As Marvel Studios moves on to its new phase and Avengers characters get either their own movies or their own TV shows, there have been suggestions that another team can splinter off into their own movies: The Guardians of the Galaxy.

Since Thor went off with the Guardians at the end of Avengers: Endgame, a movie called Asgardians of the Galaxy was half-jokingly suggested. Now, James Gunn, the writer-director of the Guardians movies, has suggested that Drax (David Bautista) could have his own movie.

Would movie featuring Drax work?

L to R: Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan and David Bautista | Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

Gunn is off playing for the other superhero team, making the sequel to Suicide Squad. He has maintained that Guardians Vol. 3 is coming after The Suicide Squad comes out in 2021.

But, in the meanwhile, he has continued to field questions about his Marvel work. On Instagram stories, he said that Drax should get his own movie. Not that he would, but he should.

Comicbook.com notes: “Dave Bautista has some of the most fun parts of Infinity War for non-Avengers. The comedy is multiplied when you take into account how hysterical Bautista’s mannerisms were in the first Guardians film.”

Bautista is nothing, if not game, and he definitely has comic chops, which has gotten him leading roles in comedies like Stuber and the upcoming My Spy, where he plays a CIA agent at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl. Bautista, like Dwayne Johnson, has a wrestling background, and Bautista is rather like the brute force version of the more amiable Johnson.

Can Dave Bautista cut it as a leading man?

The problem is, Stuber did not do very well at the box office at all and My Spy comes out January 10 — movies that get their first release in January are often movies that the studios dump because they don’t know what else to do with them.

Although the Guardians and Avengers movies have proven Bautista can be funny, in those movies, he wasn’t doing the heavy lifting, so to speak. He was part of an ensemble. And his work outside Marvel has been best when he’s been the memorable supporting player: Witness his turn as a dangerous replicant in Blade Runner 2049 or his role as a James Bond heavy in the most recent 007 film Spectre.

That’s not to say that Bautista could never carry a movie if given the chance, and Gunn would certainly be the one to give him the chance. Bautista was one of the director’s staunchest defenders when the controversy erupted over Gunn’s old tweets that got him fired from Guardians 3, before Disney relented and brought him back on. Bautista’s defense may have helped put Gunn back in Disney’s good graces, and Gunn probably wants to do Bautista a solid.

James Gunn has proven himself an ally

Despite having been through that controversy, Gunn has proven himself to be a valuable supporter not just of Marvel, but of comic book movies in general. This explains his willingness to play for both Marvel and DC, like Joss Whedon did, making the first two Avengers movies before he came in to rework Justice League.

Gunn has said he particularly appreciates the freedom DC and Warner Bros. has given him. While Marvel makes its directors color inside the lines and abides by their house style, it sounds like Warner’s is letting him have more free reign. Comicbook.com stated: “Gunn said that there are no restrictions on characters and that he was basically allowed to do any property he wanted to pursue for this project. So, he chose Suicide Squad.”

Gunn also positioned himself as a defender of Marvel after esteemed directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola both criticized Marvel movies. Although he initially expressed dismay with Scorsese, he took a more conciliatory tone later when he wrote on Instagram: “Superheroes are simply today’s gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that’s okay.”