He was (re)created for one thing. To kill Thanos. Introduced in Iron Man #55 (1972) by Jim Starlin and Mike Friedrich, Arthur Douglas was a normal real estate agent who played a mean Sax. One day while on a family trip, Thanos’s ship flew overhead and wanting to ensure that no one knew he was one Earth, destroy the family car. Only the daughter Heather survived (who would become Moondragon) but Arthur’s conscious was taken by Mentor, leader of the Titan’s Eternals and Thanos’ father and wanting to create a weapon to kill his son, Mentor place his mind into a new body, which he dubbed Drax the Destroyer. Without any memories of his previous life, Drax went about hunting down Thanos, battling the despot on many occasions. He would lose his purpose a few times when Thanos was killed off but would regain it after the titan returned. After the Infinity Gauntlet saga, Drax would become one of the bearers of the Infinity Gem and would join Infinity Watch.

As the year went on, he would regain his memories and be reunited with his daughter. However, his intelligence would diminish becoming more childlike. After falling into comic book limbo (like most Cosmic characters at the time), Drax would eventually be captured and place on a prison ship that would crash on Earth. He would fight the other inmates but was killed by them. However, he would resurrect by shedding his skin and gaining the form he is known for today. He eventually killed the other inmate but was arrested by the Nova Corps. He was brought to Xandar just as the Annihilation Wave attacked and destroyed the planet. He happened upon the sole survivor, Richard Rider, and would aid the last Nova in his plan to stop Annihilus. However, he sensed Thanos on Annihilus’ ship and left the rest to kill the Titan, which he did by ripping out his heart. After helping prevent Ultron and the Phalanx from conquering the Kree Empire, he would join a new team that would eventually become known as the Guardians of the Galaxy.

He would leave the team after learning that Mantis used his powers to make the members join the team but would rejoin the team during the War of Kings arc. After being killed by Thanos, he would reveal to be alive and would rejoin the Guardians, where he would kill Thanos for the third time. He would remain with the Guardian throughout most of their adventurers and eventually became a pacifist after accidentally killing slaves when he killed the King and slavers, activating their poison. Wanting to live a life of solitude, he took Star Lord’s offer of protecting the enlarged Power Gem. But the planet was eventually attacked by the Chitauri and Drax was given the Power Gem, which he used to destroy the invaders, regaining his groove. He would join the new Infinity Watch, where he would be killed by Gamora who wanted the Infinity Stones. She created the Warp World, where he was resurrected as Arthur. He would split from Drax and the two would help return to the world to normal while maintaining the Warped World. Arthur and Drax choose to stay behind to maintain this world.

Like many of Marvel’s cosmic character, Drax wasn’t really a fan favorite until at least the Annihilation event, which boasted the popularity all many cosmic characters, bringing them out of comic limbo. Sure, many diehard fans knew of him but few where aware of his story. Like all the GOTG, his popularity skyrocketed following the first movie. He would receive a figure before the movie’s launch as part of the Return of Marvel Legends Arnim Zola wave. However, this figure was too small which probably lead Hasbro to remake it as part of the Entertainment Earth Exclusive Guardians of the Galaxy box set.