Dave Bautista went from WWE to Hollywood, and while he hasn’t reached The Rock’s level of success, he is a close second when it comes to big-screen success.
Marvel fans already fell in love with the big guy thanks to his portrayal of Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
However, during the short time James Gunn left Marvel for DC, Bautista decided to let Warner Bros. know he was willing to come in to play a character in their universe.
More recently, Bautista said he wants to play Batman villain Bane more than almost any other comic book character.
However, DC is not interested.
Bautista explains Warner Bros. response to his Bane request
Bautista spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about going to Warner Bros. and telling them he wanted to play Bane.
The problem is that Warner Bros. has no plans to add Bane to a Batman movie, or any other DCEU property right now.
“I had a meeting with DC at Warner Bros. It was kind of a general meeting about what their slate was,” Bautista explained. “I said, ‘I want to know what’s going on with Bane and whether you guys have any plans for Bane. I want to play Bane.”
“I think I’d do the character justice. I think people want to see Bane and I think it’s a really interesting character. I’d like to shed a different light on the character.”
He said the response was simply that they don’t have any plans for Bane right now in a Batman movie.
Bautista said Warner Bros. isn’t interested in him at all right now
The big news here is that Bautista had other characters from DC Comics that he would love to play.
Fellow WWE superstar John Cena just signed on to play Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad and got his own spinoff streaming series for HBO Max thanks to the role.
However, Warner Bros. is not in the Dave Bautista business concerning the DC Universe.
“I was like, ‘Ah, okay,” Bautista continued. “So I was mentioned for a couple other parts, but they were shot down, not by myself, for one reason or another. And then life moves on.”
It sounds like Bautista was trying to get into a DC movie, and there were plenty of ideas, but Warner Bros. didn’t bite.
The good news is that Bautista is coming back for another Marvel movie, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023, and he might appear in Thor: Love & Thunder, although the big guy wouldn’t confirm or deny those rumors.
After that, Bautista might be finished with Drax for Marvel.
“I’m in a weird place with Drax because I’ve played Drax so many times, I’m on cruise control. I love the character, but getting in the makeup, it’s just a nightmare,” Bautista said.
“Throughout the years, maybe because I’ve gotten older and more sensitive to it, (the makeup’s) become more unbearable, but the one thing I’m just looking forward to is closing out this journey of Drax.”