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Characters / MCU: Drax
aka: MCU Drax The Destroyer

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Main Character Index > Heroic Organizations > Guardians of the Galaxy > Peter Quill | Gamora | Drax | Rocket Raccoon | Groot | Yondu Udonta | Nebula

Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

Drax the Destroyer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drax_aiw_profile.png

Species: Unknown

Affiliation(s): Guardians of the Galaxy

Portrayed By: Dave Bautista

Voiced By: Dan Osorio (Latin-American Spanish dub), Pedro Tena (European Spanish dub), Naomi Kusumi (Japanese dub), Serge Biavan (French dub), Blaise Tardif (Canadian French dub), Mauro Ramos (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Guardians of the Galaxy | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Avengers: Infinity War | Avengers: Endgame | Thor: Love and Thunder | The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

"There are two types of beings in the universe: those who dance and those who do not."

An alien who has been on a rampage ever since his family was killed by Ronan under Thanos's orders, along with half the population of his home planet. Drax seeks vengeance against the Kree Accuser and joins the team when they convince him to not make them his latest victims in exchange for them luring Ronan nearby for Drax to kill.


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    A-E 
  • Action Dad: One who is very hell-bent on Revenge for the death of his daughter Kamaria (and his wife Ovette).
  • Actually Pretty Funny: In Vol. 2, when Rocket threatens to conceal one of Drax's turds in Peter's pillow as part of an argument, Drax bursts out laughing, gleefully claiming his droppings are "famously huge".
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, Drax was initially a human named Arthur Douglas who was killed alongside his wife and daughternote  were killed in a car accident caused by Thanos to keep his own existence a secret and was resurrected by Thanos' father Mentor to make him Thanos' new nemesis. In the MCU, he was an alien whose species was subjected to Ronan's population culling under the orders of Thanos where he survived and his wife and daughter were among half the population that was slaughtered.
  • Adaptational Comic Relief: While the comics' version of the character could be comedic at times (especially starting from the '90s), the films play up his goofier traits more and more as they go on.
  • Adaptation Deviation:
    • Like in the comics, Thanos killed his family. Unlike in the comics and in keeping with his changed backstory, it wasn't a personal act of petty villainy but a part of Thanos's quest to save the universe from an Overpopulation Crisis. It wasn't even done directly by Thanos, but rather by his minion, Ronan.
    • Because of the above, Drax initially focuses his quest for revenge on Ronan, whom he remembers as killing his family and laughing about it. (Which is more than Ronan remembers.) But since killing Ronan brings him no satisfaction, Drax decides to transfer his vendetta to Thanos, like in the comics, after realizing that Ronan was ultimately just a pawn of Thanos.
  • Adaptation Distillation: Drax's backstory from the comics has been greatly simplified for the films; in the comics, Drax was a normal man from Earth whose family was murdered by Thanos (except for his daughter, who survived the attack and became Moondragon) and was turned into a living weapon against the Mad Titan by Thanos's father, Mentor. In the film, he's just an alien warrior out for revenge against Ronan for the deaths of his family. By the end of the film, he shifts his vendetta to the Mad Titan, since Ronan was under Thanos' orders when his family was killed.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: A rare skin-related one that has nothing to do with race. He's green in the comics but grey in the movies, most likely done so audiences don't confuse him with Gamora's species.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: Zigzagged. Drax is closest to being the Dumb Muscle of the team, being a socially inept, Literal-Minded Boisterous Bruiser. However, he's not depicted in the same child-like, dull-witted simpleton manner as his comic book counterpart became after his resurrection in the Warlock and The Infinity Watch comics of the early 1990s.
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, Drax was designed to destroy Thanos. He could fly, create energy bursts, and was even able to rip out Thanos heart. This version gets manhandled by Ronan the Accuser, who, while still a big threat, is nowhere near as powerful as Thanos.
  • Adaptation Name Change:
    • In keeping with the aforementioned change to being an alien, Drax really is his name here, whereas in the comics, his real name was Arthur Douglas.
    • His wife and daughter's names (Yvette and Heather) are also changed, to Ovette and Kamaria, respectively. (Some sources write his wife's name as Hovat.)
  • Adaptation Origin Connection: While in both comics and movies Thanos is responsible for the death of Drax' family, in the MCU Thanos is just indirectly responsible as The Man Behind the Man for Ronan who murdered Drax' wife and daughter physically. In the comics, Thanos himself was physically the one who killed Ivette and Heather, with Ronan having nothing to do with it.
  • Adaptational Personality Change: MCU Drax is the Comically Serious with most of his scenes being humorous and based around how he is a Literal-Minded alien with No Social Skills, with rare moments of drama centred around his tragic past; in the comics, he's a much more serious and determined figure with a monomaniacal obsession with justice and revenge, who understands metaphors, comedy and cultural differences perfectly well but most of the time simply doesn't care because he's focused on making Thanos dead.
  • Adaptation Species Change: As noted above, in the comics, Drax was originally a human named Arthur Douglas that was modified into a living weapon; here, he's an alien and Drax really is his name.
  • Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Drax shows why a revenge-bent Blood Knight should never get as drunk as he did on Knowhere. He contacts Ronan and tells him that they have the orb there in order to get his revenge personally.
  • Alliterative Name: Drax the Destroyer.
  • Alternate Self: Drax has three alternate versions, one of whom is dead.
  • Amazing Technicolor Population: He has grey skin because he's an alien.
  • Ambiguously Bi: Misses his wife deeply and isn’t shy about going into detail about his love for her (both emotional and physical), but also remarks on how handsome Thor is in Avengers: Infinity War in a tone that suggests more than just mere admiration, although this could just be Drax being Drax.
