With Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 3 getting an official 2023 release date and director James Gunn suggesting his third film will serve as the conclusion to the story he started in 2014, we now have a limited time left with the Guardians of the Galaxy as we know them. So when I recently sat down with Drax himself, Dave Bautista, to talk Army of the Dead, I also thought it was the perfect time to look back on the arc of the Guardians films, from Marvel's first real box office underdog to one of the franchise's most cherished pieces. While Bautista is deeply grateful for the role—Hollywood isn't always Dwayne Johnson levels of welcoming to pro wrestlers making the leap—he does feel like there's a lot of Drax's story that unfortunately got passed over as the MCU grew. 

Here's exactly what he told us: 

"That role changed the trajectory of my life. It's always going to be special to me. Now that I’m four films in...I really wished they would have invested more in Drax, personally. Because I think Drax has more of a story to tell. 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 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. But I’m really just looking forward to finishing out this whole journey."

Bautista still hasn't read a Guardians 3 script from Gunn, choosing instead to sit down with the material for the first time when the cast gathers for a table read this November. Despite the Drax backstory (Draxstory?) he sees as a missed opportunity, the actor is still damn excited to get back to work with a crew he considers family and a chance to finish out a saga of the same size as—some would say—one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises of all time. 

"That’s a full journey. We started together, not a lot of people, unless you were seriously into comics, even knew who the Guardians were. People were speculating, oh, a professional wrestler is playing Drax, is this gonna be the first Marvel movie to flop? It was a lot of that out until the film came out and people fell in love with it. These are not my words, I don’t want to get beaten up for this, but I’ve heard people say this is like the new Star Wars. People are going to look back on Guardians the way our generation looks back on Star Wars. Someone saying that, like that’s a bold statement. That hits me. It’s yet to be seen, but if I can have somebody feeling that way about Guardians the way I feel and look back on Star Wars, that’s a life worth living. That’s a legacy, man. I’m really excited to wrap up this whole journey with these guys. I love them. I love the Guardians cast like family. They know it. I think everybody knows that I’m pretty vocal about it."

Check out exactly what Bautista had to say in the video above and be on the lookout for our full interview—which also includes stories about making Army of the Dead, Dune, Blade Runner 2049, and more—later this week. Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 3 is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2023. 

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