Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

Drax the Destroyer, a muscular hulk of a man, looks like a one-dimensional warrior but is instead a husband and father wracked by tragedy and intent on vengeance.

The guy who plays him in the sci-fi space opera Guardians of the Galaxy can relate to being misunderstood. Dave Bautista is a former pro wrestling champion who probably could have any action-movie role he'd ever want, yet yearns to be known more for his acting than his biceps and ability to body-slam something.

"People look at me and they have a certain perception and they slap a label on me," says Bautista, 45. "The guy you saw in a wrestling ring is not who I am."

As the green-skinned tattooed Guardian, Drax could be the breakthrough role Bautista has been searching for since he left the WWE four years ago to act full-time.

The character has many levels: Drax is a dangerous convict hellbent on avenging the deaths of his wife and daughter when he meets Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and his other soon-to-be teammates in the intergalactic prison, the Kyln.

At the same time, though, because he takes everything so literally, Drax brings moments of hilarity in the film, and because he also has a big heart, "you can get emotionally invested in him and you can love him," Bautista says.

"It's hard not to believe in God when you see Dave Bautista in this," says Guardians director James Gunn. "Very seldom has an actor ever aligned so perfectly with a role."

Drax's musclebound stature, tortured mind-set and literal nature all coexist in the character, so Gunn figured Drax on paper would be the toughest role to cast. However, a magical moment for him came when Bautista and Pratt screen-tested together. "It was like they were the really buff Abbott and Costello," Gunn says.

"He's nothing like Drax. Dave is very quiet — Drax is very loud. Dave has this quiet sense of humor where he's joking all the time, and Drax has no sense of humor whatsoever. But there's something about the two of them together that's an amazing thing."

Bautista also surprised six-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close, his Guardians co-star. "He was the real revelation for me," says the actress, who enjoys Drax's "whimsical" scene with the tree creature Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel).

With a Guardians sequel already in place for 2017, Bautista hopes to share screen time with Robert Downey Jr. if the Avengers make an appearance. "It would be so much fun playing off of Tony Stark," he says. "He's such a sarcastic wise-ass. With Drax taking everything literally, it would be hysterical."

But for a tattooed fanboy who loves sci-fi superheroes, vampires and geeky lunch boxes, Bautista, who next has a villainous role in a Kickboxer reboot, simply loves being a passionate part of a growing universe.

"It's the kind of stuff that keeps you young and turns you into a little kid," he says.

"I was a poor kid. I came from nothing. We didn't have any money; a lot of times we didn't have any food, and now all of a sudden I'm a superhero in a Marvel movie? Talk about the American dream, man, I'm living it."