Drax the Destroyer is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published
by Marvel Comics.
Created by writer Mike Friedrich and writer/artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared
in Iron Man #55.
Arthur Douglas was a human whose family was attacked and killed by the supervillain Thanos.
Needing a champion to combat Thanos, the being known as Kronos took Arthur's spirit and placed
it in a powerful new body, and Drax the Destroyer was born.
Drax's powers included enhanced strength and resilience, flight, and the ability to project
energy blasts from his hands.
The character often battled Thanos, and on occasion the superheroes Captain Marvel and
Adam Warlock.
He was also a member of the group known as the Infinity Watch.
In 2004, the character lost his flight and energy blasts, and a portion of his strength
and resilience.
This version of the character played a role in the crossover comic book events Annihilation
and Annihilation: Conquest, and became a member of the relaunched Guardians of the Galaxy.
He has been featured in a variety of associated Marvel merchandise, including animated television
series, toys, trading cards, and video games.
Drax appears in the 2014 live-action film Guardians of the Galaxy, portrayed by Dave
Bautista.
Publication history Drax first appeared in Iron Man #55, and was
created by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin.
He had a recurring role in Captain Marvel vol. 1 beginning with issue #27.
He also appeared in Warlock #10, Iron Man #88, Warlock #15, Logan's Run #6, Thor #314,
and Avengers #219, before being killed by Moondragon in Avengers #220.
Starlin resurrected Drax in Silver Surfer vol 3 #35, and he had a recurring role until
issue 50.
After appearing in The Infinity Gauntlet #1-6, he was featured in Warlock and the Infinity
Watch #1-42 as a member of the titular team, the Infinity Watch.
The character reappeared in Warlock vol. 3 #1-4 and Captain Marvel vol. 4 #4-6.
Drax received an eponymous 4 issue miniseries in 2004, and was a starring character in Annihilation:
Nova #1-4 and Annihilation #1-6.
After a follow up appearance in Nova vol 4 #4-7 and the Annihilation: Conquest storyline,
he was featured as a team member in the 2008 relaunch of Guardians of the Galaxy, and appeared
in the 25 issue series of the same name.
The character had a small role in The Thanos Imperative #1-3, in which he was killed.
The character reappeared in Avengers Assemble issues #4-8, with no reference to his death.
He will star in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, a part of the Marvel NOW!
relaunch.
Fictional character biography Creation and early life
While driving through a desert with his wife and daughter, Arthur Douglas' car is attacked
by a spaceship piloted by Thanos, who thinks the humans have seen him.
His daughter, Heather, survives the crash and is adopted by Thanos' father, Mentor,
and raised on Titan.
She later becomes Moondragon.
Needing a champion to combat the threat from Thanos, Mentor and the Titan god Kronos capture
Douglas' spirit and place it in a powerful new body.
He is rechristened "Drax the Destroyer," and his sole purpose is to kill Thanos.
With Iron Man, Drax battles Thanos and the Blood Brothers, but Thanos escapes.
While trying to prevent Thanos from getting the Cosmic Cube, Drax's memories are restored
to him.
After seeing Captain Marvel defeat Thanos, Drax attacks Captain Marvel, for robbing him
of his purpose.
Drax wanders space in grim contemplation, searching for a resurrected Thanos.
By the time he learns that Thanos had managed to rematerialize himself, Thanos has once
again been destroyed in battle with Captain Marvel, the Avengers, and Adam Warlock.
Alongside Captain Marvel, Drax battles ISAAC, Stellarax, Lord Gaea, Elysius, and Chaos.
Some time later, Drax, possessed by an alien entity, battles his daughter Moondragon and
the superhero Thor.
After Drax recovers, he and Moondragon journey through space in search of knowledge.
Eventually, they come upon the planet Ba-Banis, a world of humanoid aliens caught in a vast
civil war.
Moondragon uses her mental powers to quell the conflict and then decides to set herself
up as the world's goddess.
