Drax the Destroyer provides much of the comedy for the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but the intimidating hero was making comic book fans laugh decades before Dave Bautista took on the role. Back in the 1990s, Drax had a distinctly different look and personality in the comics with some decidedly amusing quirks.
Instead of the overly-literal grey warrior with sensitive nipples that movie fans are used to, Marvel Comics once portrayed Drax as a child-like green monster who was once entrusted with one of the Infinity Stones – specifically the Power Stone. After mistaking the stone for a jelly bean and eating it (yes, really), Drax became one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Rather than show off his new strength, however, Drax was more concerned with mundane things – like making it home in time to see his favorite TV show ALF.
For those not fortunate enough to grow up in the 1980s, ALF was a live action TV show starring a furry, smart-mouthed alien named Gordon Shumway who crash landed on Earth and was renamed “ALF” (Alien Life Form) by his adoptive human family. Most of the episodes involved ALF (portrayed by puppeteer Paul Fusco) hiding from other humans, making sarcastic comments about humans, and trying to eat cats. The show ran for four seasons and even had two animated cartoon spinoffs, ALF: The Animated Series and ALF Tales, that followed ALF/Gordon’s adventures on his home planet. ALF also received a short-lived talk show and a made-for-television movie.
During the late 1980s, Marvel Comics also published an ALF comic book under its Star Comics imprint that offered more adventures with ALF (both on Earth and his home planet Melmac). Marvel’s affinity for the furry alien spilled over into their mainstream comics when Drax joined the “Infinity Watch” (a team of heroes and outcasts charged with protecting the Infinity Stones) as his addiction to ALF soon became his undoing.
Earlier comics in the Warlock and the Infinity Watch series showed Drax becoming obsessed with ALF’s television show as he watched it from a satellite orbiting Saturn (only for it to fade once Titan’s orbit took the satellite out of Earth’s transmission range). Drax even almost missed his chance to become one of the Infinity Watch because he “might miss ALF.”
Even after Drax became one of the most powerful beings in the universe, his love for ALF remained undiminished. Shortly after he got his new powers, Drax flew back home at top speed, not wanting to miss the next episode. However, he was stopped by an alien spacecraft that lured him onboard by promising him a videocassette of ALF’s entire cartoon show (clearly the aliens were as just as behind on Earth’s technology as Starlord’s Walkman – or Zune) and manipulated into sharing his power for nefarious ends.
Of course, Drax eventually overcame this plot and over time evolved into a more articulate form more akin to his counterpart in the MCU movies. His interests have also matured – but it’s still possible he has a hidden affinity for ALF.