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • To Ronan the Accuser. Drax holds a bitter hatred towards Ronan for killing his family and has been hunting him for the majority of the first film. Ronan doesn't seem to care and fails to remember Drax's family, though he later mentions he does. Drax gets his revenge by the end of the film.
    • To Ronan's superior Thanos who is ultimately responsible for the massacre on his homeworld (mirroring their relationship in the comics). According to commentary to Infinity War:
      Joe Russo: [Drax's] planet was treated the same way as Gamora's planet. Drax was put on one side, his family was put on the other.
  • Back from the Dead: Just like everyone who got dusted in Infinity War, he appears back in action for the final battle of Endgame after Bruce Banner uses the new Infinity Gauntlet to bring back half of all life in the universe.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: In Infinity War, he and Doctor Strange team up to duel Thanos hand-to-hand during the fight on Titan. It’s a testament to the Mad Titan’s raw strength, even when blinded by Spider-Man’s webbing, that he is still more than a match for both of them.
  • Bad Liar: When he accidentally lets slip that Rocket stole the Sovereign's batteries, we find out that he's just as bad at lying as metaphors.
    Drax: Right... he didn't steal some of those. I don't know why they're after us, what a mystery this is.
  • Bald Head of Toughness: He's bald, The Big Guy of the Guardians, and he relies mostly on his fists, his brute strength, as well as his combat prowess in battle.
  • Barbarian Hero: A Space Opera version of this trope Played for Laughs. He’s on a quest for vengeance, has a very atavistic sense of morality (he doesn’t understand why it’s objectionable to remove the spines of people who irritate him), wears the bare minimum amount of clothing (though that's because he has "sensitive nipples"), and is a very upfront and straightforward warrior who prefers knives over guns. Though he can have moments of insight that border on being a Warrior Poet.
  • Bash Siblings: With the other Guardians of the Galaxy.
  • The Berserker: Drax has a tendency of charging and roaring into battle with very little strategy.
  • BFG: When he uses guns in combat, he always arms himself with large ones.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Steps protectively in front of Gamora when it seems Thor might threaten her in Infinity War.
  • Big Damn Heroes: He can briefly be seen saving Korg in Endgame when Cull Obsidian puts him in a submission hold and Drax jumps on Cull's back and stabs it multiple times to get Korg out of the hold.
  • The Big Guy: Along with Groot in the first film, Drax does more of the straight-up fighting. Doesn't help him against Ronan, though, who beat the hell out of him. He's become the only one to fit this role in Vol. 2, as Groot is regrowing as a baby now. During the fight on Titan in Infinity War, Drax is noticeably the only major combatant fighting without any technology or powers, and only uses his brute strength and swords. His main role in the fight is having the responsibility of holding down Thanos by one leg to get him to kneel, and he's more than capable of the task.
  • Big Guy Rodeo: During the final battle in Endgame, he jumps on Cull Obsidian's back and stabs it multiple times while Cull is overpowering Korg in their fight which gives Korg the opportunity to wack Cull across the face with his staff.
  • Birds of a Feather: He and Mantis, the wackiest and most comedic members of the Guardians, form an amusing friendship during the second Guardians movie. It doesn't go further than that, though, because neither of them is the other's type. Subsequently, they are most often seen together.
  • Blood Knight: He revels in fighting and picks fights with very little provocation. When Peter's ship's guns rip through dozens of mooks, he's laughing like mad and making everyone else visibly disturbed. The prime example is him jumping into the jaws of an Abilisk with nothing but two knives while laughing.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Drax has blue eyes and his only clothing is his blue pants.
  • Blunt Metaphors Trauma: He's incredibly literal, which is explained as being a species-based failing. By the climax of the film, he's beginning to gain some grasp of the concept of figurative speech, but it's a slow process. In the second film, he seems to have made a fair bit of progress.
    Rocket: His people are entirely literal. Metaphors are gonna go over his head.
    Drax: Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Enjoys nothing more than a good fight alongside his comrades, when not angsting over the loss of his family. Even more so in Vol. 2, where he's dropped some of the broodings in favor of breaking out into hearty laughter, and almost borders of Psychopathic Man Child with how much earnest glee he takes in fighting and destruction.
  • Bring It: When the Avengers and Guardians' fight in Infinity War ends with a Mexican Standoff, Star-Lord has a gun to Spider-Man's head while Iron Man has a cannon to Drax's. Drax's response to the situation:
    Drax: Do it, Quill! I can take it.
    Mantis: No, he can't take it!
    Dr. Strange: [deadpan] She's right, you can't.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Although Drax has the tough and imposing exterior of a warrior, he can be gentle and benign when conversing about the people he cares about. The most notable moment that invokes this trope is when he and Mantis are discussing his bittersweet memories of his deceased family, and Mantis breaks down into tears when she uses her Empathy Touch to feel and reveal the anguish he has been bottling up.
  • Brutal Honesty: Due to being Literal-Minded, he has no sense of how to talk about negative aspects of his friends without at some point sounding horrible. This is part of his banter with Mantis in particular. Although some of it was not all that honest, because Drax knew being blunt would generate a bigger response. He also has some brutally honest advice for Peter:
    Drax: You just need to find a woman who is pathetic. Like you.
  • Calling Me a Logarithm: Along with the finger to the throat gesture, he doesn't know what a thesaurus is, and is offended when Peter calls him one.
    Drax: Do not ever call me a thesaurus.
  • Calling Your Nausea: Claims the thought of having sex or any kind of physical intimacy alone with Mantis made him gag.
  • Celebrity Paradox: As far as Black Widow (2021) is concerned, the James Bond franchise exists in the MCU with Dave Bautista having played henchman Mr. Hinx in Spectre.
  • Characterization Marches On: The first Guardians film depicted Drax as being a stoic and blunt character whose comedic moments primarily came from misunderstanding others than his own physical feats. Starting from the second movie and onwards, Drax becomes more of a ditzy Cloud Cuckoolander who enjoys being a Boisterous Bruiser and laughing loudly at even the silliest of things.
  • Chubby Chaser: Drax states in Volume 2 he likes a woman with "meat on her bones" — though given Drax's build, he may be an Amazon Chaser and using "meat" to refer to muscles.
