MCU star Dave Bautista explained once more why he feels his exit from his role as Drax is so perfect following his next Marvel appearance.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is confirmed to be the final story for the current iteration of the Guardians team, which has been a staple in the MCU since 2014. And while it's largely expected that at least one member of the team will meet their end in this movie, nobody has discussed their impending exit more than Dave Bautista, with many believing Guardians 3 will be Drax's final run.
Bautista hasn't hidden the fact that this movie will almost certainly be his final time playing the role, as he's teased such in multiple social media posts and interviews.
And now, with only a few months remaining until Drax and company give the MCU its second movie of Phase 5, Bautista has pulled back the curtain on Guardians 3 being his swansong with Marvel Studios.
Dave Bautista on Impending MCU Exit
In an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, MCU veteran Dave Bautista addressed his decision to retire from the franchise after his role in this Spring's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Bautista once again confirmed that this will be his final MCU movie, noting how he and his co-stars all signed up for a trilogy and that this will be "the last version of [their] Guardians of the Galaxy" in the MCU:
"I think, yeah, it’s weird, I don’t know why it’s news. I feel like it’s…so this is my seventh film as Drax, and my third 'Guardians', and it’s like our trilogy, and that’s kind of what we all signed up for, to do a trilogy. This will be the last version of our Guardians of the Galaxy."
Fallon asked the star if it was "hard to walk away" from the role, to which Bautista admitted that it was hard but also that it was the right time. He wants to end his tenure in the MCU similarly to how he finished his career as a professional wrestler, making his intentions clear that he doesn't want to tarnish his story in any way:
"It’s hard, but it’s time, and it’s the perfect exit. We all had those perfect kind 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 in a perfect way, 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."
Bautista Ready to Close Drax's MCU Story
Dave Bautista hasn't been shy about saying that Guardians 3 will be the final time fans see Drax the Destroyer in the MCU, making the odds quite high that Drax will be killed off at some point during the film. The sense of finality coming with this movie is something that hasn't been a secret over the past couple of years, and with this new interview, Bautista made it clear that he wants to end his time with the MCU on a high note.
While specific plot details are still being kept close to the vest, the movie's first trailer which debuted in early December teased a sense of imminent doom for the team, which is still reeling after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
The end of that trailer seemed to hint at Drax's story coming to an end, with Bautista's hero deep in discussion with Chris Pratt's Star-Lord about killing anybody who gets in their way. And even though this is no guarantee about Drax's survivability from this quote alone, things aren't looking too peachy for the Guardians' most metaphor-averse member.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will arrive in theaters on May 5.
