Somehow, some way, Drax the Destroyer became one of the most beloved characters in Guardians of the Galaxy. His inability to understand sarcasm and his blunt delivery made for great comedic moments, but his conviction to avenge his family showed an emotional side that fans could sympathize with.
However, Drax is not without faults. More often than not, his actions and even his back story leave people trying, but failing to connect the dots.
In the comic books, Drax is originally a human and only became an alien being after Kronos took his spirit and placed it in a powerful body made to eventually destroy Thanos. Where is that mentioned in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies?
One of Drax’s best quality is his lack of understanding of sarcasm and metaphors but every now and then he seems to get sarcastic jokes without a problem. Is he completely literal or is he slowly learning?
We get it. There is a lot going on in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. New characters are introduced left and right with charged back stories and individual agendas. It’s hard to keep up with every single one of them and get everything a hundred percent right. Maybe it can be blamed on the writers or the lack of uber attention to detail.
The result, however, is inconsistency in character traits. Drax may be one of the best Guardians but his story isn’t devoid of plot holes.
Here are 20 Things That Make No Sense About Drax The Destroyer.
He is not completely literal
One of Drax’s most unique and charming qualities is that he understands everything in a literal sense. There is no room for metaphors or sarcasm. He will not understand subtext. Thanks to this quality, Drax has a lot of hilarious moment.
Sometimes Drax seems to understand subtext - whenever it’s convenient for the writers.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill says they have a chance to “give a s—,” which would have been a perfect moment for Dave Bautista’s character so say something hilarious about literally giving feces. That doesn’t happen.
It’s impossible to tell if Drax has the capability of learning analogies or if the writers missed the mark on this one.
Does he understand gestures?
It’s been established that Drax the Destroyer is a literal being. But doesn’t he understand gestures? If someone flips him the bird, would he not understand that’s an insult?
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill tries to convince Drax to let go of Gamora, suggesting he can finally get his revenge on Ronan. That’s when he draws his finger across his throat. As a reply to this suggestion, Drax says “Why would I put my finger on his throat”
Sure, he is literal but that’s a pretty universal gesture for slaying someone. While it is comprehensible that Drax will understand things literally through dialogue, it is not explained if he can understand body language or gestures.
His attack on gamora
Drax is a simple being. When he first encounters Gamora in Kyln, he wants to end heer because she is famously known to work for Ronan and her father, Thanos. Instead of strategizing, Drax basically loses his mind anytime Ronan and Thanos are mentioned. What does he decide to do? End Gamora’s life.
How would that have helped him? She might be connected to Ronan but getting rid of her doesn’t bring Drax any closer to completing his revenge.
Instead, he should have questioned her about Ronan’s whereabouts or used her against Ronan.
It didn’t really occur to him. Thankfully, Peter Quill intervenes in the middle of his monologue and convinced him to save Gamora.
He is terrible at strategizing
Drax leaps before he looks. It makes him adorable and amps up the comedy in every scene he is in. On the other hand, his horrible strategies make for a pretty awful guardian.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, when they are waiting in Knowhere to meet the buyer of the orb, Drax immediately summons Ronan and challenges him to a fight.
Instead of laying low and consulting it with his semi-friends, Drax just goes in guns blazing and puts everyone at risk.
In the funky intro to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Drax thinks the best way finish off the thick-skinned monster is by cutting it from the inside. It is immediately explained skin is just as thick from the inside and Drax would have known that, if he had stopped for two seconds to think.
He needs a lot of saving
After he gets swallowed up by the galactic monster, the only reason Drax comes out is because Gamora slashes the monster open. Without her, Drax would have been a savory blue snack.
In Vol 1, when he summons Ronan and fights him without any plan or strategy, Ronan throws him into a pool of an unidentified yellow liquid and leaves Drax to his ate. After an epic fight in Knowhere where Ronan and Nebula retrieve the orb, Drax only survives because Groot remembers Drax is a friend and saves him from the mysterious liquid.
If it weren’t for Groot, Drax would not have made it to Vol 2, much less Infinity War.
Ronan doesn’t make sure he destroys Drax
Ronan the Accuser is doing his best in Vol 1 to look capable in the eyes of Thanos. Sure, he lost the orb and Gamora betrays Thanos under Ronan’s watch, but he could still turn it around. In the grand scheme of things, an unknown like Drax is just a small task to take care of in Ronan’s list.
Even though Ronan doesn’t remember Drax or when he slayed his family, Drax presents himself as a threat. So, why doesn’t Ronan finish the job properly when he had the opportunity?
