GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Concept Art Reveals How AQUAMAN's Jason Momoa Looked As Drax

Before Dave Bautista was cast as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, Jason Momoa was at the top of Marvel Studios' list and this artwork shows what the Aquaman star would have looked like as The Destroyer.

By JoshWilding - Jan 07, 2019 02:01 AM EST

Filed Under: Guardians of the Galaxy

Way back when Marvel Studios was finding its cast for James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa was named the frontrunner to take on the role of Drax.

At the time, it was reported that the actor wanted too much money and it was that which led Marvel to instead choose Dave Bautista to play the character. In 2014, Momoa said it was his decision to pass on Drax and it boiled down to him having played a very similar character in Stargate: Atlantis.

Whatever the reason may have been, things worked out well for Momoa because he would later be cast as Arthur Curry in the DC Extended Universe, and Aquaman will have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office by this weekend.

Now, Marvel Studios concept artist Charlie Wen has shared some concept art which shows what the Justice League star would have looked like as Drax. It's pretty different, right? Needless to say, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Bautista playing the hero at this point but one also has to wonder what might have been had things played out slightly differently...

View this post on Instagram

Jason Momoa was almost Drax (before his #aquaman days;)! He also had a great audition that deftly displayed his toughness and double blades handles. But in short, Bautista was definitely the right choice— he had a perfect blend of natural quirk and braun😜. * This was an early sketch to explore the prospect of Momoa taking on the character. * The comicbook version was extremely close to another character that I designed called Kratos for #godofwar , so...I tried to steer Drax clear of it. @justinjsweet did the super cool final concept design for Drax! * * * * * #cinema #MarvelStudios #guardiansofthegalaxy #drax #JasonMomoa #charliewen #bts #moviemaking #filmmaking #filmcasting #conceptart #casting #marvel #castingcall #actor #characterdesign @prideofgypsies

A post shared by Charlie Wen (@imcharliewen) on
Jan 6, 2019 at 12:58pm PST

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41 Comments

1 2

Fogs - 1/7/2019, 2:21 AM

Old

Manmarvel - 1/7/2019, 2:31 AM

I didn't know this though. Glad we got who we got but now wish we will ever get gorg3 as it should have been.

L0RDbuckethead - 1/7/2019, 2:31 AM

Kyos - 1/7/2019, 3:05 AM

GOTG is such a sad topic these days. Thanks, Mr. Horn and Mr. Iger...

bkmeijer2 - 1/7/2019, 3:11 AM

Jason mamoa without his glorious hair? Hard pass!

blitzburgh - 1/7/2019, 3:31 AM

I would say things worked out great for both of these guys and I couldn't see them in different roles

dracula - 1/7/2019, 4:26 AM

Momoa didnt loose out, he went onto better things

case - 1/7/2019, 4:28 AM

I reeeally thought he'd made the wrong decision at the time.

JK - 1/7/2019, 8:24 AM

@case -
Marvel did right by letting DC have him

case - 1/7/2019, 2:05 PM

@JK - whatevs! They didn't pony up so he turned them down.

JK - 1/7/2019, 4:09 PM

@case - dirtbags aren’t worth a wooden nickel!!!
He’s
Sooooooo
Scrowngy

case - 1/8/2019, 7:08 AM

@JK - a billion bucks sez otherwise. Dirtbags are fine. Az.

JK - 1/9/2019, 4:05 PM

@case - did u call me an ass n junk?!??

case - 1/21/2019, 5:47 AM

@JK - No! “Az” az in “I’m holidaying in New Zealand and uts sweet az”

case - 1/21/2019, 5:47 AM

Which is also a true story.

JK - 1/21/2019, 10:48 AM

@case - if your in new zealnd where tf is old zealand???? See these are the questions that haunt me

dainaron - 1/7/2019, 4:53 AM

I'm so glad Jason decided to do Arthur Curry instead but what I like about this concept art is the design is more comic book accurate.

SpideyPuffsMJ - 1/7/2019, 5:58 AM

In his younger days when he was a bit smaller, he would have honestly made a great Geralt for that Witcher series on Netflix. Much better than Cavill lol.

TheUnknownX - 1/7/2019, 7:04 AM

Would've loved Momoa to play Warpath. Glad he's doing well as Arthur Curry though.

sKeemAn - 1/7/2019, 7:13 AM

It works out. he made more money playing a lead character.

JK - 1/7/2019, 8:25 AM

Momoa best roll ever was GOT and only cuz he didn’t speak

bigdannymac - 1/7/2019, 8:58 AM

Momoa was FANTASTIC as Aquaman .. but if he were to play anyone else other then Aquaman .. its without a shadow of a doubt Lobo

BrettMan - 1/7/2019, 9:24 AM

Looks like a weird, edgy biker version of Aang from the Last Airbender

BlackIceJoe - 1/7/2019, 9:29 AM

Maybe it is just me, but I'm getting Kratos vibes.

bcom - 1/7/2019, 11:10 AM

@BlackIceJoe - Momoa would make a good live action Kratos, but I wonder if he’d be prepared to shave his head for the role? Haha.

SKetCH - 1/7/2019, 12:48 PM

@bcom -

I'm pretty sure that's what drove his price up.
He wanted way too much money just to shave his hair off.

And I wouldn't doubt his wife was in his ear about it too.

Mamoa with no hair is... weird.

bcom - 1/7/2019, 11:08 AM

I don’t think it had anything to do with Jason wanting too much money. James Gunn has said that he always wanted Bautista to be Drax from the get go, Momoa was an early alternative option considered by Marvel early on.

Having just seen Aquaman (and loving it!) I still think Jason would be the perfect live action Lobo. He just looks perfect for the part. Having said that, his Aquaman is awesome though.

1 2

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Concept Art Reveals How AQUAMAN's Jason Momoa Looked As Drax

Before Dave Bautista was cast as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, Jason Momoa was at the top of Marvel Studios' list and this artwork shows what the Aquaman star would have looked like as The Destroyer.

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