  • Cloudcuckoolander:
    • Aside from his rage, he comes across as just plain odd, including his Blunt Metaphors Trauma and Innocently Insensitive nature. It's hinted in Vol. 2 that Drax is a bit of a weirdo even among his own species.
      Peter: We've already established that you destroying the ship I'm on is not saving me!
      Drax: When did we establish that?
      Peter: Like three seconds ago?
      Drax: I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else...
    • At one point in Vol .2, he reveals he's been laboring under the belief that Peter Quill and Yondu are blood relatives. Even Rocket, who's been something of a ditz a few minutes prior, is taken aback by this.
      Drax: I thought Yondu was your father. You look exactly alike.
      Rocket: [Staring at him aghast] ONE'S BLUE!
      [Drax makes an "exactly!" gesture]
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Likes annoying Peter about his romance woes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, like the moment Drax says Peter can't get with someone like Gamora, and to aim for "someone pathetic, like (him)".
  • The Comically Serious: The only reason half of his shtick works is because of how incredibly serious and earnest Dave Bautista plays him as being. Even in Vol. 2, where he's more of an overt goofball, he still takes the same attitude of acting utterly convinced of the inherent sensibility of even the stupidest thing he does.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Frequently happens to him because of his inability to understand the concept of metaphors such as not knowing that finger to the throat means death.
  • Costume Evolution: Notable in that he explicitly states preferring to go shirtless due to his sensitive nipples, but by the Holiday Special and Volume 3 he's finally used to covering up his upper torso.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Drax may be a Literal-Minded simpleton of a man, but you'd do well to have him by your side if a fight should break out. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Vol. 3 both demonstrate this.
  • Crusading Widower: Out to get Ronan for killing his family. After his death, Drax transfers his revenge motivation to the Kree's master, Thanos.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of one from Ronan. Despite being a powerful and skilled combatant, both his strength and skill pale in comparison to Ronan's, who spends most of their "fight" effortlessly dodging and blocking his attacks and sending him flying with his own.
  • Cutting the Knot: When Peter and Rocket are badly arguing over flying through an asteroid field despite a pursuer on their tail, Drax elects to ignore them, slap on a spacesuit and cable, and go outside the ship with a huge gun to just take out the threat himself.
  • Dance of Romance: Inverted. It was the fact that his wife never danced (and that they were the only two not dancing at the festival they met in) that made him fall in love with his deceased wife.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His wife, daughter, and half of his people were killed by Ronan on Thanos's orders.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Drax's combination of witty sense of humor and lack of understanding in metaphors can lead to some humorous conversations with the other Guardians.
  • Demoted to Comic Relief: While he is The Comically Serious in the first Guardians film, he still has his serious moments and his goal of getting revenge for his family's death is a major plotline. In Vol. 2 however, he pretty much becomes the team's go-to comic relief character, as a majority of his scenes have him do something funny in whatever scene he's in. Downplayed in Infinity War and Endgame however, where his personality is a solid balance of his personality from both Guardians movies.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Admittedly, he was drunk at the time, but did Drax really think that he could take down Ronan and his entire army by himself?
  • Ditzy Genius: Thanks to being a Comically Serious Cloudcuckoolander, Drax comes off as this despite his extensive vocabulary.
  • The Dreaded: The other prisoners of the Kyln are scared witless by Drax.
  • Dual Wielding: Wields two rather large knives.
  • Dumb Muscle: Drax is a powerhouse of a warrior, but he's also quite dense and foolish which is at times detrimental to the Guardians.
  • Eat the Dog: Drax has eaten a raccoon before (or at least an animal that looked like one) and based on how much he enjoyed it, he probably wouldn't mind doing it again with Rocket. Drax chooses to mention this midway through Rocket's Wire Dilemma with the prison computer.
    Drax: I recognize this creature! We would roast them over a flame pit as children. Their flesh was quite delicious!
    Rocket: NOT HELPING!
  • Enmity with an Object:
    • In his continuing attempts to understand "metaphor" in Vol. 2, Drax at one point screams "DIE, SPACESHIP!" ("Screw you, spaceship!" in the first trailer) while the Milano is being pursued by the Sovereign, despite the spaceship itself being an inanimate object that can in no way hear him.
    • Continues in Infinity War. When the Guardians fight Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man on Titan, Drax ends up fighting the Cloak of Levitation, even screaming "DIE, BLANKET OF DEATH!" at one point. Although unlike the spaceship example above, the Cloak of Levitation is actually sentient.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Drax may be a Literal-Minded simpleton with strong Blood Knight tendencies who tends to be (unintentionally) cold and rude, but it's made clear that he's not a bad person.
    • In Guardians of the Galaxy he's at his most openly hostile, violent and ruthless, but when his arrogance and thirst for revenge against Ronan the Accuser nearly gets everyone on Knowhere killed (even the heroes), he's visibly ashamed and confesses his short-sightedness was due to his immense grief over losing his family. Additionally, he despises Ronan for his brutality and monstrous treatment of innocents.
    • Despite spending much of Vol. 2 insulting Mantis, he's the first one to defend her when Gamora suspects her of deceiving them once Ego starts to show his true colours. He's also visibly horrified when Mantis reveals the bones Gamora and Nebula discovered were those of his own children.
    • He (rightly) considers Thanos a monster for all that he's done and actively fights him and the Black Order in Infinity War and Endgame.
    • Played for Laughs, but even he is shocked by Adolescent Groot's apparent foul language.
    • Vol. 3 shows him every bit as disgusted with the High Evolutionary and all Rocket endured at his hands as everyone else. His usually battle-happy self is dead serious when he and the others corner the High Evolutionary and he wastes no time in giving the man what he deserves. He's also the one to encourage Rocket to kill him once they have him at their mercy.

