Dave Bautista On The End Of His Time With Marvel

Dave Bautista is Drax no more.

By Apeksha Bagchi | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Every Marvel fan is certain that Dave Bautista, who has proven to be the perfect choice to play Drax the Destroyer, should continue being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years. But the actor has made it pretty clear that he has no plans of reprising the role in the future, thus his appearance in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be the last time we see him as Drax, where his story will be concluding with a “bittersweet” ending. 

Dave Bautista debuted as Drax in 2013’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and since then, he has faced off against a number of villains starting from Ronan, to Star-Lord’s celestial daddy, to the Mad Titan, Thanos himself. And while thanks to the joint efforts of his team, the bad guys are always beaten, Drax always “gets his ass kicked” as highlighted by Bautista in a chat with ComicBook.com. In fact, we agree with the actor’s next factoid i.e., no one else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has “gotten their ass kicked so much as Drax!”

In the past, Dave Bautista has admitted that prior to Guardians of the Galaxy, he was broke as he took the risk of leaving behind his wrestling days to try his career in acting. Before he got the offer to star as Drax, the actor had “lost in everything”- his house of foreclosed, he had been forced to sell his belongings, and was struggling with the IRS. But Guardians od the Galaxy turned his life around and brought him coveted roles he didn’t even dream of landing. While he is aware that his journey as an actor properly started with the first Guardians film, he looking forward to wrapping it up as his “hell of a journey” of 10 years as Drax has “come full circle.” And while closing the chapter of Drax will be “bittersweet,’ he is looking forward to it as all things eventually come to an end. 

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It was in May 2021 when Dave Bautista confirmed for the first time that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will be his last film as Drax the Destroyer and revealed that while James Gunn had plans for a Drax-Mantis film, Marvel wasn’t interested in making it. During his appearance on Ellen earlier this year, Bautista had explained that the biggest reason for him quitting his Marvel stint is all the shirtless scenes he has to do as Drax. The actor disclosed that keeping up his muscular physique is hard and only getting more difficult at the age of 54 and thus, it is best to wrap his character’s arc. 

In the past, given the massive reaction of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans to his comments, Dave Bautista had assured that just because he is not up for the role of Drax anymore doesn’t mean that the character will not be a part of the upcoming films. It just means that he won’t be playing the lovable goof anymore. But James Gunn has made pretty certain that Bautista will always be Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and no one can replace him, which means that with the actor concluding his Marvel journey, we are in for bidding farewell to another beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe character. 

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