Three years after the Guardians Of The Galaxy burst on to our screens, the rag-tag crew of misfits are back – and pretty scared about their upcoming crossover with the Avengers.

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‘The crossover for me as a performer was a little bit scary because we’re James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, and we’re stepping over and we’re being directed by the Russo brothers and I didn’t know them before we did Infinity Wars,’ reveals Dave Bautista, who plays Drax the Destroyer, the hilariously literal alien who really doesn’t understand social norms such as when to tell people they are or are not ugly.



‘I was really afraid that they were going to try and make us into something that we weren’t,’ he add but luckily, ‘it was just the opposite’ and the Guardians found they could bring their quirk to the very serious Avengers.

Gamora (Picture: Marvel)

James Gunn, the writer and director behind the first movie and the sequel, previously revealed that he doesn’t feel beholden to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) when it comes to writing stories for the Guardians, although as Bautista admits, the chance to crossover – the Guardians will appear in the upcoming third Avengers movies Avengers: Infinity War, and the fourth, possibly called Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet – is ‘the bonus, the upside to us’.


‘We are expanding outside the realm of reality, it’s like, anything your imagination can come up with can happen in our films, and we can explain them in all kinds of crazy and fun ways,’ he says.

However both Bautista and his co-star Zoe Saldana, admit that the thought of being part of the larger series was nerve-wracking; Zoe reveals that, along with not knowing what MCU actually stands for – ‘you speak in code!’ – before they started shooting on Avengers: Infinity War she was concerned that if she was worried about being overwhelmed by the size of the Marvel machine, the audience may be as well.

But, she grants that it turns out Marvel know exactly what they’re doing.

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‘The way that Marvel works, and the way that they work with their directors is so great, and they really respect the tone that every film has established for their respective characters so I think it will work,’ she concedes.

‘And for the Avengers movies they’re making it very dramatic and I think the Guardians, following their own sense of characters, will add a bit of levity, the little bit they can be a part of.’

‘The [Russo Brothers] were very encouraging of us to be ourselves, and we had the luxury of James Gunn writing for us as well so it was pretty easy, but just with them being so open-minded and not taking control of us, the freedom of being the Guardians Of The Galaxy, and I think it will make a great addition to the Avengers,’ adds Bautista.

Drax the Destroyer (Picture: Marvel)

The return of the Guardians for a second film could have arguably ruined what was their unique selling point – you didn’t need to have watched seven other films beforehand to watch the movie – but Zoe, who has picked up a cold during her long days of promoting the film around the globe, argues that ‘audiences demanded – a huge demand – for us to come back again because they really enjoyed the unconventional heroes’.



‘For us to give them more of what they asked for is only going to work in our favour.’

‘The great thing with this film is we’ve already introduced the characters so not only are people already familiar with them but they’ve embraced them,’ agrees Bautista.

‘They’re very lovable characters and people can kind of relate with, and identify with, so I don’t think it’s a hard selling point at all, I think it’s much easier’.

Drax the Destroyer and Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Picture: Marvel)

The Guardians will return for a third film, as confirmed by James Gunn the movie’s writer and director, earlier in May, and will have an addition to the team – Mantis.

Played by Pom Klementieff in the sequel, Mantis has a long history in the Marvel comics but movie fans will meet her as the empathic assistant who works with Ego, Star-Lord’s long-lost father.

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‘She brings innocence and, it’s interesting because she’s a different female character – Gamora and Nebula are strong and badass and really more self-confident, and [Mantis is] more in her own world,’ says Pom of what Mantis brings to the Guardians.

Luckily for Pom, the Guardians welcomed her into their fold – ‘I wouldn’t say [it was] terrifying but I was nervous’ – and she’s not at all worried about fan reaction.

‘There is always people complaining about the fact that I should be green or blah blah, but who cares!’ says Klementieff.

‘And actually the first time she appears in the comics she has my skin colour, she’s not green.’

Mantis and Star Lord (Picture: Marvel)

The joy of the MCU is the unlimited potential for spin-offs – each character has a story to tell and a history to unlock – and as talk turns to the future, Bautista says he would be ‘chomping at the bits for a Drax spin-off, selfishly’.


‘Drax has a really interesting background and I think there’s a lot of stories to be told,’ he says before revealing that as a fan what he really wants is a spin-off focusing on the best comedy duo of the past few years – Rocket and Groot.

‘Also there’s all kinds of things you can do with the Ravagers, they’re such an interesting group of rag-tag guys, but for me, as a fan, I would say Rocket and Groot first.’

Guardians Of The Galaxy is out in the UK on April 28.

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