Dave Bautista Threatens to Walk from 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' If It Doesn't Stick to James Gunn's Script

In a new interview with ShortList, Bautista made it very clear he's prepared to say goodbye to Drax the Destroyer if Disney/Marvel decides to change the story after they find a replacement director.

"Where I'm at right now is that if [Marvel] don't use that script, then I'm going to ask them to release me from my contract, cut me out or recast me," he said. "I'd be doing James a disservice if I didn't."

It's unclear whether he made these comments before or after his tweet this morning, where he said he would "do what Im legally obligated to do but @Guardians without @JamesGunn is not what I signed up for. GOTG w/o @JamesGunn just isn't GOTG. Its also pretty nauseating to work for someone who'd empower a smear campaign by fascists #cybernazis. That's just how I feel."

Bautista has blamed cyber nazis before for Gunn's firing from Disney last month after decade-old rape and pedophilia jokes he made on Twitter came under scrutiny.

Speaking with ShortList, he doubled down on those comments. "Nobody's defending his tweets, but this was a smear campaign on a good man," he said, before sharing his initial reaction to the old messages. "I spoke to Chris Pratt the day after it happened and he's a bit religious so he wanted time to pray and figure it out, but I was more like: f--k this. This is bulls--t. James is one of the kindest, most decent people I've met."

Although he has been the most vocal and opinionated, Bautista isn't the only member of the "GOTG" team to speak out against Gunn's firing. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker and Gunn's brother, Sean, all shared an open letter expressing support for Gunn and asking fans to "stop weaponizing mob mentality."

'I don't think [it] will get him re-hired," he said of the letter. "But I hope it opens people's eyes to James' character."

Read the letter in full below.

Gunn co-wrote and directed the first two installments of the franchise, and was working on the writing the third. The filmmaker also was an executive producer on the recent Marvel blockbuster, "Avengers: Infinity War," in which the main cast of "GOTG" appeared.