Two of the most highly anticipated Marvel projects in the works are Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder and James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3. Marvel Studios has confirmed that the two films will be directly related, with Thor: Love and Thunder leading into Guardians 3. But does that automatically mean Dave Bautista's Drax will show up alongside the God of Thunder?

Many Guardians of the Galaxy cast members have already been confirmed to appear in Love and Thunder, but one member had refused to confirm his presence, while also praising the Love and Thunder director. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bautista was asked about his future Marvel projects, but remained as coy as possible when discussing his minor role in the Thor movie. He said this concerning his work with Taika Waititi.

"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. (Laughs.) But having said that, I've worked with Taika before, and so I know Taika's process."

To be fair, Dave Bautista has actually worked directly with Taika Waititi before on the show FX show What We Do in the Shadows, where he had a minor role in an episode Waititi directed. Still, it's funny to see him refuse to flat out confirm a guest starring role in Love and Thunder despite it seemingly already being known. There has been plenty of set pics leaked from the film - with Bautista notably absent - so it makes sense for him to play it safe. In the same interview, he went on to say.

"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. 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. 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.'"

Thor: Love and Thunder will star Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Taika Waititi as Korg, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Christian Bale as Gore, the God Butcher, and Russell Crowe as Zeus. It will release in theaters on May 6, 2022.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 will star Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot. It will release in theaters on May 23, 2023. This news originated at ComicBook.com.