, but who knows? With an entire new platform for telling MCU stories on Disney+, maybe there's hope to get into Drax's backstory after all. A few episodes of a limited series could be just what the character needs, though the actor has said he's not interested in that. Or perhaps Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will give us a lot more of the character. Bautista admits he hasn't read the script yet so he doesn't know.
