As it turns out, a character we’d long thought dismissed by Marvel Studios has emerged as one of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s biggest stars. Your mind immediately went to Rocket Raccoon, right? Close, but no cigar. We can’t really include Mantis or Nebula, since they joined the Guardians later on in the trilogy. So who does that leave us with? Both Peter Quill and Gamora have more than enough time in the spotlight, as does the dynamic duo of Rocket and Groot. Figured it out yet? That’s right, we’re talking about Dave Bautista’s Drax.
He’s something of a dark horse in the MCU, oftentimes underestimated and severely undervalued as a character. He immediately stole our hearts from the moment we saw him in Vol. 1, so why was he so grossly underused in Vol. 2? Out of all the Guardians, we’d argue that Drax is the most underdeveloped of them all. We’re not too sure why, either, especially since Dave Bautista is an absolute powerhouse of an actor, as he’s since proven in M. Night Shyamalan’s horror-thriller Knock at the Cabin.
Thankfully, he didn’t go unnoticed for too long. As the YouTube channel Screen Time Data has kindly confirmed, out of all the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Drax has the second most screen time, only losing out on the top spot to Star-Lord by a measly nine minutes. Interestingly, he’s almost tied with Mantis, another character whom Marvel has tossed aside in recent features. Under Mantis is Rocket Raccoon, which came as no surprise, given his overwhelming presence in every single trailer. From that point on, the screen time dwindles to less than an hour per character, so we’ll consider this a huge win for Drax and a sarcastic slow clap for Star-Lord.
If you’re interested to find out just how Drax fills all his time as the head honcho (Quill doesn’t count), you’ll have to mosey on down to your local theater and catch a screening of James Gunn’s greatest triumph, currently playing everywhere.
