Marvel Studios has a reputation for secret keeping that some actors–like the now notorious Tom Holland–just can’t help but tarnish every chance they get. Others, however, like Dave Bautista, try to toe the line with a little more poise–that is, to a certain point. In an interview with , Bautista explained that he can “neither confirm nor deny” that he’ll be appearing as Drax in the upcoming Thor 4, but, yeah, he’s definitely in .
Most fans already knew this would be the case after the Guardians cast was photographed flying to Australia to film and . Bautisa had a good laugh about it, saying “Well, assuming that I went to Australia to shoot for Thor 4…I know that Chris Pratt has announced that he’s in Thor 4, but I haven’t heard from anybody at Marvel or Disney where it would be OK for me to say that I was in Thor 4. So I will neither confirm nor deny.”
But even so, he’s ready to acknowledge the absurdity of dancing around the answer. “Yeah, it’s one of those things where I kind of dance around it because I don’t want to piss anybody at Marvel off. I don’t want to piss anybody at Disney off.” Bautista explained. “And as far as I know, I guess they gave Pratt a go-ahead to announce that he was in the film, but I haven’t heard anything about it. And as far as I’ve heard, they said it’s not OK to confirm that you’re in the film. But obviously, when all the Guardians are on a Disney jet going to Australia and they photograph us walking into the hotel…”
He went on, saying that the other Guardians were all photographed on set–but Drax wasn’t so lucky. “There are photographs of everybody except for me on set. So because there were no photographs of me as Drax on set, I’ve not come out and said, ‘Yeah, I’m in Thor 4.'”
Of course, by admitting that he was never photographed while everyone else was, Bautista is slyly confirming that he was on set and in costume–but it’s safe to say just about anyone who has been paying attention to the MCU’s Phase 4 already assumed this would be the case. After all, Avengers: Endgame saw Thor and the Guardians officially teaming up with one another as they left Earth, presumably to find Gamora and, undoubtedly, get into some cosmic hijinks along the way.
Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on May 6, 2022.
