Guardians of the Galaxy Star Dave Bautista on Marvel Exit: “The Shirtless Thing Is Getting Harder”

Dave Bautista, the professional wrestler turned actor who got his big break in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, has said on multiple occasions that he’s ready to bring his time playing Marvel’s Drax the Destroyer to an end. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the upcoming sequel, will be his final outing as the alien when it debuts shortly after the release of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Bautista explained that the primary reason he’s done with the role is that filmmaker James Gunn says he’s done telling Drax and the Guardians’ stories. The other reason is because of the prolonged makeup process required to get into character as Drax. After four movies, Bautista has spent plenty of time getting that makeup applied to his body. In a new interview, he reiterates that he’s ready to be done with it.

“It will (be his last appearance),” Bautista said on The Ellen Show “It’s weird because when I said it, I said it recently because I’ve been doing interviews and talking a lot about guardians and I didn’t think it was going to be news because I figured everybody assumed that this is how it works. We work in trilogies and James Gunn has already announced that it’s his last film, and when James is done I’m done, and I’m also going to be 54 years old by the time Guardians 3 comes out and just like the shirtless thing is getting harder and harder for me. The journey has come full circle and I’m ready to just kind of step aside and wrap it up.”

This is a slightly more diplomatic answer than when Bautista was asked if he would be interested in reprising his character for his own Disney+ TV series.

“Honestly, if they offered me a series, I wouldn’t do it,” Bautista told JoBlo. “Not a chance in hell would I do a TV series playing Drax. That is a make-up nightmare. I would be miserable. Yeah, that make-up isn’t fun. It’s awful, so I’m not gonna sign up to do a series where I’m in that make-up every day.”

Despite Bautista saying Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will be James Gunn’s final film in the series, the writer/director wasn’t as definitive when asked by a Marvel fan if he would return for a fourth movie, tweeting: “Never say never but I see Vol 3 as the end of the Guardians’ story I started telling back with Vol 1.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will hit theaters on May 5, 2023 with both Dave Bautista as Drax and James Gunn as writer/director.