Former WWE Hall of Famer Dave Bautista has played his Guardians of the Galaxy character Drax in over seven MCU films, but his role in Marvel Studios is, unfortunately, coming to an end this year in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Following his eventual MCU exit, Bautista sparked speculations on jumping ship to DCU seeing as he is interested in playing the iconic Batman villain, Bane. Dave immediately addressed this rumor by claiming he won’t be a part of the DCU as he is not the deciding factor for his future potential roles in DC. However, despite addressing this, the Drax actor expresses interest in yet another DCU role: Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s Superman reboot.
Recently speaking with IndieWire, the WWE-wrestler-turned-actor explained how the idea came to him in the first place. Apart from being close friends with James Gunn for working with him since Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Bautista admitted that playing Lex Luthor came from a fan comment. Check out his full quote below:
“Someone mentioned something on Instagram I saw tonight,” Bautista explained, “They said, “Just hear me out, but Dave Bautista as Lex Luthor” and I thought that was really interesting.”
ALSO READ: Guardians of the Galaxy Star Dave Bautista Backpedals on DCU Casting Comments
Despite the actor initially wanting to play the role of Bane, Bautista admitted that he is simply “too old” for the character, and seeing as James Gunn is rebooting the DC Universe, “[Gunn] is starting from scratch and starting younger and fresher and I think you need to do that for [DC Universe] to be revived. [And] I just don’t think you can do that with me.”
However, it looks like Bautista is definitely leaning more towards Lex Luthor in the Superman reboot, granted if James Gunn would be interested in hiring him for the part: “I don’t know man, I may make a call to James and see if they got anybody in mind, but that is more appealing to me at this point of my life and my career than playing Bane.”
In the meantime, we can expect Dave Bautista’s last time playing Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5, 2023.