Drax has proven to be reckless and without strategy.
It shouldn’t have taken Ronan that much more effort to make sure he succeeded in finishing him off.
Alas, he doesn’t. He throws him into the yellow liquid and assumes the job is done.
Drax is literal but not stupid
The Guardians of the Galaxy movies have made a point to show us Drax is literal and does not comprehend nuances. But is he plain dumb? The writers can’t seem to make up their minds.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Peter Quill discovers his biological father is Ego, a godlike Celestial. Upon hearing this information, Drax is surprised to find out Yondu is not Peter’s real father, even pointing out they look exactly alike. To this, Rocket exclaims “One is blue!”
Maybe the writers wanted to make clear the dynamic between Peter and Yondu but it makes no sense for Drax to believe they are related unless he is color-blind.
They do not look alike and they have been chasing each other too long for Drax not to know the whole story.
Why does Groot stop dancing in front of Drax?
It is never explained why Groot appears to be shy about dancing in front of Drax. At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Baby Groot sprouts and begins dancing to I Want You Back but immediately pauses whenever Drax looks in his direction.
The same thing occurs in the inter-dimensional beast scene in the beginning of Vol 2. Baby Groot dances all around the platform until Drax is nearby. He immediately freezes.
Does Drax despise dancing? It is never explained.
Apparently there is a missing piece to the puzzle in the form of a deleted scene from Vol 1. But the fans are not psychic and there is no official explanation as to why Drax shouldn’t witness Groot’s moves.
His powers are not defined
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax’s powers are never fully explained. His size is intimidating and he seems to never lost his life, no matter what hits him, but it is never really explained if he has any other abilities aside from being built like a tank. Oh yes! He also has knives.
In the comic books, Drax has additional powers because he was built as a weapon to take down one of the Universe’s most terrible villains. He also has the ability to fly and shoot beams from his hands.
The movies settles for Drax to be the giant strong team member but even then, he’ not very useful. His most unique ability must be his durability.
He loses his life way too much
In superhero stories, heroes losing their lives doesn’t mean they won’t return at some point. For Drax, though, perishing and coming back to life is pretty much his modus operandi.
His first rebirth occurs when his spirit is placed into the alien body everyone knows him for. Drax used to be human but he was created by Kronos as we know him in order to stop Thanos.
His first real demise from battle occurs in Avengers #220 and he is resurrected in Silver Surfer #35. He later perishes again in Drax the Destroyer #2 but is reborn in the following issues.
This cycle continues until he becomes part of Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers Assemble but nobody explains his previous resurrection.
But he doesn’t perish when it seems obvious
It’s uncertain what force will ever destroy Drax in the movies. He’s fought superior galactic beings, lost battles in very embarrassing manners, yet he always manages to survive. He seems to take a punch like a champ and his skin is allegedly impenetrable. So what could ever take Drax down?
Simple things should do the trick, like hitting a thousand trees while dangling from the back of a spaceship that’s going at a ridiculous speed while crash landing. Yeah. That should finish off anyone, even any character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe - but no.
When the Sovereign are chasing after the Guardians, because Rocket stole their batteries, Drax survives the crash landing, even though he took out half a forest with his body.
He is bad at his one job
Drax has only one mission, to destroy Thanos and avenge his family’s destruction. He goes about this pretty haphazardly.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, when he finally has a way to get to Ronan, Thanos’s right-hand man, he immediately wishes to eliminate Gamora instead of using her to get to them. When the gang goes to Knowhere, Drax summons Ronan and attacks without any strategy. When he faces Ronan a second time, knowing full-well a frontal attack won’t work, he just goes for it anyway.
Even in Avengers: Infinity Wars, when he is finally face-to-face with Thanos, he still can’t get the job done.
To be fair, no one was capable of stopping Thanos at that point. However, considering how long Drax has been waiting for his revenge, did he never stop to think how he would execute it?
Why does he think he is invisible?
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Drax appears out of nowhere to Peter in two occasions. The first time is in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 when Drax lets Peter know Gamora is not the one for him.
The second time is in Avengers: Infinity War, once again after Gamora and Peter share a private conversation. This time, though, it appears Drax was there from the beginning but they didn’t see him because he stays so still, he is practically invisible. Or at least he thinks so.
Considering Drax’s literal mind and zero ability to take guff from anyone, does he truly believe he is invisible?
While funny, the scene feels manufactured by the writers to get a comic relief from an emotional scene. It makes no sense for the character.