    F-N 
  • Fading Away: He's among the millions who faded from existence because of Thanos' Badass Fingersnap in Infinity War. He gets better in Endgame.
  • Foil:
    • To Ronan. Both of them are proud and fearsome warriors who seek revenge on those who are responsible for the deaths of their family (Ronan wants to eradicate the Xandarians for killing his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, while Drax wants to kill Ronan for slaughtering his wife and daughter), along with a shared hatred for Thanos. However, Drax relies mainly on his physical strength in combat, while Ronan is a trained military veteran who knows how to fight, and he beats the crap out of Drax without breaking a sweat. When it comes to personality, Drax is open to the opinions of others and can be concerned about the safety of those around him, while Ronan does not even care about what others think of him or if anyone who supports him is in danger. Drax is also able to exact his vengeance by killing Ronan, which in turn prevents Ronan from completing his mission.
    • To Thor. They both hail from a Proud Warrior Race and are The Big Guys of their respective teams (that is until Thor decides to join the Guardians of the Galaxy after the events of Avengers: Endgame), and they both share the mutual desire of killing Thanos since he is responsible for slaughtering their family and half of their people. However, Thor is royalty (until he abdicates his position to Valkyrie) with Asgardian magic on his side while Drax is of a humbler origin who only has superhuman strength, toughness, and his knives to aid him in battle. Thor is able to exact vengeance by beheading Thanos, unlike Drax who became a victim of Thanos's Snap before his resurrection.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish in his Like Brother and Sister friendship with the Responsible Gamora. He also develops this dynamic with Mantis, with him still as the Foolish and her becoming the Responsible.
  • Friend to All Children: Vol. 3 shows that he is very good with children; he's the only one to know the language of the imprisoned alien children in the High Evolutionary's ship and it's shown the entire prison full of kids adore him and want him to play with them. Even Nebula, who rarely has anything good to say about Drax, says that his gift with children is wonderful and he was always meant to be a father.
  • Gentle Giant: He might want to seek revenge for his wife and daughter but to his teammates and everyone, he's kind and literally gentle even though he can unintentionally be rude to them. Exemplified through two instances in Vol. 2, where he tells Mantis that being ugly doesn't mean you are horrible and that anyone will love you for who you are, and as he tenderly holds a tired Baby Groot.
  • Good Is Dumb: Drax isn't very intelligent and is downright dense at his worst, but there's no denying that he's a hero with a good heart.
  • Good Parents:
    • Drax loved and continues to love his deceased wife and daughter. So much that when Mantis uses her Empathy Touch on him when he's thinking of his family, she immediately starts crying. His paternal love is so strong it makes Mantis realize that Ego has none.
    • Interestingly, Drax appears to be the only Guardian with zero hangups regarding his own father. Every winter solstice, Mr. Destroyer would regale the tale of his and Mrs. Destroyer's "conception" of their son, which Drax found beautiful.
  • Has a Type: Drax is a Chubby Chaser. He also likes very stoic women, if his description of what initially attracted him to his wife is any indication.
  • Heartbroken Badass: He lost his wife and daughter to Ronan years ago and now he wants the guy's head on a spike.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Especially in Vol 2., it's hinted that beneath all that muscle and comical stupidity, Drax is fully capable of being not only kind, but wise, almost poetic.
      Mantis: [sadly] I am hideous?
      Drax: You are horrifying to look at, yes! [Mantis looks away like her feelings are hurt] But that's a good thing. When you're ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust.
    • It's been pointed out that Drax's own oddness in many ways works this way — he has almost no insecurities or shame, and expresses his emotions freely, in contrast with Peter, but even more so in contrast with Rocket.
    • As mentioned in Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness below, Drax is quite eloquent and has probably the most advanced vocabulary of all the Guardians, despite his difficulty with metaphors.
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: He's mastered the art of standing so still and making so little noise that he's practically invisible to others. Of course, when he tries demonstrating this to Star-Lord and Gamora, it doesn't work since they're already looking at him.
  • The Hyena: He becomes this in Vol. 2, laughing hysterically at almost anything that is even mildly amusing.
  • Hypocritical Heartwarming: When Nebula calls Gamora weak, stupid, and traitorous, Drax shoots her with a bazooka, claiming no one talks to his friends that way... even though just seconds ago, he referred to Gamora as a "green whore."
  • Hypocritical Humor: When he thinks Mantis is coming onto him in Vol. 2; she's actually trying to warn him about Ego. He describes in extreme detail how utterly repulsive he finds her appearance and how physically ill the mere thought of them mating makes him. When she finally cuts him off by telling him she doesn't find him attractive either, he looks offended and complains that there's no need to get personal.
  • Ice-Cream Koan: Drax attempts to explain to Peter why Gamora doesn't want to date him because there are "those who dance. And those who do not." He unfortunately means this entirely literally, as Peter dances, and Gamora does not.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Fitting his big-and-scary appearance.
  • Idiot Hero: Even more so than Quill. Drax is incredibly dense, constantly (but unintentionally and without malice) making thoughtless statements that insult others, and can be incredibly impulsive, which is very detrimental to his teammates.
  • Immune to Bullets: The The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special reveals that his skin is impervious to traditional human firearms. Several cops open fire on him, only for the bullets to bounce right off and for him to react like he's being tickled.
  • In a Single Bound: He can jump over a tall gate like it is nothing.
