Last year, Dave Bautista professed his desire to the cast of the Gears of War movie – still in development – as protagonist Marcus Fenix. We're a long way from finding out when or even if that effort will pay off, but now we can at least see what he'd look like in the armour. He'll the multiplayer cast as a playable character a little bit after the Gears 5 release date.
Bautista has recorded "over seven hundred lines" of dialogue for the game according to the official announcement, and he's in Marcus' own armour set. Gears chief Rod Fergusson says "we started with the fantasy of 'Batista as Marcus,'" before giving the character a bit more of the actor's personality, and adding the all-important sunglasses.
You'll automatically unlock the character by playing Gears 5 after September 15, which happens to be the date of WWE's Clash of Champions show. It's an odd bit of cross-promotion given that Bautista – or Batista, to properly use his ring name – isn't likely to return to the ring any time soon, but I will not argue with the chance to finally see him in proper Gears gear.
How this affects Bautista's ongoing campaign to get into the Gears of War film remains to be seen, but it certainly can't hurt.
It's about damn time. Play as me in #Gears5 starting Sept 15 after @WWE Clash of Champions. @XBox @GearsofWar #DreamChaser pic.twitter.com/bCU4ZIjdw1
— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) September 3, 2019
As the actor himself says, "it's about time." There may be another word in that statement. It's tough to tell.
Check out the Gears 5 system requirements if you're looking to play it on PC. The game launches officially on September 10, but it'll go live this Friday if you buy the ultimate edition or subscribe to Game Ultimate.