Fans of Marvel’s Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy movies might have gotten the first tentative confirmation that the two blockbuster franchises will cross over in the future. A new report claims that Dave Bautista, who plays Drax in Guardians, has a stipulation in his contract that he will play a significant role in the third Avengers movie.

We’d hate to say that we’d hate to say that we told you so because that would be a lie. We love telling you we told you so. A while back, Inquisitr speculated that Marvel was bound to bring together the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in a comic book movie smackdown for the ages. Now, thanks to PWMania, we’ve got indications that that’s exactly what Marvel’s got planned.

PWMania‘s report says, “Batista’s people in Hollywood reportedly do not want him involved in pro wrestling,” and they think a sojourn in Hollywood is definitely the better path for the man who played the Guardians’ Drax.

Bautista is already lined up for the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, which is a foregone conclusion given the first Guardians’ massive success at the box office. What’s interesting, though, is the next little snippet.

“Batista is already slated for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 as well as the [third] Avengers movie, where he will have a significant role. That movie will be a few years down the road as the [second] Avengers movie isn’t scheduled to be released until May 2015.”

“A significant role” in the third Avengers movie, you say? Now just what could happen that would bring the Drax and the spacefaring Guardians of the Galaxy down to Earth where the Avengers dwell?

If you were paying attention during Marvel’s two team-based blockbusters, you’d know that the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy have a foe in common, a prime mover behind the nefarious schemes of both Loki and Ronan the Accuser. That common foe is none other than Thanos the Mad Titan.

Thanos isn't just a mad titan, he's also the common foe of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.

What’s more, both the Avengers and the Guardians are on a collision course with Thanos due to the same thing: the Infinity Stones. These six artifacts of immense power, when brought together, grant their owner virtual omnipotence, and that’s just the sort of thing a Mad Titan is into, no?

So far, we’ve seen at least three of the Infinity Stones revealed, as well as the Gauntlet that brings them all together. One likely appeared in Avengers as the Tesseract, and another showed up in Thor: The Dark World as the Aether. The third showed up in Guardians of the Galaxy and was simply called an Infinity Stone.

Right now, the stones are all in separate locations, but it’s plain to see that Marvel plans on bringing them all together somewhere down the line. And that’s where we’re likely to see the Avengers and the Guardians come together. We could see the groundwork for this blockbuster meeting being laid as early as Avengers: Age of Ultron, though. Marvel, secretive as ever, has denied rumors that the Hulk will get launched into space to meet the Guardians, but doesn’t that just sound like the sort of thing you say to deny that your nerd-fans have figured out where you’re going with your plot lines? Yeah, we thought so too.

So it looks like the Avengers and the Guardians are on a collision course, and we couldn’t be happier. We’re interested in seeing what kind of Avengers team – or teams – windup taking the field against the Guardians for the inevitable First Encounter Fight. After that, bring on Thanos and the even more inevitable Joining Forces Against A Common Threat. Stay tuned, true believers!