  • Informed Ability: He claims that his reflexes are so fast that there's nothing he can't catch, but he's never demonstrated this ability before. Although Drax catches the Yaka arrow as it tries to pierce his throat during Kraglin's experimentation with the fin at the end of Guardians 2; given that it probably appeared at speed and by surprise, Drax would have to have very good reflexes indeed to catch it.
  • Informed Flaw: Despite Rocket describing his species as "completely literal", after a bit of Character Development he starts trying to do things like dismiss Ronan's Sakaaran soldiers as "paper people" and calling Ronan a "puppet" by the end of the film.
  • Innocently Insensitive:
    • He doesn't realize that he's insulting his friends when telling them that they are his friends such as Groot the "dumb tree" and Gamora the "green whore".
    • Played for Laughs in Vol. 2, when he tells Mantis that he finds her hideous. That may seem like a typical case of Brutal Honesty from him, but when he thinks she's coming onto him later he tells her quite earnestly that he was trying to let her down gently by telling her he found her repulsive.
  • Insult Backfire: When Quill tries to compare him to an old woman.
    Drax: I am uncertain about parting ways.
    Quill: God, you're like an old woman.
    Drax: Because I'm wise?
  • Jerkass Realization: After Rocket calls him out for causing a massive amount of trouble in pursuit of his revenge, Drax is ashamed and admits he was focusing so hard on his rage to avoid coming to terms with his grief and hurt from the loss of his family. Thereafter, he agrees to help rescue Quill and Gamora and comes to accept the Guardians as his friends.
  • Kill It Through Its Stomach: In Vol. 2, Drax willingly and jovially leaps into the jaws of the Abilisk on Sovereign after explaining his plan to kill it from the inside. Subverted since the interior of the Abilisk is just as strong as its exterior, and Drax's knives are proven to be just as ineffective. After the Abilisk is slain by Gamora from the outside, Drax is convinced that he is the one who vanquished the beast.
  • Large Ham: Occasionally, but especially when he's drunk, angry, or faced with Ronan.
    Drax: RONAN THE ACCUSER! You killed my wife! You killed my daughter!
  • Leeroy Jenkins: There's a reason why everyone thinks he's a maniac; drunk-dialing your arch-enemy with your location is stupid. Ditto jumping into a monster's mouth to try killing it from the inside.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's big, fast, and strong. Doesn't help him against Ronan.
  • Literal-Minded: According to Rocket, his entire species wears the hat of having no understanding of metaphor or simile. Drax tries to grow out of this after becoming friends with the other Guardians, using phrases like "I think of Sakaarans as paper people", "Finger to the throat means death", and "Ronan was only a puppet". Not that his attempts always work out.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: In Infinity War, Thanos turns him into a statue that falls apart using the Reality Stone when Drax tries to attack him in Knowhere. Fortunately, his body starts to rebuild itself and returns to normal form when Thanos leaves which makes the effects of the Reality Stone wear off.
  • Love at First Sight: With his late wife. He saw her not dancing at a festival where everyone else was dancing and was smitten.
  • Metaphorgotten: He begins attempting to engage in metaphorical language in the back half of the first film and Vol. 2, but unfortunately doesn't quite have a grasp of it yet.
    Drax: Finger to the throat means death. [removes Korath's necessary implants] ... METAPHOR.
  • The Millstone: In Vol. 3, Nebula gives Drax a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, pointing out that he is a liability to the Guardians as he contributes little and his continuous screwups only make things more difficult for the team.
  • Moment Killer: He has a talent for this. Mantis declaring that Peter loves Gamora in Vol. 2 could have been a touching moment had Drax not suddenly roared with laughter and even invited Mantis to read his feelings so she could laugh alongside him. Then in Infinity War we pull away from a passionate kiss between Peter and Gamora... to discover Drax awkwardly standing nearby eating what looks like alien potato sticks.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: To his credit, he quickly realizes his contacting Ronan on Knowhere is a case of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, and is filled with remorse over it.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Being called "Drax the Destroyer" discourages people from screwing with him.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his constant tendency to unintentionally make stupid and insensitive remarks, Drax means no harm with them and is a genuinely caring, gentle, and compassionate person who deeply loves his friends and family.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • He alerts Ronan that the Orb is on Knowhere just so that he can have a shot at killing him. To say that this ends badly is a massive understatement. In his defense, he was quite drunk at the time.
    • Subverted in Infinity War when he nearly ruins the Guardians' plan to sneak up to Thanos on Knowhere, letting his hatred of him for his wife and daughter's deaths get into him. The subversion comes when Mantis is able to knock him out before he can charge and it's revealed that Thanos already knew they were there all along.
  • No Body Left Behind: He's disintegrated along with half the universe after Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • Noodle Incident: We never find out exactly why Drax was incarcerated on the Kyln. Given he's got a fearsome reputation for slaughtering Ronan's loyalists, it was likely to have been quite violent.
  • No Social Skills: Some trappings of this due to his race's Literal-Minded tendencies, which often make him seem exceedingly tactless.
  • Not So Stoic: He has a few moments of dropping his stoicism to point and laugh at Peter in Vol. 2, including a moment where Mantis and Drax start pointing and laughing at Peter after she mentions that she can sense Peter's romantic feelings for Gamora, to Gamora's bemusement. Played for Drama in Infinity War, when despite his Boisterous Bruiser nature, he very much takes the threat of Thanos seriously. He’s nearly in anguished tears when he curses Thanos as a monster, and later, when he's being disintegrated, he can only briefly question Quill in complete and utter fear as he dies.

