Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista says Marvel ‘dropped the ball’ with Drax

Bautista is set to reprise the role in a third Guardians film, out in 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has claimed that Marvel “dropped the ball” with their handling of his character’s backstory.

Bautista played the literal-minded alien Drax the Destroyer in the first two Guardians films, as well as 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

Speaking to Collider, the actor and former WWE star said: “I think Drax has a really interesting backstory which they dropped the ball on.

“That’s no dig on Marvel,” he added. “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.”

Bautista said that incorporating more of the Marvel Comics backstory would have given him “the opportunity to show different sides” of the character, “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,” he said. “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.”

Bautista can next be seen as Drax in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, due to arrive on Disney Plus in December 2022, and in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, out in cinemas in 2023.