So far, there have been plenty of surprise announcements at E3 2021, but perhaps one of the biggest was during yesterday's Square Enix presentation when Eidos-Montreal officially revealed Guardians of the Galaxy. Not only was the game and its October 26, 2021 release date revealed, but more than 11 minutes of the showcase were devoted to showing off a demo of the game. From conversation trees, to squad based-combat, to narrative-altering decision making, the game is already shaping up to have the potential to be another excellent entry in the superhero genre.

While plenty of Marvel fans new and old are excited to see where Eidos is taking the galactic superhero team, many have noticed the differences between the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe portrayals of the characters and the ones in-game. Clearly, some MCU and comic inspiration were taken for the team, however, the game's interpretation of the Guardians seems to be unique. Guardians of the Galaxy features the same team as its film counterparts, and the similarities and differences between Drax the Destroyer in particular, between the game and the MCU, are very interesting.

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Drax the Oblivious in the MCU

Comparing Square Enix Guardians of the Galaxy's Drax to the MCU Version

In all of Drax's MCU portrayals, the Guardian has made a name for himself for being something of a strong and silent hero. When he does speak up, however, it's usually used as comic relief because his race of people in the films takes everything literally, and don't understand or use metaphors. This leads to plenty of fish out of water humor oftentimes resulting in Drax coming across as oblivious and silly. Despite his menacing title, the Destroyer, Drax has a general lack of self-awareness and common sense that has gotten the Guardians in trouble more than once.

Because the Guardians of the Galaxy demo shown off during Square's presentation had a lot to focus on, Drax took something of a back seat. His personality will definitely be better fleshed out and realized when the game officially releases. So far, in the footage shown, he isn't as comparatively ridiculous as his MCU counterpart. While he does have the occasional funny line, usually in reference to Rocket, he comes across much more serious in the game. It's likely that his inspiration comes more from the comics where he is less of a silly character and lives up to his "Destroyer" title more.

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Tattoos, Colors, and Sensitive Nipples in Guardians

Comparing Square Enix Guardians of the Galaxy's Drax to the MCU Version

When comparing the character model for Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy to Dave Bautista as Drax in the MCU, there are some immediate character design differences. One of the biggest is Drax's skin and tattoo colors. In the films, Drax has gray skin with a slight green pigment, but is mostly covered head-to-toe in intricate red tattoos. In the game, Drax is much greener with his red tattoos mostly covering his upper chest and shoulders. This design, along with the rest of the Guardians in the game, is much more in line with his comic origins than with the MCU.

While the MCU does a good job translating comic characters to real life, it's clear that Drax's design in the game looked more to the comics for inspiration. In common Drax fashion, he isn't wearing a shirt in any of the Guardians of the Galaxy footage shown so far. In the MCU, Drax never wears a shirt because he claims to have "sensitive nipples" which also stops him from wearing other upper body gear such as jet packs. It's likely that in the game, Drax won't put anything on that will cover his tattoos, but it's unclear if that's because of sensitive nipples or just because of his character design.

Guardians of the Galaxy's Great Blade Warrior

Dave Bautista James Gunn Drax Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy will have the player take control of Peter Quill, A.K.A. Star-Lord, and it doesn't appear like they'll switch off between characters. The player can command the other members of the team to use different abilities during combat. The powers that Drax uses in the footage are all making use of the two blades strapped to his legs. It's currently unclear if the team's gear and weapons can be swapped out, but it seems like Drax's main role in the game will be as a skilled bladesman.

This falls right in line with his MCU portrayal. Drax's go-to weapons in the films are two blades, which he even uses to fight Thanos with, and he uses in just about all of his on-screen appearances. He occasionally will use guns and his fists, but he primarily sticks with close-range weapons.

Guardians of the Galaxy's Comic Inspirations

guardians of the galaxy game avengers

It seems pretty clear from the demo and trailer that, while Guardians of the Galaxy probably drew on the MCU for some inspiration for all of its characters, it's primarily been inspired by the comics. Drax will most likely have more similarities with his MCU counterpart, but that may be because the MCU's Drax was inspired by the comics as well. It seems unlikely that some of the film-specific changes to his character, such as his constant literacy, won't make it into the game.

This might be because Eidos wants Guardians of the Galaxy to stand alone from the MCU and not feel extremely similar to the movie counterparts. Yes, the films might give it some inspiration, but at the end of the day, it's a Marvel comics-inspired game, not a Marvel Cinematic Universe one.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is in development and is set to release on October 26, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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