Dave Bautista has long said that his time as Drax would come to a close with Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but it seems that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily done with the MCU.
I’m not much of a wrestling fan, so I wasn’t aware of Bautista until he made his acting debut in the original Guardians of the Galaxy. He turned out to be one of the best parts of the film, and he’s gone on to do some genuinely great acting since – and it sounds like he has some big ambitions too. In an interview with GQ last year, he noted a sense of “relief” that his time as Drax was over, noting how “It was hard playing that role… 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.” It obviously made it seem like Bautista is ready to move on from superhero movies, but in a recent interview, it sounds like he’d still be up for it.
Speaking to Gizmodo, Bautista was asked about his previous comments where he said he was done with Marvel. “No, no. When I said that I was done, I was really just done with my journey as Drax,” Bautista explains. “I still have a relationship with Marvel. I’ve seen Kevin Feige again, Lou [D’Esposito] as recently as two weeks ago. And they know that I would be up for a role. I love the universe—the superhero universe, I love it. I’m a fan.
“So Marvel or DC, if they call, I would answer the phone. And if the role makes sense, I’d be all over it. I just would like the opportunity to do a bigger role, a different role. Maybe a deeper role. I’d love to have the opportunity to play, like an ominous villain in the superhero universe. Yeah. But never. I’m not done with it. But my journey with Drax is over.”
Since Guardians of the Galaxy, Bautista has varied his roles quite a lot. He was in the latest Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron for example, and he’s also in Dune: Part Two, which is due out later this week, February 29 in the UK, March 1 in the US.