Dave Bautista believes that Drax’s story ends perfectly in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3,” which is why he’s reluctant to play the character again. He also wants Marvel to cast a new actor as Drax in the event the studio ever makes a solo movie about him — one that potentially leans into his “Destroyer” persona — so it’s clear he’s happy to move on. In short, the former WWE Superstar doesn’t want to tarnish Drax’s legacy, but he would consider reprising the role if he was asked to by the filmmaker who brought him into the Marvel family.
“Drax is completely closed to me. Unless James Gunn called me and asked if I would do something as Drax again, I just wouldn’t be interested,” Bautista told ComicBook.com. “If James called me, which obviously is not gonna happen. He’s doing okay, he’s gone a different route.”
Now that James Gunn is in charge at DC Studios, it’s unlikely that he’ll return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon, so we can rule out him asking Bautista to play Drax again. The good news, though, is that the wrestler-turned-actor is more than happy to work with Marvel again, despite his claims that his days of playing Drax the Destroyer are firmly behind him.
Dave Bautista is open to more Marvel roles
With Robert Downey Jr. re-joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, the studio has shown a willingness to cast franchise stalwarts in different roles. As such, the idea of Dave Bautista playing a brand-new character doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility, and he’s willing to entertain that conversation, as he explained to ComicBook.com:
“Marvel, DC, I just wanna be in it. I made that known to James [Gunn], 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.”
Regarding DC projects, Bautista has made it known that he wants to play Bane, but it’s off the cards as the franchise is primarily focused on casting younger actors for now. However, James Gunn and co. know where to find him, if they ever want to offer him a juicy role in an upcoming project.