Dave Bautista Bothered by Marvel’s Handling of Drax Storyline, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will be Bautista’s Last Starring Role in the ‘Guardians’ Franchise
by Jonathan Khare | Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:59:28 GMT
Dave Bautista as Drax (Image Source: Marvel Studios)

Best known for playing the scar-faced superhero Drax in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Dave Bautista has made his displeasure with Marvel publicly known. The former wrestler recently expressed bafflement at Marvel’s failure to take forward the Thanos and Drax storyline in keeping with the original comic books plot.  

Audiences were introduced to Dave Bautista as Drax in the first ‘Guardians’ film wherein Drax is connected to Thanos in a plotline that revolves primarily around revenge. Drax’s origin story starts with Arthur Douglas, a human; whose family is slaughtered by Thanos. Arthur Douglas then takes on a new and powerful form with the help of Kronos, all with the intention of wreaking revenge on Thanos. This revenge plot formed the original character arc for Drax in the first ‘Guardians’ movie, with both Bautista and fans expecting the established storyline to be taken forward in all of Drax’s appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  

However, Bautista feels Marvel did little justice to his character’s storyline in the movies, and the outspoken actor and former wrestler has made his bafflement and frustration public, saying that the Drax Thanos plotline: “makes me shake my f*cking head”. For those unversed with the comics, Drax and Thanos are connected, with Drax having a compulsive urge to destroy Thanos, as the supervillain had murdered his family. However, according to Bautista, Marvel strayed from the comics in the films, denying Drax the exposure and character arc he enjoys in the comics. For Bautista, this has led to a fair amount of frustration, bearing in mind the former wrestler has made his frustrations with the way Marvel has handled his character in the movies fairly obvious.  

This is not the first for Bautista, who has voiced his displeasure with the Marvel Cinematic Universe before, saying he wished that Marvel would "would invest more in Drax… Drax has a really interesting backstory which they dropped the ball on." In a recent interaction with a fan on Twitter, the former wrestler responded to concerns about the Drax storyline, “That whole Drax, Thanos history seemed to get swept under the rug. Always wondered why but every reason I could come up with just makes me shake my fucking head. It is what it is.” 

Bautista will not voice the character Drax in the upcoming What If...? (Image Source: Twitter) 

Bautista will not be returning to the role of Drax beyond Guardians of the Galaxy 3, neither will the actor be reprising his character in the upcoming Disney+ show What If...? which features a number of Marvel superheroes, including Drax. Bautista will not be the only one not coming back to voice his character in What If...? Marvel fans will miss Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr, Elizabeth Olsen, and Scarlett Johannson among others, in the upcoming animated show, as these actors will not be voicing their usual characters. Bautista has made public his inclination to leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with his last outing being the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Similarly, director James Gunn will also be ending his run with the ‘Guardians’ franchise with Vol. 3.  

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