Dune: Part 2 features an epic fight between two characters that proves one storyline that the MCU failed to deliver in Avengers: Endgame.

Dune: Part Two delivers an action-packed finale to the 2021 film, completing Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 sci-fi novel. While the first film drew some criticism for its slower pace and general lack of action scenes, the sequel spectacularly amends this issue, featuring sprawling battle sequences between massive armies, sandworms destroying entire squadrons of people, and even a series of one-on-one duels between opposing characters. The explosive action and wide scale of the Dune universe rival those of Hollywood’s most successful franchises, including the expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the biggest and longest-lasting film series in the history of cinema.

While Dune focuses on Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, the franchise also boasts a stellar lineup of supporting cast members who prove just as interesting as the main character. Characters like Rebecca Ferguson’s Lady Jessica, Zendaya’s Chani, and Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha are all scene-stealers, rounding out the film’s story with their compelling personalities and interesting story arcs. Two relatively minor characters from Dune: Part Two fall squarely into this category, as they spend much of the film building up to their inevitable one-on-one duel. In so doing, Dune inadvertently gives audiences the matchup that they so sorely missed in the epic MCU film, Avengers: Endgame.

Thanos And Drax Face Off In Dune: Part 2 (Sort Of)

In the first Dune, House Harkonnen goes to war with House Atreides over the spice-rich world of Arrakis. Leading the assault against the Atreides is Glossu Rabban, a.k.a. The Beast, who is portrayed by Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Dave Bautista. Rabban torches the Atreides homestead, killing many of the soldiers therein. However, he is unable to kill the Atreides’ War Master, Gurney Halleck, played by Josh Brolin. When Dune: Part Two finally picks up after the events of the original movie, Gurney is set on getting revenge for the death of Duke Leto Atreides, as well as the many soldiers who died in Rabban’s siege. Thankfully for Gurney, he finally does get to face off against Rabban in the sequel.

Unlike in the 1984 adaptation of Dune, Gurney Halleck and Rabban get to duel to the death in Dune: Part Two. After Paul Atreides and his Fremen overpower the Emperor’s forces, they begin to clean out the surviving Harkonnens, prompting the cowardly Rabban to make an escape attempt. As he prepares to board his ship, Rabban is confronted by Gurney, who engages him in a one-on-one duel that ends in the Beast’s gruesome and violent death. This scene is quite satisfying for Gurney’s character but also has behind-the-scenes implications that some viewers will recognize. The actors behind these two characters, Josh Brolin and Dave Bautista, both play integral characters in the MCU, Thanos and Drax, respectively. While these two characters were set up for a potential duel in Avengers: Endgame, this moment never came to fruition, forcing a completely different franchise to finally pit the actors against one another.

Avengers: Endgame Failed Drax

Drax the Destroyer was a member of the MCU’s original Guardians of the Galaxy who had a chip on his shoulder from the very beginning. Before the events of Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax’s wife and young daughter were murdered in front of him by the villainous Ronan the Destroyer. While Drax and his friends can defeat and kill Ronan during the Battle of Xandar, they discover that the Kree zealot was working for the Mad Titan Thanos. Rather than being content that the man who murdered his wife and daughter was dead, Drax shifted his anger to Thanos, declaring that he would avenge his dead family by killing the Mad Titan.

While the final battle of Avengers: Endgame delivered on nearly every aspect that fans were hoping for from the finale of the Infinity Saga, it was missing a faceoff between Thanos and Drax. While Drax briefly took on Thanos in a group setting during the events of Avengers: Infinity War, the two never come face-to-face in the 2019 follow-up. Thanos is defeated by Iron Man without ever once answering for his crimes against Drax’s family. As such, Drax’s character is left without a conclusion to his storyline, with the target of his vengeance dead through no doing of his own. As such, Dune‘s battle between Gurney Halleck and Rabban Harkonnen is the closest that audiences will ever come to seeing the long-awaited duel between Thanos and Drax the Destroyer.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Salvages Drax’s Storyline

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 fixed some problems from the Avengers movies, specifically regarding characters who didn’t get enough screen time therein, like Drax. While Drax doesn’t get his revenge in Infinity War or Endgame, his story gets an interesting twist in the conclusion of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Interestingly, rather than leaning into the character’s violent tendencies, the film focuses on Drax’s softer side, reawakening the fatherly attributes that he once had. Drax entertains and later helps take care of a group of young girls who had been experiments of the High Evolutionary. Rather than getting revenge for the death of his daughter, Drax instead gets a second chance at fatherhood.

While it may have been disappointing that Drax never got his revenge on Thanos, the character’s post-endgame arc is rather beautiful. Bautista’s character was introduced as a violent and tempestuous man, whose sole purpose in life was to get revenge on those who had wronged him. However, as time went on and he grew closer to the other Guardians, he learned how to love again, replacing his negative emotions with better, more wholesome ones. Ultimately, the storyline that Drax’s character follows is more satisfying than it would have been had he gotten his chance to kill Thanos.

Dune: Part Two is the closest that MCU fans will ever get to a battle between Drax and Thanos. Since the substitute for Thanos proves victorious in this particular scenario, viewers may never see Drax get his revenge on the Mad Titan. Even so, the storyline that Drax eventually got proved to be a satisfying conclusion to his decade-long character arc.