David Michael Bautista Jr., professionally known as only Dave Bautista, is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. From 2002 to 2010, in 2014, and again from 2018 to 2019, he participated in WWE events. He gained the most notoriety in his acting career for his role as the hilariously slow-witted Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Since his acting debut in 2006, Bautista has appeared in a number of films, including The Man with the Iron Fists, Riddick, Blade Runner 2049, Army of the Dead, Dune, and the James Bond movie Spectre. In December 2022, Bautista will appear alongside Daniel Craig in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the first sequel to the 2019 crime comedy Knives Out. Deadline also reported that Bautista has signed on to appear in the next M. Night Shyamalan film Knock At The Cabin. With a varied and unique career, Bautista has gained worldwide popularity. Here are his highest-grossing films so far.

6 Stuber — $29M

     20th Century Studios

Vic, a cop on a mission, is portrayed by Bautista in Stuber from 2019. A mild-mannered Uber driver called Stu finds himself in a terrifying situation when he picks up a customer who turns out to be a police officer who is actively searching for a vicious killer. He is urgently trying to keep his sanity, his safety, and his five-star reputation. Over $29 million was earned by the movie globally.

5 Riddick — $94M

     Universal Pictures

The 2013 film Riddick depicts the tale of the famed Riddick, who has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that seems to be lifeless. Bautista portrays Diaz, a mercenary with a hidden motive. However, Riddick soon finds himself battling for his life against extraterrestrial predators that are far more deadly than any humans he has ever met. Riddick’s only option is to turn on an emergency beacon and warn mercenaries who are hurriedly making their way to the planet in quest of their loot. In total, the movie brought in over $94 million at the box office worldwide.

4 Blade Runner 2049 — $258M

     Warner Bros

In the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049, Bautista portrays Sapper Morton, a Nexus-8 replicant and military medic, who hid in the suburbs of metropolitan Los Angeles as a nutrition farmer. A new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried truth that has the potential to throw what’s left of civilization into turmoil 30 years after the events of the previous movie. Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years, is the target of K’s discovery, which sends him on a search for him. Over $258 million was earned by the movie globally.

3 Dune — $397M

Dune, released in 2021, features Bautista as Glossu Rabban, the elder nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and the Count of Lankiveil. In Dune, Paul Atreides is a clever and gifted young man who must journey to the most hazardous planet in the cosmos to protect the future of his family and his people. He was born into a grand destiny beyond his comprehension. Worldwide, the movie grossed about $397 million. Dune: Part Two, the sequel, is expected to be released in 2023.

2 Spectre — $879M

     Sony Pictures

In the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre, Bautista plays Mr. Hinx, an assassin working for a terrorist group. In the film, James Bond is sent on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome by a mysterious communication from the past, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the stunning and forbidding widow of a notorious criminal. Bond breaks into a covert gathering and learns that Spectre is a dangerous group. In total, the movie grossed approximately $879 million worldwide.

1 The Marvel Cinematic Universe — $7B

     Walt Disney Studios

In the MCU, Drax is a soldier and Guardian of the Galaxy member, played by Bautista, who wants retribution for the death of his family. He originally wanted to murder Kree zealot Ronan the Accuser in order to get revenge on his family, but once Ronan was killed, his goal changed to killing Thanos. A running joke about Drax’s character’s inability to grasp metaphors causes him to often take popular idioms literally. Insider even reported in an interview with the film’s screenwriters that Bautista ad-libbed his now infamous line, “I’ll do you one better: Why is Gamora?” from Avengers; Infinity War.

Drax has appeared in several MCU films, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder. The Marvel movies in which Bautista has starred in so far have gross nearly $7 billion globally. Both the forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will include Bautista as Drax.