Dave Bautista will be a playable character in Gears 5

Dave Bautista has made no secret of the fact that he wants to star in a Gears of War movie. He seems like a natural fit—he's huge, scowly, and famously violent—but despite his enthusiasm, he's not very confident that it's going to happen. So, a compromise: He'll appear as himself in Gears 5.

"We started with the fantasy of ‘Batista as Marcus,’ putting Batista into Marcus’ armor, and starting with Marcus’ script. Then we added elements of 'The Animal' Batista into his voice performance and onto his look by adding his signature Hollywood shades to his character," director Rod Fergusson explained at Xbox.com. "Batista was great in the booth and I can’t wait for Gears and Batista fans alike to stomp some Swarm as The Animal."

Batista's appearance is part of a partnership between Xbox and WWE that will culminate in the Clash of Champions on the WWE Network on September 15, which is also when his character will become available. To unlock it, you'll need to play any version of Gears 5 between then and October 28, when the promotion ends.

Dave Bautista is probably best known these days as Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for my money he is and always will be The Animal. Here is smashing people, including Santa Claus and Edge (twice), onto and through things.

YouTube YouTube
Watch On
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Third Person Shooter
helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 composer recalls stomping around his apartment and channeling 'Super Patriotism' to capture Arrowhead's satirical vision in music: 'The satire works because the music believes it's a pure patriotic love without irony or criticism'
farcana
'The Middle East's answer to Marvel Rivals' is an 'AI-powered', crypto-infused hero shooter that looks like hot garbage
Marvel Rivals characters - Invisible Woman preparing to cast a shield.
'Searches for Invisible Woman went up 3,000%': Marvel Rivals devs innocently reflect on how popular some of their heroes have become
A Helldiver charges through the fire and flames in Helldivers 2.
Helldivers 2 CCO Johan Pilestedt says the industry's got it backwards by putting features over fundamentals: 'We talk way too little about the core philosophy'
Marvel Rivals codes - Venom and other heroes
'A developer who actually listens': Marvel Rivals' devs fix accidental Peni Parker nerf just 9 short hours after saying they would
Two characters from Warframe 1999 lounging in a bar.
The warframe with a guitar that shoots fire is out today alongside a bunch of metalcore-inspired skins, cementing Warframe's spiral into Y2K madness
Latest in News
Minthara BG3 looking upset
Another round of Baldur's Gate 3 unearthing reveals Minthara can end up living in a sewer, an unused beach ending, and more
A shirtless man rides a big fish underwater
Ark devs distance themselves from AI-generated trailer: 'we did not know that they were doing it'
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Neighbors Suburban Warfare screenshot a child aims a slingshot at a man from across a cul-de-sac.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Screenshot from Wreckfest 2
Wreckfest 2 has hit early access for your car-obliterating combat racing enjoyment