Drax recognizes that her ambitions are ignoble and so sends their ship to Earth with a holographic
distress message.
The Avengers respond and discover Moondragon's world of mentally enforced tranquility.
Freed by the Avengers from his daughter's mental domination, Drax advances toward her,
seeking to end her menace.
In order to stop him, Moondragon mentally forces Drax's life essence to vacate his artificial
body.
Infinity Watch
When Thanos is resurrected by Mistress Death, Kronos reanimates the Destroyer and grants
him even greater physical power.
However, Kronos does not consider the effects of Drax's death, and the Destroyer's mind
retains the damage done by Moondragon.
Alongside a multitude of other heroes, Drax helps battle Thanos and Nebula for possession
of the Infinity Gauntlet.
Drax is chosen by Adam Warlock to safeguard the Power Gem as part of the Infinity Watch.
After the energy vampire Rune steals the gems, the Watch members go their separate ways.
Drax returns to Titan with Moondragon, who successfully petitions Kronos to restore Drax's
mind to its former acuity at the cost of some physical power.
Thus, Drax is restored to his original condition.
Drax is accused of the murder of Elysius and several others, but is cleared when it is
discovered that the creature Syphon was manipulating him.
While seeking out Moondragon, Drax enters into an altercation with Genis-Vell.
In the course of this struggle, Drax is transported to the Microverse with Genis, where, for a
time, he finds acceptance and happiness on the planet K'ai.
Reborn
Later, Drax is seen on a prison transport ship with Paibok, Lunatik, and the Blood Brothers.
The ship crashes in Alaska, and Drax attacks the others to keep them from harming innocent
lives.
He mistakes a young girl named Cammi for his daughter, and tries to protect her from Paibok.
Drax appears to be killed, but a slimmer, smarter Drax emerges from the larger shell
of the dead body.
When a second prison ship arrives to recapture the prisoners, both Drax and Cammi are arrested.
Surviving Annihilus' attack on the intergalactic prison known as the Kyln, Drax and Cammi team
up with the last member of the Xandarian Nova Corps, Richard Rider.
Together they fight against the advancing Annihilation Wave as Drax trains Nova to be
a warrior.
Drax learns that Thanos has taken Moondragon hostage, and that she will be killed if Drax
pursues him.
During a doomed battle between the Annihilation Wave and the United Front, Drax stays behind
to fight off the invaders while Nova and the rest of the group finish the evacuation.
Drax fights his way to the Annihilation Wave's mother ship, where he finds Thanos and kills
him.
Drax helps to free a captive Galactus, who teleports Moondragon and Drax to a far-off
planet to spare them from his wrath on the Annihilation Wave.
Afterwards, Moondragon says Drax just "disappeared".
Cammi is later seen, alive, allied with one of Thanos' powerful, miniature assistants.
When the Phalanx invade the Kree home-world, Drax is assimilated as a "select" of the Phalanx
hive mind.
They dispatch him, along with Gamora, to apprehend Nova, who had fled the planet.
Following Nova to Kvch, the home planet the Technarchy, Drax and Gamora are freed from
the Phalanx by the Technarch Tyro.
Together they return to Hala where they help in the defeat of Ultron.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Star-Lord recruits Drax for the new Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Guardians are forced to ally themselves with a resurrected Thanos and travel into
an alternate reality known as the "Cancerverse".
While experiencing a bout of madness, Drax attacks Thanos and is killed.
Drax later reappears with the Guardians on Earth without reference to his death.
Powers and abilities Drax's powers initially included superhuman
strength, stamina and resistance to physical injury as well the ability to project concussive
blasts of cosmic energy from his hands.
He can also travel at high speeds in outer space and hyperspace without air, food, or
water.
Drax also possessed the ability to sense the presence of Thanos across vast distances.
After his resurrection, his physical capabilities are greatly enhanced beyond their original
levels but he suffered severe mental disability in his new incarnation.
