| Drax the Destroyer | |
|---|---|
 Textless cover ofDrax #1 (November 2015). Art by Scott Hepburn and Matt Milla. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973) |
| Created by | Jim Starlin |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arthur Sampson Douglas |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Place of origin | Burbank, California |
| Team affiliations | Guardians of the Galaxy Infinity Watch Legion of the Unliving Phalanx Secret Defenders United Front Nova Corps |
| Abilities |
|
Drax the Destroyer (Arthur Sampson Douglas) is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created byJim Starlin, the character first appeared inThe Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973).
The character's origin story relates that Arthur Douglas was a human whose family was attacked and killed by thesupervillainThanos. Needing a champion to combat Thanos, the being known as Kronos took Arthur's spirit and placed it in a powerful new body, and Drax the Destroyer was born. Drax's powers included enhanced strength and resilience, flight, and the ability to project energy blasts from his hands. The character often battled Thanos, and on occasion thesuperheroesCaptain Marvel andAdam Warlock. He was also a member of the group known as theInfinity Watch.
In 2004, the character lost his flight and energy blasts, and a portion of his strength and resilience. This version of the character played a role in thecrossover comic book storylines "Annihilation" and "Annihilation: Conquest", and became a member of the relaunchedGuardians of the Galaxy.
Drax has been featured in a variety of associated Marvel merchandise, includinganimatedtelevision series, action figures, andvideo games.Dave Bautista portrayedthe character in theMarvel Cinematic Universe filmsGuardians of the Galaxy (2014),Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017),Avengers: Infinity War (2018),Avengers: Endgame (2019),Thor: Love and Thunder,The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (both 2022) andGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Drax also appears in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...? (2021).
Starlin commented on the character's creation stating "In the beginning, Drax was versatile, because I didn't know what the hell to do with him," Starlin confessed. "He was an element; he was supposed to beThanos'Kryptonite. I sort of drifted away from that idea, and when I came back to using him, I made a big change in him. I brain-damaged him and made him into theHulk, because Marvel didn't have a dumb green thing at the time, and I thought they should. And so I sort of made him like that. Later on they wanted to change his visuals, which I had no problem with because I was never crazy about that costume. It didn't make a lot of sense. I wasn't invested enough in the character to go back and do anything more with it."[1]
Starlin later commented in an interview that "I ripped off my own costume, I redesignedDr. Weird's costume at Texas Trio and pretty much just used it as Drax's costume, Drax was going to be Thanos's kryptonite that's why he was green."[2]
Drax first appeared inThe Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973), and was created byJim Starlin with the help of writerMike Friedrich. He had a recurring role inCaptain Marvel, beginning with issue #27 (July 1973). He also appeared inWarlock #10 (December 1975),Iron Man #88 (July 1976),Warlock #15 (November 1976),Logan's Run #6 (June 1977),Thor #314 (December 1981), andAvengers #219 (May 1982), before being killed byMoondragon inThe Avengers #220 (June 1982).
Starlin resurrected Drax inSilver Surfer vol. 3 #35 (1990), and he had a recurring role until issue 50. After appearing inThe Infinity Gauntlet #1–6 (1991), he was featured inWarlock and the Infinity Watch #1–42 (1992–1995) as a member of the titular team, theInfinity Watch. The character reappeared inWarlock vol. 3 #1–4 (1998–1999) andCaptain Marvel vol. 4 #4–6 (2001).
Drax received an eponymous 4 issue miniseries in 2004, and was a starring character inAnnihilation:Nova #1–4 (2005) andAnnihilation #1–6 (2006). After a follow-up appearance inNova vol. 4 #4–7 (2007) and the 2008 "Annihilation: Conquest" storyline, he was featured as a team member in the 2008 relaunch ofGuardians of the Galaxy, and appeared in the 25 issue series of the same name. The character had a small role inThe Thanos Imperative #1–3 (2010), in which he was killed.
