'Guardians of the Galaxy' Star Refuses MCU Return, Wants To Be Recast

A major Marvel star has officially spoken out about his desire to be recast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward.

Kevin Feige’s MCU just added its 35th feature film in the form of Captain America: Brave New World (2025). With Anthony Mackie now the franchise’s Captain America, the MCU is speedily wrapping up its current Phase Five. In just a couple of months, Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* (2025) will end the Phase before Matt Shakman begins Phase Six with the hotly-anticipated The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

The commencing of Phase Six with Marvel’s First Family will set the tone of this final chapter in the Multiverse Saga. Not long after the likes of Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby make their MCU debuts they will return in the fifth installment of the Avengers movies: Avengers: Doomsday (2026).

Doomsday–formerly Avengers: The Kang Dynasty—will see Robert Downey Jr. return to the MCU as Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom and will set the stage for the 2027 follow-up Avengers: Secret Wars. With Phase Four and Five mainly featuring standalone stories, audiences are wondering how Marvel Studios will bring these threads together for the next crossover event.

That said, while there are concerns about the Multiverse Saga’s conclusion, the involvement of the Russo Brothers has built confidence in the projects.

Anthony and Joe Russo are no strangers to the MCU, having directed numerous movies including Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

The complete cast is not confirmed for their upcoming Avengers movies, but it can be said that Anthony Mackie will star as Sam Wilson/Captain America, as will the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and most likely Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland as Dr. Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange and Peter Parker/Spider-Man, respectively.

At one time, Chris Evans was supposedly a lock to return as Steve Rogers (potentially as the Nomad version of his character), but subsequent reports denied those claims. Presently, there is no word of whether the Marvels or Thor or Deadpool or the Guardians of the Galaxy will be featured in the movies.

The Guardians had a pretty solid closing chapter with James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023); Peter Quill/Star-Lord returned to Earth, while Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Nebula (Karen Gillan) went their separate ways. Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) led the new Guardians team, which featured characters like Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova).

While it was confirmed that Pratt’s Star-Lord would return, the story was less clear for the remaining team. Now, new comments confirm the fate of one character.

It wasn’t a secret that Dave Bautista didn’t entirely get along with the direction of his character Drax the Destroyer. The actor was vocal during the production of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 about his concerns with playing Drax and explained that this would be his final time appearing as the character.

Of course, with Marvel, never say never. However, Bautista recently confirmed that he has spoken with the Russo Brothers about playing a new role in the MCU moving forward. Telling Comic Book that Drax is “completely closed” to him, Bautista went on to explain that the only way he would be interested in returning to the role would be if James Gunn–who took over as co-CEO of DC Studios–was to contact him.

The actor, who will soon appear alongside Milla Jovovich in Vertical’s In the Lost Lands (2025), went on to say that he would come back to the MCU but as someone different.

“I’m a fan of that world. I’m a fan of comic books and that whole universe,” Bautista said. “Marvel, DC, I just wanna be in it. I made that known to James, I made that known to the Russo Brothers. Personally, I talked to them, all of them, and told them, ‘Don’t count me out. If there’s a character that I’d be right for and that you want me for, man, I’d be totally open-minded to it.’ It’s just the Drax character ran its course.”

So while there’s apparently no chance of a Drax the Destroyer comeback, the same may not be true for Dave Bautista. After all, if Robert Downey Jr. can shed his Tony Stark/Iron Man role and be recast to play the franchise’s next Big Bad, the same could be true for anyone else who has a historic role in the billion-dollar franchise.

Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released on May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars will follow on May 7, 2027.

How do you feel about Dave Bautista returning to the MCU as someone new? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!