Has Dave Bautista Dropped Out From Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3?

After the news of Disney sacking Guardians Of The Galaxy Director James Gunn for inappropriate tweets over a decade ago, multiple members of the franchise wrote open letters to Disney asking for his reinstatement. This included open letters from fellow GOTG actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper as well as a petition of over 400,000 signatures! However, no one was as vocal about his feelings on Disney's move as Dave Bautista, who played Drax The Destroyer in this Marvel Saga.

As we enter into the fourth phase of The Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans are wondering whether Bautista will be once again portraying their favorite sensitive nippled character. Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is currently Marvel's furthest future movie due to be released on 5th May 2023.

Dave Bautista Speaks Out About Disney and James Gunn

Thankfully Dave Bautista, as well as the rest of The Guardians have all been confirmed to reprise their roles and form our favorite comic superhero group. However, It seemed for a while that it was touch and go with the actor Dave Bautista, saying that he would be willing to break his contract and jump ship unless Gunn was reinstated as Director.

It seems fairly unanimous between actors and fans that a huge reason the Guardians of The Galaxy film franchise was so popular because of its director, but it seems that Bautista was extra committed to making the point. He even said on The Jonothan Ross Show that he believed Disney wasn't the kind of company he would like to work for, although it seems that this level of solidarity between Gunn and Bautista is bidirectional.

On Twitter, Gunn replied to one of Bautista's tweets claiming that:

"There's no Drax for me without you, buddy! You ARE the MCU's Drax the Destroyer and, as far as I'm concerned, could never be replaced. And you have the right to do whatever you want with your acting choices!"

Dave Bautista's Last Guardians Movie

The tweet that Gunn was replying to was actually Bautista's confirmation that despite appearing in Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3, it will surely be his very last time playing Drax The Destroyer;

"Drax isn't going anywhere, He just won't be played by this dude! By the time (GOTG 3) comes out I'll be 54 years old for god's sake! Face screaming in fear I'm expecting everything to start sagging any second now."

As well as this, in an interview with Ellen Degeneres he claimed that he was surprised anyone would think differently:

"I've been doing interviews and talking a lot about Guardians, and I didn't think it was going to be news, because I figured everybody assumed that this is how it works. We work in trilogies and James Gunn has already announced that it's his last film, and when James is done I'm done. And I'm also going to be 54 years old by the time Guardians 3 comes out and just, like, the shirtless thing is getting harder and harder for me. The journey has come full circle, and I'm ready to just kind of step aside and wrap it up."

Therefore this is likely to be the last iteration of The Guardians of The Galaxy franchise as we know it. It doesn't mean of course that there won't be a fourth film at some point, but it looks unlikely that it would be captained by James Gunn or consist of some of the same cast.

In a separate interview, James Gunn reported that he would never say never to directing a fourth Guardians movie, but he very much sees this as the last installment to the story he began telling in 2014.

Whether it's truly his last, or even if he changes his mind in 2 years and decides to do one more; watching Dave Bautista in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3 will no doubt be just as entertaining as always.

Which actor would you like to see play Drax The Destroyer in the future?

Related: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3: Everything We Know So Far