The character reappeared inAvengers Assemble issues #4–8 (June–October 2012), with no reference to his death. He then starred inGuardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, a part of theMarvel NOW! relaunch.[3]
While driving through a desert with his wife and daughter, Arthur Douglas' car is attacked by a spaceship piloted byThanos, who thinks the humans have seen him.[4] His daughter, Heather, survives the crash and is adopted by Thanos' father,Mentor, and raised onTitan. She later becomesMoondragon.[5]
Needing a champion to combat the threat from Thanos, Mentor and his fatherKronos capture Douglas' spirit and place it in a powerful new body. He is rechristened "Drax the Destroyer", and his sole purpose is to kill Thanos.[6] WithIron Man, Drax battles Thanos and theBlood Brothers,[7] but Thanos escapes. While trying to prevent Thanos from getting theCosmic Cube,[8] Drax's memories are restored to him.[4] After seeingCaptain Marvel defeat Thanos,[9] Drax attacks Captain Marvel for robbing him of his purpose.[10] Drax wanders space in grim contemplation, searching for a resurrected Thanos. By the time he learns that Thanos had managed to rematerialize himself, Thanos has once again been destroyed in battle with Captain Marvel,the Avengers, andAdam Warlock.[11][12] Alongside Captain Marvel, Drax battlesISAAC, Stellarax, Lord Gaea,Elysius, and Chaos.[13][14]
Some time later, Drax, possessed by an alien entity, battles his daughter Moondragon and the superheroThor. After Drax recovers, he and Moondragon journey through space in search of knowledge.[15] Eventually, they come upon the planet Ba-Banis, a world of humanoid aliens caught in a vast civil war. Moondragon uses her mental powers to quell the conflict and then decides to set herself up as the world's goddess. Drax recognizes that her ambitions are ignoble and so sends their ship to Earth with a holographic distress message. The Avengers respond and discover Moondragon's world of mentally enforced tranquility.[16] Freed by the Avengers from his daughter's mental domination, Drax advances toward her, seeking to end her menace. To stop him, Moondragon mentally forces Drax's life essence to vacate his artificial body.[17]
When Thanos is resurrected byMistress Death, Kronos reanimates the Destroyer and grants him increased physical power.[18] However, Kronos does not consider the effects of Drax's death, and the Destroyer's mind retains the damage done by Moondragon. Alongside a multitude of other heroes, Drax helps battle Thanos andNebula for possession of theInfinity Gauntlet.[19] Drax is chosen byAdam Warlock to safeguard thePower Gem as part of theInfinity Watch.[20]
After the energy vampire Rune steals the gems,[21] the Watch members go their separate ways.[22] Drax returns to Titan with Moondragon, who successfully petitions Kronos to restore Drax's mind to its former acuity at the cost of some physical power. Thus, Drax is restored to his original condition.[23] Drax is accused of the murder ofElysius and several others, but is cleared when it is discovered that the creature Syphon was manipulating him.[24] While seeking out Moondragon, Drax enters into an altercation withGenis-Vell.[25] In the course of this struggle, Drax is transported to theMicroverse with Genis, where, for a time, he finds acceptance and happiness on the planetK'ai.[26]
Later, Drax is seen on a prison transport ship withPaibok,Lunatik, and theBlood Brothers. The ship crashes in Alaska, and Drax attacks the others to keep them from harming innocent lives.[27] He mistakes a young girl named Cammi for his daughter, and tries to protect her from Paibok. Drax appears to be killed, but a slimmer, smarter Drax emerges from the larger shell of the dead body.[28] When a second prison ship arrives to recapture the prisoners, both Drax and Cammi are arrested.[29]
SurvivingAnnihilus' attack on the intergalactic prison known as theKyln, Drax and Cammi team up with the last member of the XandarianNova Corps,Richard Rider. Together they fight against the advancing Annihilation Wave as Drax trains Nova to be a warrior.[30] Drax learns that Thanos has taken Moondragon hostage, and that she will be killed if Drax pursues him.[31] During a doomed battle between the Annihilation Wave and theUnited Front, Drax stays behind to fight off the invaders whileNova and the rest of the group (including Cammi) finish the evacuation.[32] Drax fights his way to the Annihilation Wave's mother ship, where he finds Thanos and kills him. Drax helps to free a captiveGalactus, who teleports Moondragon and Drax to a far-off planet to spare them from his wrath on the Annihilation Wave.[33] Afterwards, Moondragon says Drax just "disappeared". Cammi is later seen, alive, allied with Skreet,[34] one of Thanos' powerful, miniature assistants.[35]
