Dave Bautista Drops Huge Bomb Revealing DC’s Future
Dave Bautista revealed he would not be playing the DC Universe Bane, saying he had aged out of the role.
Dave Bautista ruined some fan-casting dreams today as he told Insider that he would not be the DC Universe’s Bane. While Bautista would undoubtedly kill it in the role, James Gunn is looking to start younger with his new version of the DCU. Bautista said “You need to start to plan for the next 15 years, and I just don’t think you can do that with me,” adding “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.”
Dave Bautista, who is now 54, may have trouble staying in physical shape for a demanding role like Bane in the long-term plans for the DC Universe. Bane is a huge, physically imposing character and the demands to get in shape to realistically portray the character would be exceedingly difficult even for actors in their physical prime. It does make sense that Bautista is ok with giving up the role, as disappointing as it might be for fans.
Hopefully, this doesn’t mean that Dave Bautista will miss out on the DC Universe altogether. He’s taking up his blades as Drax the Destroyer in the MCU for the last time in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It would be disappointing if the film was the last time we got to see Bautista take on a comic-book role.
Fortunately for fans of Dave Bautista, the DC Universe is a big place. James Gunn has worked with Bautista on every Guardians film, so there’s little doubt that he could probably find a fitting role for Bautista further down the line. With James Gunn and Peter Safran in full control of the ongoing DCU story, there are going to be a lot of fresh properties coming at us in the future.
With that being said, James Gunn’s initial decisions haven’t been free of controversy. While most DC fans are excited to see a creative like Gunn take the reins, many were disappointed when Henry Cavill was cut out of future Superman plans. Hopefully, Gunn will find a place for both Cavill and Dave Bautista in his new regime.
While we might not be seeing Dave Bautista in a DC film in the near future, there are plenty of other projects we can look forward to. Most recently, he appeared in the Rian Johnson-directed Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which is currently available to stream on Netflix. You can also look forward to seeing him in the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan titled Knock at the Cabin, which releases on February 3.
Dave Bautista also has several huge blockbusters on the horizon. He’ll be reprising his role as Beast Rabban in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, which will adapt the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel. That film will hit theaters on November 3, 2023.
Before then, you can see Dave Bautista in a non-DC comic-book film as he returns as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The film will also be the final MCU bow for director and writer James Gunn. You can catch that film in theaters on May 5.