    O-Y 
  • Oh, No... Not Again!: In Vol. 3, all he can do is utter an exasperated "Oh no" when Mantis uses her powers to make a guard fall in love with him, implying that Mantis has done this trick before.
  • Older Than They Look: Due to being Blipped for five years, Drax is physically five years younger than his actual age.
  • One-Man Army: In the first film, he takes down several guards during the prison escape in Kyln and several of Ronan's henchmen (including Korath) in the final battle.
  • Only in It for the Money: Inverted — he's only with the Guardians (initially) as a means to get revenge on Ronan. When Peter offers him a share of the money they plan to get from selling the artifact, he's actually offended and goes out of his way to say that he doesn't care for it.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: According to Word of Saint Paul, even though Thanos was killed by Iron Man, Drax feels a bit unsatisfied that he didn't get to be the one to kill the guy who ordered the deaths of his family.
  • Only One Name: He only goes by the name "Drax". No other identifiers. "The Destroyer" is a mere title.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He wears a shirt to Tony Stark's funeral out of respect for the man who gave his life to finally defeat Thanos and avenge his long-dead family (and helped engineer his own revival).
  • Outliving One's Offspring: He has a dead daughter. She, along with his dead wife, is the reason why Drax is out for Ronan's blood.
  • Papa Wolf: Drax was a loving father to his daughter Kamaria, and is clearly devastated by her death. He later becomes a father figure to Groot II and Mantis.
  • Parental Sexuality Squick: Inverted. He comes from a culture that finds parents telling their children about their conception to be a wonderful bonding experience. He finds Peter's disgust towards this to be bewildering.
    Drax: It was beautiful. You Earthers have hangups!
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Develops this relationship with Mantis in Vol. 2. He makes it quite clear that, physically, he thinks she's hideous-looking to the point that imagining the two of them mating is enough to make him retch. However, he still values her as a friend and despite both of them being socially awkward, they get along pretty well.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Lampshaded by Mantis when she defends Drax against Nebula's accusation of Drax being The Millstone in Vol. 3:
    Nebula: He's a liability.
    Mantis: He makes us laugh and he loves us. How is that a liability?
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Gets a rather... odd one as he kills Korath.
  • Primary-Color Champion: Drax's body is adorned with red tattoos while the colors of his pants and eyes are blue.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Occasionally. He often laughs mirthfully when he gets into fights, like a kid in a candy store.
  • Punched Across the Room: He lunges at Ronan during their "fight", only to get sent flying with a strike to the chest.
  • Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": Anytime he's either fighting or there's a lot of violence going on around him. What sets Drax apart, however, is how he laughs. Instead of sounding like how most would while reveling in bloodshed, his laugh sounds more like he heard a really funny joke, or he was on an amusement park ride.
  • Red Baron: "The Destroyer". He certainly lives up to his name.
  • Red Is Heroic: Drax is a warrior and a heroic member of the Guardians of the Galaxy with red tattoos marking many parts of his body. He also wears red Ravager pants during the final battle against Ronan.
  • Red Is Violent: Drax has red tattoos across his body and he has a tendency of executing or planning to execute his enemies with brutal methods.
  • Reduced to Dust: He's turned to dust alongside half the universe by Thanos' Badass Fingersnap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. He gets better in Avengers: Endgame.
  • Revenge: His primary motivation throughout the first film. This is what initially pits him against the team, as Gamora being a former assassin to Ronan is a good enough reason for him to kill her, even as she insists that she hates Ronan as much as he does.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Initially, Drax is willing to do a number of rather stupid things to face Ronan in combat. However, rather than learning that Vengeance Feels Empty, Drax instead decides that unreasonable revenge is stupid, and it works rather well for him.
  • Revenge Is Not Justice: In the first Guardians movie. Wanting revenge for your wife and daughter's deaths is all very fine, but he jeapordises the entire team and almost gets Knowhere destroyed by Ronan's forces after drunk-dialing Ronan to call him out for a fight and getting bodied by the Kree. Rocket calls him out on this, saying that him "[having] dead people" doesn't justify getting the rest of them killed in his pursuit of Ronan.
  • Reverse Grip: He alternates between holding his knives normally and like this. He holds it like this when he's planning on stabbing his opponent instead of slashing them.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His wishes to gain vengeance for the death of his family. However, it gets Deconstructed over the course of the first film by showing how someone who obsesses with vengeance can not only cause problems but also make no friends at all. Eventually, Drax realizes this and starts to question his actions. Though after Ronan's death, he still declares that he can't rest until he kills Thanos, the true mastermind of the events that caused his family's deaths.
  • Sad Clown: In Vol. 2, though Drax is more overtly happy and fun-loving, it's made clear during the scene when he reminisces about his dead family with Mantis that he's still deeply traumatized by their loss. While he sits completely stone-faced, Mantis - an empath - completely breaks down into tears from a single touch.
  • Screaming Warrior: Drax roars and laughs his way through combat.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Drax has quite the vocabulary. "Thesaurus" isn't part of it; he's offended when Peter calls him one.
  • Shipping Torpedo: He thinks that Peter and Gamora are not good for each other and tells Peter to stop being interested in her because "She isn't a dancer" like Peter is. He also torpedoes the idea of himself with Mantis — the very idea of them having sex makes him retch.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: He never puts on shirts because his nipples are sensitive but when he does he puts on shirts that are sleeveless.
  • Socially Awkward Hero: He's incredibly inept in social situations, being unable to understand metaphors and constantly making insensitive and weird remarks, but he's genuinely a good guy who cares about his friends and others.
  • Stepford Smiler: Although he's the comic relief, Drax is still deeply haunted by the death of his whole family. When Mantis touches him as he reminisces about his family, she immediately weeps. It may be that Drax simply lacks the ability to cry, but he is actually very sad under his jovial demeanor.
  • The Stoic: Drax is pretty out there for this trope, but he's usually very serious. Unless violence ensues or Ronan (and ultimately Thanos) is involved.
  • Storyboard Body: According to a Deleted Scene, the elaborate tattooing and scarification that covers at least half of Drax's body tell his life story.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: His fondness for his wife is obvious, but he is in awe of Thor and calls him a "handsome, muscular man". Then again, it is Thor.
  • Super-Strength: He's able to match Groot, Ronan, and even go a round with Thanos. He also ripped out Korath's cybernetic implant with his bare hands. In the Holiday Special, he upturns a police car with minimal effort. In Vol. 3 he grapples with and (briefly) overpowers Adam Warlock, tears through the reinforced steel doors of the ArĂȘte and sends the High Evolutionary flying with only one punch.
