Dave Bautista is not really playing coy about his desire to move on from his role as Drax in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy series. Bautista has played Drax six times, including the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 that Bautista had already strongly hinted will be his farewell to the character.
And that was before his latest profile in GQ. Speaking about his career from wrestling to Hollywood, Bautista said he was “grateful” for Drax, but also spoke a little ambivalently about the character as well while saying there’s “relief” to be done with Marvel. He said:
I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him. But there’s a relief [that it’s over]. 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.
After becoming one of the biggest names in WWE, Drax was Bautista’s breakthrough movie role, showcasing his versatility not only as an action hero but as a deadpan comic presence. But all that prosthetic makeup must really suck to deal with, and Bautista, who is 53 years old, has also spoken in the past about how much work goes into maintaining a superheroic physique at his age as well.
Whether Bautista wants Drax to be his legacy or not, it will likely be one of the roles he’s remembered for. But he’s already shown he can do other things. Just in the last few years, he’s appeared in films as varied as Stuber, Army of the Dead, Dune, and now Glass Onion. He’ll next be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, playing a man who claims to have received a prophetic vision that calls him to do something monstrous to prevent the apocalypse.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to open in theaters on May 5, 2023. Given these comments, I think a lot of fans are going to anticipate that poor old Drax does not make it out of that film alive.
Marvel’s Upcoming Phase Five and Six Movie and TV Lineup
Here’s every movie and show Marvel currently has scheduled for release in Phase Five and Six of their cinematic universe.
