Guardians of the Galaxy did a good job of portraying Drax as a badass character, but as his Marvel Cinematic Universe story progressed, he began to be played more for laughs than anything else. That was particularly evident in Vol. 2, and it's clear now that he's more comic relief than "The Destroyer" in this shared world.
Dave Bautista is acutely aware of this, and made his stance clear in a recent interview with Collider.
While he didn't outright lay into Marvel Studios (surely James Gunn deserves a portion of the blame?), the pro wrestler turned actor was quick to express his disappointment with the way he's had to portray the character. His biggest gripe? Not being able to explore Drax's backstory.
"I really wished they would have invested more in Drax, personally. Because I think Drax has more of a story to tell," he explained. "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 Army of the Dead star continued. "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."
Bautista concluded by saying "I’m really just looking forward to finishing out this whole journey," so he's clearly ready to move on from the role now, albeit with some regrets with how Drax was handled.
He'll no doubt get another crack at a comic book movie role somewhere down the line, but at 52, it's hard to say whether he'll get an opportunity to bring the likes of Bane or Lobo to the big screen.
Do you agree with this assessment of Drax's time in the MCU?