Dave Bautista making abundantly clear that he’s done with Drax in the MCU, at the very same time that his Guardians of the Galaxy collaborator James Gunn is taking over the DCU, has led to endless theorizing that the pair are planning to work together again over at Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. In a shocking twist, though, we previously found out the wrestler-turned-actor definitely won’t be playing his dream DC role under Gunn.
Just because Bautista won’t be our new Bane however, that doesn’t mean there’s been any kind of falling out between the Glass Onion star and the new co-CEO of DC Studios. Gunn has taken aim at a headline (in a now deleted tweet) that arguably misappropriated a quote Bautista gave to GQ about his lack of interest in being a “movie star,” in order to suggest his R-rated response was said about Gunn. The director took to Twitter to launch an angry response at the attempt to fabricate some fictional feud between the pair:
The ironic thing is that there’s actually no need to invent an imaginary controversy around Bautista’s quote as he already took a major pot-shot at another A-list celebrity in the same interview. His comments on not looking to become a movie star were made in direct reference to the career trajectory of Dwayne Johnson. So while it’s entirely possible that Bautista and Gunn will work together again, given that there is no bad blood between them, definitely don’t expect Bautista and The Rock to share the screen anytime soon.
Gunn and Bautista’s next collaboration is of course coming this spring in the form of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is extremely likely to be the final Marvel Studios production for both actor and filmmaker. Catch the MCU threequel in theaters from May 5.