Early 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Concept Art Reveals Much Different Look For Drax

Andy Park, comic book artist, illustrator, and concept artist, is frequently posting cool images to his Instagram page. Recently, the creative shared an interesting picture of what Drax could have looked like in Guardians of the Galaxy.

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An early concept design I did of Drax on the first Guardians of the Galaxy. @imcharliewen was leading our Visual Development team back then on this film (go check out his very cool alternate Drax designs!) & we were trying to figure out how to set Drax apart from the obvious Kratos (God of War) resemblance he had in his comic book look. There was no set script yet so we were open to explore these characters. Maybe Drax could be biologically enhanced making him a more perfect warrior. That’s part of the fun of concept designing- imagining up the story behind the story. And btw the final approved design was done by the amazing @justinjsweet ! #drax #guardiansofthegalaxy #marvel #marvelstudios #conceptart #characterdesign #costumedesign #alien #illustration #그림 #일러스트 #일러스트레이터 #그림스타그램 #hero

A post shared by Andy Park (@andyparkart) on Jan 18, 2019 at 9:50am PST

"An early concept design I did of Drax on the first Guardians of the Galaxy. @imcharliewen was leading our Visual Development team back then on this film (go check out his very cool alternate Drax designs!) & we were trying to figure out how to set Drax apart from the obvious Kratos (God of War) resemblance he had in his comic book look," Park wrote.

"There was no set script yet so we were open to explore these characters. Maybe Drax could be biologically enhanced making him a more perfect warrior. That's part of the fun of concept designing- imagining up the story behind the story. And btw the final approved design was done by the amazing @justinjsweet," he concluded.

This early Drax look really answered the question, "What would Nebula looks like as a man?"

For reference, here's what Drax the Destroyer looked like when he first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1973:

This is what Dave Bautista ended up looking like in the movies:

Many people in the comments were quick to point out that this original design resembled Jason Momoa, which is no surprise considering the actor was rumored to be up for the part back in the day. He may not have gotten the role of Drax, but the actor is doing just fine over at D.C.

Andy Park began his career as comic book artist for Extreme Studios, which is a division of Image Comics. He joined the Visual Development team at Marvel Studios in 2010 and has served as the concept illustrator for the majority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. His list of credits include The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. He was also the visual development supervisor on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the upcoming Captain Marvel.

As for Drax, we last saw the character turn to dust during The Decimation in Avengers: Infinity War. However, Bautista is listed as a cast member for Avengers: Endgame on IMDB. With the fate of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in question, it's unclear when we'll see Drax again after Endgame, but the actor behind the character has plenty of projects in the works.

You can see Bautista next in Stuber, an action/comedy from the director of Goon that also stars Mira Sorvino, Betty Gilpin, Natalie Morales, and The Raid Redemption's Iko Uwais. Bautista is also starring in the upcoming family film My Spy alongside Ken Jeong and Kristen Schaal.

What do you think of this alternate Drax look? Tell us in the comments!

The next MCU movie to hit the big screen is Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019. Other upcoming movies include Avengers: Endgame on April 26, 2019 and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.