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'Conan' Star Jason Momoa in Talks for Drax in 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

by Ethan Anderton
February 15, 2013
Source: Latino Review

After the unlikely casting of "Parks & Reacreation" and Zero Dark Thirty star Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, aka Star Lord, in Marvel's cosmic superhero ensemble Guardians of the Galaxy, it sounds like the rest of the team is being filled out slowly but surely. Latino Review has word that names like Isiah Mustafa, Dave Bautista, and Brian Patrick were testing for the role of Drax the Destroyer, but it's Conan the Barbarian remake and Bullet to the Head star Jason Momoa who has come out on top with an offer and is currently in talks to take the role. Most fans should be familiar with Momoa after his stint on "Game of Thrones."

So who exactly is Drax the Destroyer? Drax used to be a human saxophonist named Art Douglas, but he and his wife were killed by Thanos while driving in the Mojave desert. The death of his wife already gave Drax an axe to grind, but Thanos also kidnapped his daughter and hands her over to his father Mentor. Meanwhile, another God named Kronos brings Art back as Drax complete with superhuman strength, energy blasts from his hands and the ability to fly (including in space), in order to kill Thanos, which is helpful because he can sense the villain's presence across space.

Momoa isn't a bad choice for the beefy hero, but he's yet to really shine in any major role. The actor shows charisma and potential, and this could be the kind of quality big break he needs after some lackluster films in his past. The real question will be how all these guys work together though. After all, seeing Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson come together for The Avengers was bad ass, and this has to be nearly as cool on some level. Hopefully we'll get word on who's playing Groot, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon (learn more about them here) very soon.

Filed under Casting, Development, Movie News

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