Dave Bautista thinks Marvel dropped the ball with Drax

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

As someone who wasn't at all familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when Marvel announced that James Gunn would be bringing the cosmic team to the big-screen. With a cast that included a wise-cracking racoon and a talking tree, Guardians of the Galaxy had the potential to be one of the studio's biggest successes or its first real failure; thankfully, the film was released to great success and the characters have gone on to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and the upcoming Thor: Love & Thunder, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That final sequel is expected to complete the story that Gunn started with the first film, but one actor feels that Marvel may have dropped the ball with his character.

While speaking with Collider, Drax actor Dave Bautista said that although the role has "changed the trajectory of my life" and is "always going to be special to me," he wishes that more time had been invested in Drax and his backstory.

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. 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.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Drax's homeworld was invaded by the forces of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his family was killed, which led to him seeking revenge. As Drax wound up having little to do with Thanos' eventual defeat, you can see why Bautista believes that his character wasn't used to his full potential. Bautista had concerns about Drax's character arc going back to the first sequel, when he told CBR that when he wasn't crazy about his part when he read the script. "It went a different direction than what I thought they were going to go with Drax," Bautista said. "That’s just because I was expecting one thing and got another. So I was a little bit thrown off at first." The actor added that he found it disappointing because he thought that Drax was going to be so much more, but it eventually clicked at the first table-read.

Although Drax the Destroyer may not have had the journey that Dave Bautista imagined he would, don't start thinking that the actor is suddenly down on the Guardians of the Galaxy, as he can't wait to return to complete the sci-fi saga. There will be a table-read for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 this November, which will be the first time that Bautista will have read the script. "I’m really excited to wrap up this whole journey with these guys," Bautista said. "I love them. I love the Guardians cast like family. They know it. I think everybody knows that I’m pretty vocal about it." Dave Bautista will next be seen in Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, which will debut on Netflix on May 14th. You can check out a review of the film from our own Chris Bumbray right here.

What do you folks think? Do you wish Drax's arc had gone a different way?