Dave Bautista

In Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Drax behaves as though the conversation would improve if everyone else took it as seriously as he does. Bautista gives the absurdity no special acknowledgement, which makes him the comic surprise of an already argumentative ensemble. We laughed hardest at his solemnity: he seems determined to maintain his standards while the others carry on around him. James Gunn gives that seriousness room to work, and Bautista never needs to signal that he knows how ridiculous it is.

Drax was his breakthrough after professional wrestling, but the more interesting development is the dramatic work alongside the franchise parts. Sapper Morton in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) was an early dramatic step. Duke Cody in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) kept him in ensemble comedy beyond Drax. These choices are encouraging because they leave him something to play besides the biggest man present. The deadpan delivery matters as much as the imposing build.

Gunn still makes good use of him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), particularly opposite Pom Klementieff as Mantis. Her exhausted patience gives Drax's cheerful literalism somebody to wear down, and the two are reliable company when the plot stalls. The film is loud and overlong, with a sagging middle, and their scenes cannot make that disappear. There is a limit to how often an ensemble can be sent off to be foolish while the story waits, even when the actors make the diversion enjoyable.

Denis Villeneuve gives him a different problem as Rabban in Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024): making a physically dominant man insecure. The second film allows more vulnerability alongside the threat, and that is a worthwhile use of an actor so readily cast as a brute. We are more interested in what Rabban is afraid of than in another demonstration of his strength, because fear gives Bautista something specific to play. That does not make the dramatic work inherently more valuable than the comedy. Start with the first Guardians of the Galaxy; there is enough pleasure in Drax's solemnity to forgive the clutter.