James Gunn Must Cast This Guardians of the Galaxy Star as the Cerebral Batman Villain That Deserves More Respect

After the end of the DCEU, James Gunn and Peter Safran took the responsibility to build a new DCU from scratch. Earlier, the DCEU brought in the big three- Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and tried to build a team around them. However, Gunn has different plans this time. 

Gunn is trying to give equal importance to lesser-known characters, as he will be introducing many of them in Superman. Similarly, The Brave and the Bold will also introduce the Bat family. However, as far as Batman’s villain is concerned, Gunn could possibly bring one of his Guardians from Marvel. 

Dave Bautista Can Be a Batman Villain in DCU

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 concluded the stories of all the Guardians, along with Dave Bautista‘s Drax. Many have felt that his character was underutilized and was just used as comic relief. To some extent, the actor has also felt it in a way.

The movies changed Drax’s origin. Besides that, he was a more powerful, vengeful, and serious character in comics than in movies. These were some complaints from Drax fans about the MCU movies, and Bautista also echoed similar sentiments as he told GQ magazine,

It wasn’t all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down. And I just don’t know if I want Drax to be my legacy — it’s a silly performance, and I want to do more dramatic stuff.

Now, the actor has the chance to finally get what he wants, as his former director and friend James Gunn is at the top of DCU. Many have been speculating that Bautista will be suitable for playing Bane because of his physicality. However, it was one of the main reasons why he didn’t want to play Drax anymore.

Bautista is currently 55, and it gets harder to maintain that level of physique at this age. Moreover, the actor doesn’t want to get limited to physical roles, which makes him a suitable candidate for another Batman villain, Hugo Strange.

Strange is an evil psychiatrist who is much different from other flashy Batman villains. He is also one of the first people to identify the dual identity of Bruce Wayne. Much like Scarecrow, he also once developed his own fear dust. However, his expertise in genetics, chemistry, and mind control makes him way more dangerous.

Hugo Strange is not a physical match in front of Batman. Besides that, there has not been any live-action adaptation of him so far. These scenarios allow Bautista’s wish to perform a character that is not only new for him but for the audience as well, and also someone who won’t demand him to show his physique all the time.

James Gunn’s Hints for Dave Bautista Joining DCU

Gunn has been teasing fans on Threads with hints of involving his former cast members in DCU. In an interaction with fans, one user asked him if he could cast any of the Guardians of the Galaxy members in DCU, whom would he choose, to which Gunn said, “Well that would be a spoiler wouldn’t it?”

Besides that, Bautista praised James Gunn in an interview with ComicBook and shared his willingness to work with him at DCU. Gunn shared that video on Threads and asked fans what role they would like to give Bautista. 

Various choices were made by the fans, and some popular ones include Hugo Strange, Bane, Brainiac, Darkseid, and Mr. Freeze. Moreover, last year, Bautista teased fans by sharing an Instagram story where he was seen sitting outside Gunn’s parking lot (via Screen Rant).

Gunn further reshared his story, but there has not been any update or confirmation of his involvement in any DCU project. However, as Gunn is known for his top social media game and also for keeping secrets to build mystery, it is natural for the fans to speculate something is cooking between the duo.

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are available to stream on Disney+.