Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn Explains Why Drax Isn’t Green in the MCU

Throughout the pages of Marvel Comics, the character of Drax the Destroyer is depicted as a green being with red markings all over his body. The on-screen version of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, isn’t green at all. Dave Bautista‘s depiction in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies is actually grey. This week, while answering some fan questions on Twitter, writer/director James Gunn explained why the change was made to the character.

When a fan brought up the color of Drax, Gunn said that it was really just about the landscape of the rest of the MCU. There were already some green characters in the franchise, including Gamora, another stalwart of the Guardians team. Not to mention the fact that green skin is incredibly difficult to pull off.

“Because there were enough green people in the MCU and green is the most difficult color to get to look like actual skin,” Gunn explained. “We tested a lot of colors and the grey simply looked best for the character.”

Gunn continued on in the thread to answer another question about Gamora, saying that there were plans to make her blue but they decided against that due to the appearance of her character in Avatar. The director then pivoted back to Drax one more time to offer a second reason for his decision not to make the character green.

“Oh yeah you just reminded me another reason I didn’t like the green was in some early designs Drax looked too Christmasy for my taste (even though I love Christmas),” Gunn wrote.

The green and red design for Drax may have brought up some serious Christmas vibes, which could have been distracting throughout the various Guardians and Avengers movies. Then again, there is a Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special coming up, so maybe there will be some kind of Easter egg referencing the character’s classic look.

What do you think of Drax’s look in the MCU? Let us know in the comments!