He used to be human
In the comics, Drax the Destroyer didn’t always look like the big musclebound alien we all know. In fact, Drax used to be human before Thanos showed up and changed his life forever.
His real name was Arthur Douglas and he was a real estate agent with a wife and daughter. One day, while driving through the Mojave Desert, Drax and his family encountered Thanos’s spaceship. That’s when Thanos destroyed Drax and his family. Drax’s mind was saved and placed into a much more powerful alien body with the sole purpose of fighting off Thanos one day.
In the movies, it is unclear if Arthur Douglas ever existed, as Drax only recounts tales from his alien past.
Maybe the writers simply wrote him as an alien and his entire human past will not be included. Does that mean Drax won’t be such a key player in stopping Thanos?
Drax destroys Thanos pretty easily
If anything can be said about Drax it is that he never gives up. Call it perseverance or plain stupidity, but he will not stop until he avenges his family by destroying Thanos.
In the comics, after more than thirty years of perishing and resurrecting, and perishin g and resurrecting again, Drax finally ends Thanos but in the most inopportune moment. In Annhilation #4, Thanos was trying to save the galaxy from the villain Annihilus. He was doing a pretty swell job until Drax got in the way with his vendetta. That definitely sounds like Drax.
Thanos does come back to life – shocker - and takes his new revenge on Drax in Thanos Imperative #4.
His look constantly changes in the comics
Fans have come to know and love Drax as he is portrayed by the impossibly fit Dave Bautista, with a greyish-blue skin tone and red textured details across his upper body. He looks very different in the comic books.
Drax has predominantly been portrayed as green in the comics, with red designs that look very different from the ones in the movie.
He has also sported a purple cape and pants, looking like a green, menacing genie.
It’s assumed they changed his entire look for the movie so his color palette would not clash with Gamora’s, but it’s never really explained why his look changes so much in the comics. Maybe it has something to do with all of those rebirths.
He understands winking
If Drax doesn’t understand the subtext of gestures, how does he understand winking?
In the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Rocket is trying to set up the sound system so Peter can hear music while they destroy the monster. Drax thinks it’s a waste of time and Peter agrees. Rocket also agrees but immediately winks at Peter, signaling they are lying to Drax. Drax then responds “I can clearly see you winking,” meaning he understands the wink.
Is he literal or not? If the writers were true to that characteristic, Drax would have asked if Rocket has something in his eye or if he suddenly developed a tic. He would not have understood that winking signaled they meant something completely different from what they were saying.
His daughter is alive
In the comics, Drax discoverss his daughter, Heather, is still alive. Taken by Mentor, Thanos’s father, Heather was raised in Titan and becomes Moondragon, a super human with psionic powers.
In the movies, Drax mentions Mantis reminds him of his daughter because she is just as innocent. Mantis then touches Drax and feels his sadness and longing for his daughter. This could be a great way to indicate we might see Moondragon in the upcoming Guardians movies. However, the MCU has not foreshadowed her existence in any way.
Sure, Thanos has adopted several daughters from all the races he has destroyed, but there is no mention of a third daughter.
However, there is still the possibility the writers will cram her in at some point in order to create a twist in Drax’s storyline.
He weighs over 1,000 pounds in the comics
Drax goes through a lot of physical changes in the comics, some which are never fully explained. Drax has always been portrayed as larger than average and with more physical strength than most. At his largest, however, Drax the Destroyer was over seven feet tall and weighed over a thousand pounds. That’s a lot of Drax.
Again, it is very common for unique characteristics to change over the years in the comic books, considering different authors and artists design the character as they wish, but there are never many explanations as to why Drax changes so much.
MCU’s Drax definitely doesn’t seem that heavy.
His plan to protect the Infinity Stone
The meaning and purpose of the Infinity Stones has been slowly revealed throughout several Marvel Universe movies. However, Drax has a bigger history with the Stones in the comics. He belonged to the Infinity Watch, a group of heroes selected to protect the gems.
Drax was selected to protect one of the Stones but he mistook it for a jelly bean and swallowed it.
Even though it was a mistake, Drax truly believes it is the best way to protect the Stone since no one can get to it.
Not to get into too many details but, wouldn’t it eventually pass through his system? This plan works for only a few hours. It just goes to show that, once again, Drax is not a great strategist or a deep thinker. Bless his literal soul.
What else doesn’t make sense about Drax from The Guardians of the Galaxy? Let us know in the comments!
