Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Dave Bautista Could Have A Significant Role In Avengers 3

By Brent McKnight | Updated

Guardians of the GalaxyNow that Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is officially the highest grossing movie of the year, at least for now (we’ll be surprised if The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 doesn’t usurp the throne, even with the cumbersome title), it begs the question of what’s next? We already know that Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is scheduled to arrive July 28, 2017, but given the comic book studio’s penchant for mixing and matching characters in their films, much like they do in their comics, you know that these characters are going to show up other place. After all, what the hell is the point of having fantastic characters like these (outlaw, assassin, maniac, talking raccoon, talking tree) if you’re not going get some mileage out of them? And now we may know a part of what the future may hold for Dave Bautista’s Drax the Destroyer.

According to a few reports making the rounds, the big blue, literal-minded madman will have a sizeable role in Avengers 3. There is word that he is restructuring his contract with Marvel, likely due to the massive success of Guardians, and while there is no word on what his role in that particular film might be, it is referred to as “significant.”

More than anything, this bit of news, if it does in fact turn out to be true (remember, boys and girls, always take this kind of unconfirmed thing with a grain of salt, Star Wars has taught us that), seems to confirm that the bulk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to continue to move deeper and deeper in to outer space. Given our sci-fi leanings here, you can bet your ass that we’re totally on board with this continuing strategy.

It also appears to indicate that the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy will indeed eventually come together like Voltron in order to do battle with the Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin). That’s a team up we can’t wait to see, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes throwing in with a dysfunctional band of barely-legal space outlaws. That should certainly make for some entertaining adventures, though there likely won’t be a full on crossover for some time.

drax and thor
Could we see this happen in movie theaters soon?

At this point it’s also unclear if Bautista is the only member of the Guardians team who will appear in Avengers 3, or if he’ll have some company. Odds are that, since Marvel is setting up for the long game and building an ever-extending narrative bridge to the future, the whole team won’t show up, but maybe this will serve as a steppingstone for an eventual team up down the road. After all, Thanos isn’t going to beat himself (assuming, that is, they actually bother to do anything with his character to make him a real, legitimate threat).

However this works out, if Drax is in Avengers 3 or not, we’re still super pumped to see how these two franchises move forward and expand.