When Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters in 2014, audiences immediately fell in love
with Drax the Destroyer, played to perfection by Dave Bautista.
Drax was Bautista's Hollywood breakout, but this wasn't his first taste of celebrity.
Years before stepping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dave Bautista was one of the most
famous wrestlers in the WWE, known simply as "Batista."
But how did he go from the WWE to the MCU?
A rough start
Dave Bautista grew up in Washington D.C.
Abandoned by his father, Bautista credits his mother with pulling them through difficult
times, and she eventually took the family to San Francisco.
As Bautista grew older, he found himself involved with a pretty bad crowd.
In addition to failing grades, Bautista was stealing cars by age 13.
By the age of 17, he was living on his own, working as a lifeguard before winding up as
a bouncer.
As he neared 30, Bautista was earning $100 a night in LA nightclubs, handling angry drunks
while trying to support his two kids.
Finally fed up with the way things were going, Bautista decided it was time to make some
changes and try to get into the wrestling game.
However, even though he stood well over six feet tall and weighed in at 340 pounds, Bautista
failed to impress when he auditioned at WCW's Power Plant.
But the man who would be Drax wasn't about to give up.
Instead, he set his eye on a different prize: the WWE.
Going pro
As someone who'd been getting into scrapes since age nine, tossing guys around in a cage
seemed like a natural fit for Bautista.
He signed up with the Wild Samoan Training Center in Allentown, and after learning the
ropes, he made his way to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a feeder system for World Wrestling Entertainment.
Bautista played a character called Leviathan, a demon raised from the Ohio River.
The wrestler later described the role as a little cheesy, but still "cool."
Finally, in 2002, WWE came calling, transforming Leviathan into Deacon Batista, a suit-wearing
henchman to a heel named Reverend D-Von.
Admittedly, Bautista was upset about the outfit, as it covered his body, his strongest asset.
Eventually, he dropped the Deacon bit and became simply Batista, joining up with Triple
H and Ric Flair to form the wrestling super group known as Evolution.
Soon, Batista was throwing down with Triple H at WrestleMania 21, where he defeated his
opponent to claim the World Heavyweight Championship in 2005.
In addition to setting a record by holding the belt for 282 days, Batista would regain
championship glory five more times.
But while Batista was making a name for himself, not everything was quite so happy behind the
scenes.
Leaving the WWE
Despite his rise to stardom, Bautista wasn't completely happy with his newfound fame.
He started butting heads with WWE owner Vince McMahon, and grew unhappy with the promotion's
new PG Era.
The company brass wanted to tone down the adult themes, but Bautista preferred keeping
things edgy.
Bautista also didn't feel like the WWE was giving him enough opportunities outside the
company.
He wanted to score some acting gigs like his WWE coworker John Cena, but the company wasn't
interested in giving him any juicy parts.
"Certain guys were getting opportunities that I wasn't getting, and I wasn't real cool with
that.
So I left to accomplish certain things."
Feeling unloved by the promotion, Bautista called it quits in 2010, and while he returned
for a few guest appearances, it seems he's largely put his WWE days behind him.
Getting started as an actor
Before joining Marvel, Bautista took some smaller roles, playing himself in Australian
soap opera Neighbours and appearing in an episode of Smallville.
But the acting bug didn't really bite until he played a role in the straight-to-DVD action
flick Wrong Side of Town.
According to the budding thespian, he absolutely loved working on the film, but Bautista also
had one little problem.
As he told he told Birth.Movies.Death:
“I thought since I had done on-camera stuff in WWE this was going to be the same, that
it would be the same stuff, but then I realized… how hard it was."
Deciding he had to get better, Bautista hired himself an acting coach and started learning
on the job.
He learned from Billy Zane in The Scorpion King 3, Dominic Purcell in House of the Rising
Sun, and future Guardians co-star Vin Diesel in Riddick.
And all that hard work eventually paid off when director James Gunn started assembling
a ragtag bunch of space heroes to guard the galaxy.
Becoming Drax
If you land a major role in the MCU, you've pretty much got it made in the shade.
So it makes sense that Bautista was really anxious about landing the part of Drax the
Destroyer, the super-literal bruiser.
Bautista admitted to Wired that he was terrified when trying out for the part.
After all, this was the biggest project he'd ever auditioned for.
But while he might've been nervous on the inside, you wouldn't know by watching his
screen test.
Auditioning alongside Chris Pratt, Bautista appears pretty chill and incredibly natural
as the otherworldly assassin.
“Okay?
I got your back.
I won’t touch you again, that’s the last time I touch you.”
Despite his long show business career, Bautista was still pretty nervous when he showed up
for work on Guardians of the Galaxy.
He described that first day as nerve-wracking, but eventually, he started feeling at home
with his Marvel co-stars, describing Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt as world-class actors.
But the real challenge was the makeup sessions.
It usually took four to six hours for the makeup crew to get Bautista ready for the
day.
He wasn't too crazy about spending day after day in all that makeup.
Eventually, it would start to irritate his skin, and he told Collider it made him, quote,
"constantly feel dirty."
As for the finished product, Bautista was pretty critical of his performance at first,
but as he watched the film unfold, he was totally drawn into the movie.
Life after Guardians
Since he saved the galaxy the first time around, Bautista has been keeping himself pretty busy
around Hollywood.
Naturally, the actor reprised his role as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and
Avengers: Infinity War, but Bautista has been doing a lot more than just Marvel work.
In 2015, he played Mr. Hinx in Spectre, Blofeld's terrifying henchman who gives James Bond one
of the best brawls in the entire 007 franchise.
The man also put his martial arts skills to work in Kickboxer: Vengeance, playing an undefeated
baddie by the name of Tong Po, and put in a supporting turn in Blade Runner 2049 before
co-starring with Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan 2.
The WWE's loss was Tinseltown's gain, and it looks like Bautista will be winning hearts
and bashing skulls on the silver screen for a very long time.