“Dune: Part Two” is about to open in theaters worldwide on March 1, so most of the cast is out there pounding the pavement of press and getting the word out. One of them is Dave Bautista, who plays Glossu Rabban Harkonnen, nephew of Baron Harkonnen, and one of the baddies in the film who is seemingly usurped by his even more vicious family member Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler).
Of course, Bautista remains most famous for playing Drax in Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” franchise, so in a recent Io9 interview, he was asked about his status in the MCU. For context, at the end of James Gunn’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3,” most main team leaves the group: Quill (Chris Pratt), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Drax (Bautista), all going off in different directions with Rocket (Bradley Cooper), seemingly taking over as leader of a new team.
In the past, Bautista had suggested he was done with his Marvel role, many assuming his character would die in ‘Vol 3.’ With his character parked aside, many audiences thought any number of the Guardians could still appear in future films one day. But to hear it from Bautista, he hasn’t changed his mind, regardless.
While the actor said he’d be open to further roles in the MCU or with DC, or any other superhero roles, he’d definitely consider it, and continues to have a great relationship with Marvel and Kevin Feige, but reiterated that his “journey with Drax is over.”
“No, no. When I said that I was done, I was really just done with my journey as Drax,” Bautista explained. “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,” he continued. “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.”
So, open to new superhero roles, or villain characters, but it seems Drax is really gone for now. Then again, with the character not dead, who knows what happens in a few years when people change their minds?
As it stands now, at least from the post-credits of ‘Guardians Vol 3,’ the new team consists of Rocket (Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Cosmo (Maria Bakalova), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Phyla (one of the rescued children), and Adam’s pet Blurp. It remains to be seen if they’ll get a new film or if any of the previous cast will rejoin the team one day, but ‘Guardians’ was always a kind of pet-project of director James Gunn. With Gunn having moved on to DC, it won’t surprise us if Marvel takes a beat with the franchise and focuses on its upcoming new Avengers movies instead.