Guardians of the Galaxy was a film that boldly sought to bring several hidden gems of the Marvel universe to the big screen, and was rewarded heavily for it. One fan-favorite among that eclectic cast was the musclebound, vengeance-driven, comically literal Drax the Destroyer.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe must innovate from its comic origins, but some characters make the transition more gracefully than others. Often forgotten are the heroes that are only seen as part of a team, characters with no solo ventures, characters like Drax.
In the MCU, Drax the Destroyer is an alien warrior, best known for his service to the Guardians of the Galaxy team. His home planet, Kylos, is one of the many planets visited by servants of Thanos. The Mad Titan sent Ronan the Accuser to divide the planet's population in half at random and slaughter one half. Drax was sorted into the half that lived, but his wife Ovette and his daughter Kamaria were not so lucky. Drax responded to the loss with a bloodthirsty rampage across the galaxy, eventually landing him in the Kyln with 22 murder charges and 8 charges of grievous bodily harm. Whilst there, he meets the other four future Guardians and joins them to escape and continue his vengeance quest against Ronan and Thanos, eventually befriending his fellow escapees and becoming a valued member of the team.
In his early appearances, Drax is basically unrecognizable from his current iteration. His first appearance was in The Invincible Iron Man #55 in 1973. The comics' version of Drax was born Arthur Sampson Douglas, a human man from Burbank, California. Douglas is driving through the desert one day when he, his wife, and his daughter witness a spaceship piloted by Thanos. Averse to being seen, Thanos destroys the car, killing Douglas and his wife, and subsequently kidnaps his daughter. Douglas is dead, but his spirit is captured by powers from Titan and placed in an artificial body, specifically to hunt and kill Thanos.
This version of Drax still has his superhuman strength, but is better known for his ability to fly, psychic capabilities, and laser blasts. This version of the character serves as an ally to Iron Man and others in his quest to kill Thanos, but often finds himself in the villain role whenever Thanos isn't around. Thanos was slain by Captain Marvel shortly after Drax's creation, so Drax attacked him for robbing him of all purpose. Drax later rediscovers his lost daughter, turned by Thanos into the psychic villain Moondragon. Drax's daughter actually kills him, but like most comic book characters, he doesn't stay dead.
After his reincarnation, Drax is physically huge but still mentally damaged from his clash with his daughter. The character joins a team called the Infinity Watch, which divides and holds onto the Infinity Stones so that no one person can hold all of their power. Drax carries the Power Stone, at one point confusing it for candy and consuming it whole. The team failed in its goals and split up shortly after formation, but the next appearance of the character would be much more recognizable.
Annihilation was a crossover series released in 2006, wherein Drax is slain for the second time, emerging swiftly thereafter with the form fans know and love today. This new version of the character is also the origin of the character's fondness for knife combat. In this miniseries, Drax fights alongside a wide array of space-focused Marvel characters to defeat a coalition of Annihilus and Thanos, This is the series in which Drax meets his future cohorts, a couple of future Guardians of the Galaxy. Most shockingly, Annihilation #4 sees Drax finally achieve his life's goal, killing Thanos.
Only a couple of years later, Annihilation: Conquest was released, elements of which were mirrored in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. This crossover focuses on a wide cohort of heroes banding together to face a group of villains including Ultron and Ronan the Accuser. A number of plot elements reoccur in the films, including Ronan's assault on a planet's surface, Groot's sacrifice and the series ending on Star-Lord assembling the Guardians of the Galaxy. Drax fights valiantly and is recruited by Star-Lord for his strength and skill, cementing the version of the character most fans know today.
Drax is a character who has undergone many different versions and numerous huge changes. The choice by the MCU to drop Drax's human backstory is surprising but understandable. The fact that he was human is largely immaterial. The early versions of the character are bizarre to look back on now, especially the flying, cape-clad, laser-blasting creature that first graced the page. The MCU took the best-known form of the character, simplified him, and placed him with the team he works best in.
Drax the Destroyer is a strange character, evolving multiple times over the years to eventually land on today's iconic Guardian. Drax shifted from a regular man placed into an alien body to singularly hunt The Mad Titan to a vengeance-driven alien alternating between thrilling heroism and hysterical comedy; that's probably for the best.