Just when you thought Dave Bautista was out as the DCU’s Bane, ‘Blue Beetle’ director pulls him right back into the mix

It’s hardly a secret that despite playing Drax the Destroyer for close to a decade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dave Bautista‘s dream comic book role has always been Bane.

He’s pitched it to Warner Bros. and DC himself on at least a couple of occasions, and the chances looked better than they ever had when his longtime collaborator James Gunn was installed as studio co-CEO. Instead, the wrestler-turned-actor ended up ruling himself out of the part entirely, with the franchise’s latest overhaul skewing in a younger direction for the majority of its marquee characters.

And yet, you can never keep a good dream casting down for too long, with Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto stoking the flames of speculation once again after admitting that not only has Bautista seen his incoming blockbuster and enjoyed it immensely, he even told the filmmaker that he still harbors those dreams of inhabiting the hulking villain who snapped Batman’s spine like a twig.

Coincidentally – or not, perhaps – Soto initially pitched a Bane movie to DC before ending up with the Blue Beetle gig, so it’s not entirely out of the question that he could prospectively reunite with Bautista to make it a reality should Jaime Reyes’ impending debut not do what The Flash and Shazam! Fury of the Gods did and bomb horrendously. Then again, maybe it’s all just wishful thinking.

Either way, you’d expect Bautista to show up somewhere in DC given his ties to Gunn and the latter’s admission several of his Guardians cohorts are poised to join him in jumping ship to the competition.