Dave Bautista, better known in the pro wrestling world as Batista, officially retired back in 2019 after his No Holds Barred Match with Triple H at WrestleMania 35. The former WWE Champion will be ending another staple of his career this year, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will mark the last time he portrays Drax The Destroyer in the MCU. The role helped land him roles in six films and a Disney+ special in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and helped catapult his acting career in both action and comedy roles. He was a guest on The Tonight Show this week to promote his new film Knock at the Cabin and compared his MCU finale to when he hung up his wrestling boots.
“Yeah, it’s weird. I don’t know why it’s like news,” Bautista said (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “So this is my seventh film as Drax and my third Guardians. It was like our trilogy. That’s kind of what we all signed up for, to do a trilogy, and I think this is going to be the last version of our Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s hard (to walk away), but it’s time. It’s the perfect exit. We had those perfect kind of character arcs and such a storybook ending. I constantly relate it to the way I ended my wrestling career. I ended it on a storybook note, and I would never go back and tarnish that. And it’s the same with this with Drax. I just got to end the perfect way. I would never sign up for another job as Drax just to get a paycheck. I would tarnish that, and I won’t do it.”
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Bautista explained his decision to leave the role in an interview with GQ last month, stating, “I’m so grateful for Drax. I love him. But there’s a relief [that it’s over]. It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down. And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy—it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.”
Despite having the classic action star physique, Bautista has made it clear in numerous interviews that he wants to show his acting range with each performance. His talent has already earned him plenty of praise from directors like Rian Johnson, who featured Bautista in his latest film Glass Onion.
