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After the massive success of Guardians of the Galaxy, the movie’s entire cast pretty much became household names. For Dave Bautista, the success was much greater. It shot him to fame in Hollywood and kick-started his acting career. However, Bautista believes that in hindsight, he thinks Marvel mishandled his character Drax.
Dave Bautista wanted Marvel to “invest more” in Drax
Bautista first rose to fame through WWE, where he became famous for with ring name “The Animal” Bautista. Although his journey with the WWE came to an end years ago, it seems that his journey in the MCU is also coming to a close. He revealed that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 would be the final time Drax makes an appearance in the MCU, taking his total tally of appearances to five movies. However, in a recent interview with Collider, Bautista revealed that he thinks Marvel undermined the massive potential of Drax. The actor said:
That role changed the trajectory of my life. It’s always going to be special to me. Now that I’m four films in…I really wished they would have invested more in Drax, personally. Because I think Drax has more of a story to tell. I think Drax has a really interesting backstory which they dropped the ball on. That’s no dig on Marvel. They had their slate, I know what they’re focused on, that’s what they have slated out. But man, I think they really missed the ball on Drax. He has such a great backstory.
In the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax had quite a rich backstory. He had a family, a wife, and a daughter who all died, which sent Drax on the hunt for revenge. And so, the audience got to see his vulnerabilities, and how much pain he contained in himself throughout his life. Despite the comic relief, we saw in glimpses how much emotional depth there was to Drax. And Dave Bautista believes the same.
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Despite the grievance, he doesn’t blame Marvel
Dave Bautista does believe Marvel should have explored his character more. However, he does not blame Marvel for this as he understands how gargantuan a machine the MCU is. Asking for more time for his character was too big of an ask, as Bautista said:
Selfishly, as a performer, that would have given me the opportunity to show different sides of Drax, emotionally. And physically as well. Because, if you notice, Drax, although he looks like a badass, you look at him and he looks terrifying, but Drax gets his ass kicked more than any other Marvel character…The whole “Destroyer” thing they just threw that out the window…people just fell so in love with the comedic side of Drax they tapped into that, then they tapped into it more, then they really dug a hole into it. But we missed a huge boat on that character and I don’t think it’ll ever come back around. But I’m really just looking forward to finishing out this whole journey.
Guardians 3 will probably be the end of Drax. However, with Disney investing a lot in Disney+, there could be a chance that we get to see a Drax standalone show. If not, we hope that at least the final film gives Bautista’s character some worthy exposure as well as closure. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is expected to premiere on May 5, 2023.
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