Chadwick Boseman originally auditioned to play Drax the Destroyer in MCU

PTI, Nov 22, 2019, 11:59 AM IST

Los Angeles: “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman has revealed that he originally auditioned for the role of Drax the Destroyer from Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films.

The part eventually went to his “Avengers: Endgame” co-star and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista.

Boseman, who plays Black Panther/ King T’Challa of the fictitious African country Wakanda, said he had an inkling he wouldn’t land the role.

“I didn’t think I was gonna get it. And it’s weird, too. It’s a testament to Marvel because… ‘Ant-Man’ has a different tone and feel, and we didn’t know what that was gonna be.

“We didn’t know what Guardians was gonna be. So, I didn’t know what it was. I only had a few (script) pages at that time. So, it was just good to come in and play to see what they did with it,” he told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show”.

But Boseman said the audition helped him in securing “Black Panther”.

“Sometimes that’s the way it works as an actor. You go in knowing you’re not gonna get (the role) but you’re meeting the people that might be like, ‘It’s not this, but we’ll put him in this other thing’.

“I feel like this was one of those moments where they were like, ‘We could use him later’,” he said.

A sequel to “Black Panther” is in the works, with Ryan Coogler returning to direct. It is slated for a May 6, 2022 release.