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You’re not going to believe how Jason Momoa almost joined the MCU. That’s right, the Aquaman star previously best known for playing Khal Drogo in HBO's Game of Thrones came extremely close to joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy. We had a chance to sit down with Charlie Wen, the former head of visual development at Marvel Studios and he told us the story of how Momoa almost played Drax.

In 2005, prior to his work at Marvel, Wen worked in the video game world, and he created Kratos from God of War. Ironically, Marvel gave Drax the Destroyer a facelift - losing the cape and purple tights from his original look and gave him a more modern vibe - one that looked similar to Kratos. Wen, when creating the look for Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, went for a style that was different from Kratos.

Momoa screen tested for Drax, and did a pretty great job at it. Wen and his team created concept art with Momoa as Drax, using his sleek body design to create the character. Ultimately, however, Momoa thought that he had played a character similar to Drax too many times and passed on the role. At the same time, Dave Bautista also did a screen test and brought a different element to Drax - and ultimately that’s the one we have today. But Momoa was oh so close to playing Drax - and imagine the implications had he!

Cool cape, bro | 0:34
Bald, brutal… brothers? | 1:11
Khal Draxo | 2:42
Will the real Drax please step forward? | 4:37
The tattooed man | 5:29