Earlier this week, fans across the country were treated to a special IMAX 3D preview of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. At this event, director James Gunn introduced a re-mastered 17-minute sequence from the film followed by the latest trailer for the film featuring ‘Cherry Bomb’ from The Runaways. Though that footage hasn’t made it’s way online, I happened to be among the many who attended the screening, so I can confirm first hand that what we saw was awesome.

But one thing that stood out in particular was Drax the Destroyer played by Dave Bautista. Though I’m familiar with his work from WWE, I was a little worried when he was cast in the role of Drax since he doesn’t really have the acting experience to tackle a role like this. However, after viewing this sneak peek, I was pleasantly surprised by his performance and even found him funny, which was something that I really wasn’t expecting. And apparently there’s a lot more of that in store when the full film is released.

In a recent interview with Collider, Bautista discussed his excitement to play a comic book character, the makeup process to become Drax, and the unexpected humor that constantly emerged thanks to James Gunn. When the reporter joked about playing “shirtless guy” in another movie, the former World Heavyweight Champion shared that this actually turns into some punchlines in the film:

“(Laughs) No, it’s okay man, because I totally get it. I think there’s going to be a little humor thrown in about it. It was so funny because when I first read the script, there was a few lines that weren’t in there but it was regarding my distaste for shirts. So I came into rehearsal one day and we’re reading through it and then one of the lines about Drax not really caring for shirts was in there, and I looked up at James and he was just sitting going *snort* *laugh* and I say, ‘What, I didn’t see this line in the script’, and he goes, ‘because I just wrote it in last night’. So it’s all kind of little things like that that make Drax really interesting. I think a lot of that stuff, because he’s very literal. Sometimes he just doesn’t realize that he’s being funny but he actually is hysterical. I think Drax steals a lot of scenes with that type of stuff.”

I can already picture Rocket or Star-Lord messing with Drax about being so literal. I can’t wait to see more of that comedy in between the Destroyer laying the smackdown on Ronan, Nebula, Thanos, and whoever else gets in the Guardians’ way.

Are you excited to see more of Dave Bautista’s Drax the Destroyer in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Were you originally skeptical about the WWE Superstar landing the role? Based on the reactions to the preview and the various trailers, has your opinion changed? Let us know in the comments below.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, and Michael Rooker blasts off on August 1st, 2014.