When thePhalanx invade theKree home-world, Drax is assimilated as a "select" of the Phalanx hive mind. They dispatch him, along withGamora, to apprehend Nova, who had fled the planet.[36] Following Nova to Kvch, the home planet theTechnarchy (parental race of the Phalanx), Drax and Gamora are freed from the Phalanx by the Technarch Tyro. Together they return to Hala where they help in the defeat ofUltron.[37]
Star-Lord recruits Drax for the newGuardians of the Galaxy.[38] The Guardians are forced to ally themselves with a resurrected Thanos and travel into an alternate reality known as the "Cancerverse".[39] While experiencing a bout of madness, Drax attacks Thanos and is killed.[40] Drax later reappears with the Guardians on Earth without reference to his death.[41][42]
Drax's initial incarnation's powers included superhuman strength, stamina and resistance to physical injury as well the ability to project concussive blasts of cosmic energy from his hands. He could also travel at high speeds inouter space andhyperspace without air, food, or water. Drax also had telepathy,[43] having used it to engageThanos in a psychic battle and stalemating him mind to mind.[44]
After his resurrection, his physical capabilities are greatly enhanced beyond their original levels but he suffered severe mental disability in his new incarnation.[18] Instead of his telepathy which enabled him to track Thanos across vast distances, he now possessed the ability to sense either him or other beings who have been in recent contact with Thanos, alongside a precognitive ability to sense when beings will be in contact with Thanos in the near future. For a time, Drax possessed thePower Gem that had the potential to grant him superhuman physical and energy manipulation powers with no feasible limit. However, because of his severely-reduced intellect, he lacked the mental capacity and imagination to use the gem for anything other than bolstering his physical strength. While possessing the gem, Drax's strength has been compared[who?] with that of the merged incarnation of theHulk, but lacking the latter's rage-fueled potential.[citation needed]
Just prior to the 2006 "Annihilation" mini-series and continuing through the present, Drax undergoes a physical change, resulting in a much-smaller physical form, reduced physical abilities comparable to those of his original form, and the loss of his energy projection, flight and most of his psionic abilities.[28] However, his intellect has returned to its original level, and he has taken a liking to using knives in battle.[29][30] At least temporarily, he had the ability to pass through Thanos's force field; his power levels seem to increase the closer he is to Thanos.[45] He could also heal at an accelerated rate and had senses sharp enough to tell humans from aliens by smell,[46] root out aSkrull in disguise, and detect when energy weapons were about to go off.[47]
Drax the Destroyer appears in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, portrayed byDave Bautista. He first appears in the live-action filmGuardians of the Galaxy (2014)[50] before making subsequent appearances in the live-action filmsGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017),[51][52]Avengers: Infinity War (2018),[53]Avengers: Endgame (2019),[54]Thor: Love and Thunder (2022),[55] andGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).[56] Additionally, Bautista reprises his role inThe Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)[57] while an alternate timeline version of Drax appears in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...?, voiced byFred Tatasciore.[58][59][48]
| Title | Material Collected | Publication Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drax: Guardian of the Galaxy | Iron Man (vol. 1) #55;Captain Marvel (vol. 2) #27-33, #43-44, #58-62;Warlock (vol. 1) #15;Marvel Spotlight (vol. 2) #1-2;Avengers (vol. 1) #219-220; material fromLogan's Run #6; Thor (vol. 1) #314 andMarvel Graphic Novel #1 | August 2016 | 978-1302902131 |
| Drax the Destroyer: Earthfall | Drax: The Destroyer #1-4 | March 2006 | 978-0785118060 |
| Drax Vol. 1: Galaxy's Best Detective | Drax #1-5 | May 2016 | 978-0785196624 |
| Drax Vol. 2: The Children's Crusade | Drax #6-11 | November 2016 | 978-0785196631 |
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