Instead of his ability to sense Thanos across vast distances, he now possessed the ability
to sense when beings have been in recent contact with Thanos, and a precognitive ability to
sense when beings will be in contact with Thanos in the near future.
For a time, Drax possessed the Power Gem that had the potential to grant him superhuman
physical powers with no feasible limit.
However, because of his severely reduced intellect, he lacked the mental capacity and imagination
to use the gem for anything other than bolstering his physical strength.
While possessing the gem, Drax's strength has been compared with that of the merged
incarnation of the Hulk, but lacking the latter's rage-fueled potential.
Just prior to the 2006 "Annihilation" mini-series and continuing through the present, Drax undergoes
a physical change resulting in a much smaller physical form, his superhuman physical powers
greatly reduced to a level comparable to those of his original form and the loss of his energy
projection & flight capabilities.
However, his intellect has returned to its original level, and he has taken a liking
to using knives in battle.
At least temporarily, he had the ability to pass through Thanos' force field.
In other media Television
Drax appears in the episode "Learning Curve" of the Silver Surfer animated series, voiced
by Norm Spencer.
He is an android and a companion of Mentor.
Drax the Destroyer appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Guardians of the Galaxy",
voiced by David Sobolov.
He is seen as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the episode "The Return of the Guardians of the Galaxy," Drax the Destroyer was seen
recuperating on the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship when they land on Earth at the time
when Titus and the Chitauri target Nova's helmet.
Drax the Destroyer recovers in time to help fight Titus' forces.
Drax the Destroyer appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "Guardians and Spaceknights",
voiced again by David Sobolov.
David Sobolov will reprise his role as Drax in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H..
Film
Dave Bautista plays Drax in the live-action Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy,
which was released on August 1, 2014.
Since the death of his wife and daughter at Ronan's hands, he has sworn a vow of vengeance
against Ronan, allying with the rest of the Guardians because he believes that Ronan will
come after Gamora for her betrayal.
However, after his actions result in Ronan claiming the Power Stone and Quill and Gamora
nearly dying, he remains with the Guardians after Groot saves his life, recognizing that
the others are the first true friends he has ever had.
Although he is outmaneouvred by Ronan's combat skills, he is strong enough to easily take
down most of Ronan's forces in a fight.
Video games Drax makes a cameo appearance as he is seen
as frozen statues in the backgrounds of Thanos stages in Marvel Super Heroes.
Once Thanos is defeated by any of the superheroes, he is unfrozen and the heroes are saved.
Drax the Destroyer appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by David Sobolov.
Drax is set to be a playable character in the upcoming video game Disney Infinity 2.0,
along with the other Guardians of the Galaxy members.
Drax appears as an unlockable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
Drax is a non-playable Team-Up character in Marvel Heroes, and can be called in to assist
heroes in combat if purchased or unlocked.
Toys Drax was the 133rd issue in the Classic Marvel
Figurine Collection.
Drax is a playable character in the miniature game Heroclix.
He is available in both the "Supernova" and "Galactic Guardians" sets.
Funko released a figurine of Drax in their Mystery Minis line, as well as glow-in-the-dark
variant.
Action figures ToyBiz released the first Drax toy in 1997,
in the second series of the Silver Surfer line.
Drax was featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy three-pack in the Marvel Universe 4"
toyline in his modern form.
Drax received a 6" figure in 2012 in the Marvel Legends series.
He was in his modern form and was part of the Arnim Zola series.
A second Marvel Legends Drax was released in 2014, this time based on the movie, and
with a piece of the Build-A-Figure Groot.
Minimates Drax was part of a 2009 Infinity Gauntlet
four pack of Minimates in his classic form.
A movie-based Drax Minimate will be released in 2014.
References
External links Drax at the Marvel Universe
Drax at the Marvel Database Project Drax the Destroyer at the Comic Book DB