  • Super-Toughness:
    • He takes a blast of engine exhaust to the chest without injury, and manages to survive being rammed with the Milano (Rocket was trying to hit Ronan, who was choke-throttling Drax at the time), although the latter left him unconscious for a brief time, and he is clearly sore and limping afterward.
    • In the sequel he is dangled out the back of the Milano on a cable during a crash landing through a forest, smashing into trees. He seems to have enjoyed the ride once we see him on the ground.
    • Briefly Played for Laughs in Infinity War, when he's got Iron Man's cannon to his face. Iron Man threatens to open fire on Drax point-blank if Quill shoots Spider-Man, and Drax is unfazed and insists Quill attack, as he claims he can take it. Both Mantis and Strange immediately call him on it, though. Later during the battle on Titan, he takes quite a bit of repeated punishment from Thanos and it's only a direct blast from the Power Stone that takes him out of the fight.
    • Downplayed in Vol. 3 as he manages to survive a powerful energy blast from Adam Warlock and two shots from an energy bazooka-like weapon from the Orgoscope leader. It should be noted that both these instances leave him quite dazed and injured, but he soon makes a full recovery.
  • Taken for Granite: In Infinity War, he gets turned into a statue that falls to pieces by Thanos using the Reality Stone when he tries to charge at him. Thankfully, it's only temporary as he starts to go back to normal after Thanos leaves.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: In many ways, Drax is a deconstruction of this trope and the '90s Anti-Hero archetype. On the surface, he's a shirtless muscle-bound brutal warrior out to avenge his lost family. He's stoic. Or so it seems at first. In reality, Drax expresses his emotions freely, talks about his love for his wife openly, weeps when he's sad and laughs when he's happy. He takes being compared to an old woman a compliment because that means he's wise. He has no shame or hangups.
  • There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Those who dance and those who don't dance, literally, according to him.
  • Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: While fighting off guards at the Kyln, he takes down one guard, picks up his gun, and throws it at another guard, knocking him out.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness: In Vol. 2, Drax is much more lively, laughing a lot, pulling practical jokes, and reveling in action even more than he already did. Seeing as how he's already helped kill Ronan, the man who actually slew his family, he has technically avenged them directly already, which would explain why he's more carefree — Thanos is still his ultimate goal, but Thanos is a bonus and he's already completed his primary quest.
  • Took a Level in Dumbass: All his appearances after the first movie. He goes from Literal-Minded to straight-up stupid, reaching near-Ralph Wiggum levels by Infinity War when he literally assumes people can't see him if he doesn't move.
  • Underequipped Charge: Could almost be his Signature Move, as he routinely attacks much more powerful enemies with just his strength and his daggers.
  • Unknown Rival:
    • Considers Ronan as his Arch-Enemy. Ronan has no time for him, beats Drax half to death without breaking a sweat, and takes quite a while to remember exactly why Drax hates him.
    • Likewise with Thanos. The mere sight of Thanos makes Drax's blood boil. Thanos doesn't even raise an eyebrow at him or even say a word to him.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Drax relies mainly on his brute strength, toughness, and rage to overwhelm his opponents. These traits are not exactly helpful in his one-on-one fight with Ronan the Accuser, who displays more combat experience than Drax does.
  • Use Your Head: During his fight with the Kyln's guards, he knocks one of them out with a head but.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds:
    • He doesn't really understand the Vitriolic part and blithely muses that the Guardians are now his friends even as he continues to bluntly insult them. He follows up the below by blowing Nebula away when she starts insulting Gamora.
      Drax: You, Quill, are my friend.
      Peter: Thanks.
      Drax: This dumb tree, he is my friend. [Groot grunts] And this green whore, she too—
      Gamora: Oh, you must stop!
    • Continues in Vol. 2, telling Peter that he and Gamora are just too different and that Peter needs to find a woman who is like him—pathetic. Later, while he freely admits that he finds Mantis physically repulsive, he does form a good friendship with her. Again, he isn't being mean, he's just incredibly blunt.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene:
    • Much like in the comics, Drax is never seen wearing a shirt. He's even seen during the group's Lock-and-Load Montage outright throwing his team jacket away, choosing to wear only the pants. James Gunn reportedly wrote that Drax never wears a top because he has sensitive nipples... and that became the excuse for why he hates to wear the jetpacks in Vol. 2. In a Brick Joke, when he's forced to use a jetpack, he screams in pain from it chafing his nipples as it launches him skywards.
    • One notable exception is shown at the end of Endgame, as Drax thinks so highly of Tony Stark at his funeral that he puts on a shirt to show respect to him.
    • Averted by the time of Holiday Special and Vol. 3. Drax wears an ugly Christmas sweater in the Holiday Special, presumably due to Earth's cold winters and because it's festive. By the time of Vol. 3, Drax is shown wearing outfits that cover his entire top half. Guess his nipples weren't all that sensitive after all.
  • Wasn't That Fun?:
    • After he, Peter, and Gamora make a fiery crash of an entrance onto the Dark Aster, he treats the whole thing like he's on a roller-coaster ride.
    • In Vol. 2, he has a similar response to being dangled out of the back of the Milano while it goes through re-entry, and being crashed violently through several trees.
  • When He Smiles: He's usually pretty stoic, but when something really makes him happy or laugh his whole face lights up like a Christmas tree. This is much more prevalent in Vol. 2.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The murder of Drax's family drives him to hunt Ronan and destroy anything that gets in his way. After being defeated and nearly killed by Ronan, Drax even admits that his rage only exists to cover the pain of his loss.
  • The Worf Effect: Drax has been established as a huge badass, but Ronan throws him around like a ragdoll and makes short work of him to show just how much of a threat the Accuser is.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He would've taken out Gamora had Peter not intervened, and he would later blow Nebula away with a bazooka.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: He is commonly seen fighting like a wrestler when he uses hand-to-hand combat, particularly during the prison break. Being played by a real-life wrestler probably has something to do with it.
  • You Can See Me?: In Avengers: Infinity War, he is convinced that he learned the art of being invisible. A shame the fellow Guardians don't share his conviction.
  • You Killed My Father: His motivation for wanting revenge against Ronan, who killed his wife and daughter.
  • Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Probably as a byproduct of their Brutal Honesty and inability to understand metaphors, his culture doesn't seem to have sexual taboos. When he tells Peter how he met his wife it swiftly goes into Too Much Information territory, and his father told him how he was conceived every winter solstice, which Drax remembers fondly and thinks Peter is prudish for being squicked by it.

