Since Marvel Studios is one of the biggest superhero franchises in the world, any actor would die to secure a role in the franchise. Despite being in the MCU for quite some time, Dave Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy offerings, has been open about his sentiments to leave the studios and never don Drax’s painted skin again.
During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the former WWE superstar again spoke about his impending exit from the MCU, saying that despite it being a hard decision to make, no reason will make him want to stay, not even a paycheck that most actors are looking forward to.
“It's hard, but it's time, and it's the perfect exit,” he justified. “We all had those perfect kinds of character arcs and such a storybook ending. I constantly relate it to the way I finished 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 it perfectly, and I would never sign up for another job as Drax just to get a paycheck, I wouldn’t tarnish that and I won’t do it.”
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According to a 2021 article, here’s how much Bautista received in his time with MCU. For the first Guardians of the Galaxy, he made $1.4 million, just a hundred thousand dollars less than the leading actor, Chris Pratt. For the sequel, not much is known about his salary, but Sportskeeda made an estimated $3 million for the actor’s paycheck. For Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame combined, they assumed he earned “an estimated sum of over $4 million.”
In the upcoming third and last installment of the Guardians, no information has been revealed regarding the salary of Bautista, but everyone’s sure that it will become higher, and so far, given the aforementioned details, fans can estimate that he's probably taken home anywhere between $8.5 million and $10 million. Despite it being a whopping amount of money, it can be nowhere compared to the other salaries of MCU actors or another guardian portrayer.
Given the actor’s honest sentiments about leaving his post as the MCU’s guardian, fans began to speculate that Bautista is no longer happy to portray Drax because Marvel has made the character ridiculous despite his innate depth and humor, which should have been more showcased given that there are already three films surrounding the guardians.
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to premiere in theaters on May 5, 2023.
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