Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 concluded James Gunn's trilogy and, if Marvel Studios should choose to retire the team, the stories of these characters as well. The door was left open for the "Legendary" Star-Lord to return, though, and Rocket now leads a new iteration of the Guardians.
As for Drax, he chose to remain on Knowhere with Nebula to raise the children created by The High Evolutionary. While he could quite easily return to action, Dave Bautista has repeatedly made it clear he's done playing the character.
The actor, best known to WWE fans as "The Animal" Batista, wants to be remembered for more than just that largely comedic superhero and reiterated in an interview with ComicBook.com (via CBM) that he's bid a final farewell to the character.
"Drax is completely closed to me," he said. "Unless James Gunn called me and asked if I would do something as Drax again, I just wouldn’t be interested. If James called me, which obviously is not gonna happen. He’s doing okay, he’s gone a different route [with DC]."
There's no way Gunn is returning to the MCU this decade, meaning Bautista's time as Drax is well and truly over. However, he'd go on to confirm that "I do wanna be in that world" and confirmed he's told both Gunn and the Russo Brothers that he's open to playing a new character in the DCU or MCU.
"I’m a fan of that world. I’m a fan of comic books and that whole universe," the actor explained. "Marvel, DC, I just wanna be in it. I made that known to James, I made that known to the Russo Brothers. Personally, I talked to them, all of them, and told them, ‘Don’t count me out. If there’s a character that I’d be right for and that you want me for, man, I’d be totally open-minded to it.’ It’s just the Drax character ran its course."
It would be surprisingly easy for Bautista to play another character in the MCU, particularly as he has a wide acting range and, in recent years, shed much of the muscle that defined his stint as the hulking Drax.
On the DC side, the ship appears to have sailed on Bane but, in the eyes of many fans, he'd be a perfect fit for the evil Dr. Hugo Strange.
"When I said that I was done, I was really just done with my journey as Drax," Bautista said last February while promoting Dune: Part Two. "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," Bautista continued. "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."
Who would you like to see Bautista play in the MCU if not Drax? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.