Variants

    Ravager T'Challa's Drax 

Drax the Destroyer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/draxwhatif2.png
"You are the Star-Lord. You saved my home world from a Kree invasion."

Species: Unknown

Affiliation(s): Iron Lotus

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-21818, Drax's planet and family were saved from Ronan by T'Challa.


  • Adaptational Angst Downgrade: The only version of Drax who didn't suffer some sort of tragedy and gets a happy ending with his family.
  • Adaptational Job Change: Instead of being a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, he's a simple bartender in this timeline.
  • The Cameo: He makes a brief cameo in the beginning of the episode where he takes a selfie with T'Challa and thanks him for saving his home planet and family from a Kree invasion.
  • Demoted to Extra: He's reduced to making only a brief appearance as a bartender, who thanks T'Challa for saving his family and planet and takes a selfie with him.
  • Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Because the Guardians never formed in this universe, he's just a random bartender in this universe.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Thanks to T'Challa, his wife and daughter were never murdered by Ronan and he himself was never snapped away by Thanos years later.

    Party Thor's Drax 

Drax the Destroyer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fcd5683e_bb24_4a42_a610_e4c820745076.jpeg

Species: Unknown

Voiced By: Fred Tatasciore

Appearances: What If...?

On Earth-72124, Drax comes to Midgard to participate in Thor's planet-wide party.


  • Captain Obvious: After Volstagg uses a water jetpack and crashes into a fountain, he yells "Volstagg has crashed!"
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: He throws up behind Thor while he's talking to Loki.

    Infinity Ultron's Drax 

Drax the Destroyer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/894e59ec_6fb4_4d22_8665_d319083268a7.jpeg

Species: Unknown

Affiliation(s): Guardians of the Galaxy

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

The Drax of Earth-29929, who is killed during Ultron's genocidal quest for peace.


  • Dead Alternate Counterpart: He's killed alongside his fellow Guardians by a mass of Ultron Sentries, making him this to his Sacred Timeline, Ravager T'Challa, and Party Thor counterparts.
  • Death by Adaptation: He gets killed by a wave of Ultron Sentries in this timeline. His Sacred Timeline counterpart has died before but came Back from the Dead, but this Drax is gone for good.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: He and the other Guardians continue to fight the Ultron Sentries despite being completely and utterly outnumbered.
  • The Voiceless: He doesn't have any lines in his brief appearance.

"Finger to the throat means death!"

Alternative Title(s): MCU Drax The Destroyer

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