The Suicide Squad: Why Dave Bautista Passed on The Peacemaker Role
Ever since Dave Bautista joined Guardians of the Galaxy, he has been working with many different directors. After Gunn, he worked with Sam Mendes in Spectre and Denis Villeneuve in Blade Runner 2049. Then, he got to be a part of Infinity War and Endgame with directors Joe and Anthony Russo. He is also set to star in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune later this year. But before that, we’d be seeing him kill a lot of Zombies in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. And apparently, this film is the reason he did not join James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
It is widely known that Dave Bautista was supposed to play Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad. This is a character that can go to any lengths in order to attain peace. He can even kill for peace. We’ve already seen big Dave play an over-the-top crazy protagonist in Guardians of the Galaxy. So, we know that he would have done extremely as Peacemaker. After all, both these characters are way too literal with what they say and do. So, there are certain similarities.
But if Bautista would have been so good in the role, then why did he pass it on? Apparently, it was because of a scheduling issue with Army of the Dead. He wished to do both Army of the Dead and The Suicide Squad. But to play Peacemaker, he had to give up the DC role. So, that’s what he did. He recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly, and revealed that one of the reasons he left The Suicide Squad was Zack Snyder. Here’s what he said:
“I had this chip on my shoulder and was looking for juicy [dramatic roles]. Then I read the script and it was a lot deeper and had more layers than I thought. And also, to be quite frank, I wanted to work with Zack.”
As we’ve already mentioned, Peacemaker is quite similar to Drax. And, the former WWE wrestler was looking for a role that would have offered him something different. So, he picked Netflix’s Zombie heist movie over the Suicide Squad sequel. Now, he’d also reprise his Netflix role in an anime prequel called Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas.
Maybe things would have been different if the prospect of Peacemaker arrived before Army of the Dead. Because then big Dave would have already signed up for The Suicide Squad. Furthermore, he would have been prepping to shoot the Peacemaker HBO Max series this month. But ultimately, it just wasn’t meant to be for him and that’s okay. We’re happy that John Cena got the part, and now he’d get to bring his flair to the DC Universe.
