As soon as James Gunn ascended to the role of DC Studios co-CEO, the internet instantly began cracking jokes about which of the filmmaker’s regular collaborators would be next in line to dive headfirst into the comic book franchise.
Obviously, several of his frequent cohorts have already become a part of the franchise’s furniture, most notably wife Jennifer Holland recurring in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, and Black Adam, and Steve Agee lending support in the first two of the aforementioned projects, while brother Sean, Michael Rooker, and Nathan Fillion were all in Task Force X’s second outing.
However, the denizens of Reddit have been debating which role would be perfect for Guardians of the Galaxy veteran Dave Bautista, who coincidentally has a gap opening up in his schedule after reiterating countless times that May’s Vol. 3 will mark the end of his association with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In amongst all the candidates being floated – which includes Green Lantern Corps. member Kilowog, cosmic villain Atrocitus, Batman baddie Solomon Grundy, and martial arts master Wildcat – none of the top-voted comments or replies at the time of writing are making mention of the iconic DC antagonist Bautista has been spending years touting as one of his dream roles.
We are of course talking about Bane, the masked madman brought to bulky life by Jeep Swenson in Batman & Robin, before Tom Hardy’s muffled turn in The Dark Knight Rises launched a thousand memes. As a former professional wrestler that’s displayed serious range and underrated dramatic chops, Bautista would theoretically deliver the best of both worlds in the part.
He’d love to do it, and one of his buddies is running the show, so it can’t be ruled out definitively. Of course, it all depends on what DC’s plan is for the Dark Knight, with Ben Affleck surely on the way out – and the future beyond that exceedingly murky.
