Dave Bautista desperate to play Bane

Dave Bautista is desperate to land the role of Bane on the big screen.

The 52-year-old wrestler-turned-actor revealed that he has asked both Warner Bros. and DC Comic to be considered for the role as the Batman villain when he next features in a movie.

Asked about his dream role during an appearance at Justice Con, Dave said: "Oh, it would be Bane all day long. I've made no secret about this. I want to play Bane so bad I went to Warner Bros., had an appointment with them, had an appointment with DC, walked in the door and said, 'I want to play Bane.'

"I'm not kidding. They were a little like, 'Whoa, we're not even casting Bane.' I was like, 'I don't care, I'm playing him.'"

Bautista's bid to play Bane has the support of director Zack Snyder who said we should "all accept" that the former WWE grappler will play the antagonist.

The 'Zack Snyder's Justice League' filmmaker said: "We've really just gotta figure out how to get Dave Bautista to be Bane. Let's just all accept the fact that he's gotta be Bane, and there's no two ways about it!"

Bautista has previously starred in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' MCU movies as Drax the Destroyer and has been praised by director James Gunn for what he has brought to the franchise.

In a gushing Twitter thread responding to questions on why Bautista is such a good actor, James wrote: "Bc @DaveBautista takes the craft seriously. He's grounded in real emotion & not showy. The difference between Dave and many wrestler-actors is when you look in his eyes on set he's in the place he's supposed to be, not thinking about what he's going to do next."

Bane previously was played by Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan's concluding 'Dark Knight Trilogy' movie 'The Dark Knight Rises' in which he fought with Christian Bale's Batman.

The character - who possesses unnatural strength due to him taking the drug Venom, on which he is reliant - also featured in derided 1997 action flick 'Batman & Robin' with the late Robert Swenson portraying Bane, who acted as a henchman to Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy aiding the villainess in her attempts to take over Gotham City and defeat George Clooney's Caped Crusader.

Bane was part of a major plot in the DC Comics story 'Knightfall' which saw Bane become the only man to have "broken the bat" when he delivers a vicious beating to the superhero temporarily leaving Bruce Wayne a paraplegic after breaking his back.