Dave Bautista recently told ComicBook.com that he has already contacted James Gunn (who’s heading up DC Studios after directing Bautista in three “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies at Marvel) and the Russo Brothers (the Marvel stalwarts who directed him in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Endgame”) to express interest in playing a new comic book superhero on the big screen. Bautista formerly played Drax the Destroyer in the MCU, but he’s done with that role.
“Drax is completely closed to me,” Bautista said. “Unless James Gunn called me and asked if I would do something as Drax again, I just wouldn’t be interested. If James called me, which obviously is not gonna happen. He’s doing okay, he’s gone a different route [with DC].”
“But I do wanna be in that world,” he continued. “I’m a fan of that world. I’m a fan of comic books and that whole universe. Marvel, DC, I just wanna be in it. I made that known to James, I made that known to the Russo Brothers. Personally, I talked to them, all of them, and told them, ‘Don’t count me out. If there’s a character that I’d be right for and that you want me for, man, I’d be totally open-minded to it.’ It’s just the Drax character ran its course.”
Bautista ended his run as Drax in 2023’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Given that he has no interest in playing the character without Gunn behind the camera, it appears Drax will be sitting out the Russo Brothers’ two upcoming “Avengers” movies, 2026’s “Doomsday” and 2027’s “Secret Wars.” The actor told Gizmodo last year that he was interested in pivoting to a comic book villain role.
“I just would like the opportunity to do a bigger role, a different role,” he said at the time. “Maybe a deeper role. I’d love to have the opportunity to play, like, an ominous villain in the superhero universe … I’m not done with it. But my journey with Drax is over.”
Bautista made headlines in 2023 when he told GQ magazine that it was a “relief” that his time playing Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was over, adding: “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.”
Back in 2021, Bautista told Collider that Marvel “dropped the ball” in terms of doing Drax justice on the big screen because the character “has such a great backstory” that was never fully explored.
