Dave Bautista disappointed with how the MCU’s Drax and Thanos story went

Dave Bautista was disappointed with the lack of interaction between Drax and the Mad Titan Thanos in the MCU and he has a valid point. 

Dave Bautista isn’t someone who’s going to bite his tongue. He was once vocal on his thoughts about continuing to be shirtless in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, speaking on The Ellen Show about how he is “going to be 54 years old by the time Guardians 3 comes out” and that “the shirtless thing is getting harder and harder.” This is obviously a sentiment that everyone should respect. After all, he doesn’t have to be shirtless to provide great content.

Recently, however, he opened up about his Guardians of the Galaxy character Drax’s arc, revealing his disappointment over how his motivation to take Thanos down was “swept under the rug”. Taking to Twitter, he commented:

"“That whole Drax,Thanos history seemed to get swept under the rug. Always wondered why but every reason I could come up with just makes me shake my f***ing head. It is what it is.”"

Understanding Dave Bautista’s thoughts on Drax

In the first Guardians of the Galaxy, the movie ended with Drax saying that he needed to kill Thanos to get revenge for what happened to his family. Thanos was Ronan the Accuser’s boss; it only makes sense that he’d want to kill the one who gave the order. Instead, the story was dropped.

Sure, in Avengers: Infinity War, Drax went after Thanos when Star-Lord asked him to wait. Unfortunately, that was it. During their fight on Titan later in the movie, Drax lacked the emotion of someone who was fighting the killer of his family. He was just going along with the plan. There was barely any fury or anger in his attacks. It was just another day of heroics. You’d assume there would at least be some build up when Drax found out who they were going up against. This was a chance to fight him again.

On the business end of things, Drax and Thanos’ feud wouldn’t have had the same kind of draw as the one the latter would end up producing with the Avengers, particularly Thor. The fans wanted to see one of the big three (Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor) take Thanos down. Had Drax killed him, it wouldn’t have had the same kind feeling. Especially since the movie and phase ended with Tony Stark’s sacrifice – which led to a heartbreaking and unforgettable moment.

Now, let’s look at this from the perspective of the storyline. Drax’s anger towards Thanos killing his family meant nothing after Guardians of the Galaxy. So there was no point of Drax mentioning that he had to kill the Mad Titan. They didn’t even interact in the final fight in Avengers: Endgame. That alone would have been nice to see, even if it ended with Drax getting easily defeated. Instead, it just feels like the story was dropped with no explanation whatsoever.

In closing

This writer couldn’t agree more with what Dave Bautista was saying. Marvel Studios dropped the ball in terms of Drax’s revenge. We all thought that there would be more interaction between the two and even though Infinity War came out the gate strong in regards to this one, the rest of the movie (and the one after it) completely missed the emotional point of the story that had led Drax to Thanos.

In the Marvel Comics event Annihilation, there was a scene where Drax killed Thanos  by ripping Mad Titan’s heart out. That particular moment would have been too gruesome for the MCU. The problem isn’t that Drax didn’t kill Thanos. It was the lack of a memorable interaction between them, especially since there was history.

Maybe we’ll get some explanation in the future as to why Drax never waged the war with Thanos that he promised. Dave Bautista will return in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Thor: Love and Thunder. This could all end with Drax getting some sort of absolution  for the death of his family, who knows?

What do you think? Would you have liked to see more of the Drax and Thanos rivalry in the MCU? Let us know in the comments below.