Dave Bautista no longer feels he can 'bring justice to Bane' as James Gunn reboots DC 'from scratch'
Imagine Dave Bautista breaking Batman's back with a Batista Bomb. Well, it could have happened.
Back in 2021, Bautista told an audience at Justice Con that he had personally lobbied Warner Bros. for a chance to play Batman's super-strong antagonist. That was before James Gunn, who worked with Bautista on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies, became DC's shepherd of superheroes. Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll ever see him in the supervillain's signature headgear.
"I have had conversations with James about that but I think the direction he's leaning in, completely rebooting that whole universe, he's starting from scratch and starting younger and fresher and I think you need to do that," Bautista told Insider.
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Everett Collection Dave Bautista once harbored dreams of playing Batman villain Bane, but now acknowledges he's too old for the role.
He continued, "You need to start to plan for the next 15 years, and I just don't think you can do that with me. I understand that. And, also, I have to say that I appreciate that because I don't want to play a character that I can't bring justice to it. I don't think at this point in my career that I can bring justice to Bane anymore. I just don't know if I could handle the physical part, and I don't think I would have the longevity to plan ahead for films."
Perhaps Bautista's days in superhero films are behind him. After all, the wrestler-turned-actor will say farewell to his years-long role as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 later this year. He doesn't sound too sad about it, either. "It wasn't all pleasant. It was hard playing that role. The makeup process was beating me down," he told GQ, adding that he wants to do "more dramatic stuff."
He's getting his wish, too. He recently played a body-building men's rights influencer in Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery for Netflix. He also has a major role in M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming thriller Knock at the Cabin. He'll also return as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen in the second installment of Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Dune later this year. Speaking with EW in 2021, Bautista credited Villeneuve in particular for getting people to take him more seriously as an actor.
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