Dave Bautista Is Speaking Out About Scarlett Johansson's Fight Against Disney

Scarlett Johansson's lawsuit against Disney for breach of contract is one of the hottest topics in the entertainment industry right now — and it's not hard to understand why. There are many compelling dynamics at play. On the one hand, you have a rich and successful movie star quibbling over the idea that $20 million plus streaming royalties isn't "fair compensation," but who is also paving the way for other figures (like Emma Stone, via Screen Rant) to speak out about their original contracts not being honored. You have a major conglomerate, Disney, arguing that they are trying to give fans a safer way to watch the film amid another dangerous surge of Covid-19 infections, but meanwhile, also charging them significantly more than the price of your average movie ticket for the privilege. And in the middle, you have a morality vs. legality debate — who is the wrong here? Because while Disney is arguing that Johansson wanted to force people to go to the movies for some extra millions, Johansson is arguing that Disney pulled the rug out on their original deal. Either way, it's complex. 

Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, you probably have your own opinion on the subject. Well, you're not alone. Dave Bautista is not only the first celebrity to respond to the spat between Johansson and Disney — he's also a prominent figure in the MCU. And he had some very interesting things to say on the matter.

Dave Bautista has become a popular figure in Hollywood, especially for his role as Drax the Destroyer in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies — the success of which has led to action turns such as this year's "Army of the Dead" on Netflix. He's also known for being quite outspoken for a celebrity of his stature, and fans were dismayed to learn back in May that he won't be reprising his beloved character after the third and final "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, citing his reason for throwing in the towel being that he is "expecting everything to start sagging any second now."

In any case, the fact that Bautista is getting ready to finish up his time in the MCU didn't stop him from throwing in his two cents about this latest Disney controversy on social media. His tweet reads "Told em they should've made a #Drax movie but noooooo!" punctuated by a shrug emoji. 

Fans seem to be mixed on his attempt at levity. As of this writing, the tweet has over 20,000 likes and 1,700 retweets, but in the replies, while many followers are chuckling at his tongue-in-cheek humor, there are also many others who believe it to be in poor taste. 

Not all of Bautista's fans were supportive of the celebrity's humorous jab, as seen in the many responses to the tweet. One commenter, @iron_jared, replied with "Bad tweet. Delete please." — and attached a GIF of Jonah Hill shaking his head in disapproval. Next, @_DimasJr fired back with a little sarcasm of his own to say "yeah, because there is a huge lack of male superhero movies. I know it's a joke, but it's a bad one, especially now that Disney is trying to portray Scarlet as a bad person when they clearly broke the contract." There were even several chiming in pointing to the sexism inherent in the lawsuit, which is an important point: Johansson fan @scarlettjo4ever summed it up nicely: "This tweet ain't it. Scarlett's contract was breached period and she's more than entitled to the damages they've caused her. She spend a decade creating one of the most iconic characters, suffered sexism and hyper sexualization and now this crap. She deserved better."

Other Twitter users were more supportive of Bautista's joke. @ColleenCanTweet even expressed interest in a potential Drax-centric film, tweeting "I would have taken my butt to the theater to see a Drax movie...repeatedly." Another user, @KilliK, also backed this up with a serious suggestion that instead of Drax getting a movie, he should get a Disney+ series: "not a movie, but a tv show based on the Infinity Watch comics. I believe it is a better fit for a Drax spinoff. If you can mr Bautista, try to push for that with Disney, sell it as one more MCU show to promote their streaming service." (This is unlikely, since Bautista went on record that he'd never play Drax in a Disney+ series).

Either way, the situation playing out between Johansson and Disney is certainly complicated — as the range of responses across the internet makes clear — and it may very well only get more complicated as it plays out in court.