Dave Bautista has grown increasingly outspoken about his role as Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the past few years, and the actor created quite the stir when he revealed that Marvel Studios hadn't asked him to play the character in What If...? Instead, Fred Tatasciore lent his voice to the hero in "What If...T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" (and he did an awesome job).
Recently, we got to speak to the legendary voice actor about his role as Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, but had to ask for his take on the "controversy" surrounding Drax.
"Yeah, not to speak out of school, but quite frankly, I had no idea what happened. It sounds like there must have been a snafu somewhere. I don’t know," Fred admitted. "I’m basically just...I do a voice match for him [Laughs]. I wasn’t sure how it went down. Drax tends to be one of my favourite characters. He makes me laugh so much. Just that whole [adopts Drax’s voice], ‘Haha, you must feel pretty stupid then!’ I love how on the nose he is."
"David Sobolov plays him so beautifully in the animated series. I would record with him and laugh every time. I loved what Dave Bautista did too. I just loved it, but was honoured and don’t want to make any waves with anybody. We just audition and I certainly didn’t know what it was for. We’re just thrown stuff and try to do it. I had so much fun working on that show. It was such a joy to do."
Fred went on to confirm that he also voices Volstagg in What If...? (in the "Party Thor" episode, we're guessing). The full cast list made no mention of Ray Stevenson, but it's only now we're learning that the Injustice star was also enlisted to bring this member of The Warriors Three to life in the animated MCU.
"I do him and Volstagg, Thor’s friend. It was fun," Fred concluded. "I mean, they have a lot of the original folks, so I don’t know what happened, but I was just really happy to do it and had so much fun [Laughs]. Spending time with Drax is always fun. He’s one of my favourites."
We'll have much more from Fred to share with you soon, so keep checking back here for updates!
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is available now on 4K/Blu-ray & Digital!