Drax’s decision to not kill Gamora upon being tempted to in their initial meeting in the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy looks notably different ever since Thanos murdered his adoptive daughter in Avengers: Infinity War. The third Avengers movie in the MCU timeline has many sad moments, but Gamora’s death is up there for one of the most tragic parts of its story.

A big part of what makes Gamora dying in the movie so sad is that we’d at this point spent four years getting to know the character, and had seen her narrowly escape certain death several times beforehand. Funnily enough, Gamora’s Guardians of the Galaxy story sees her teammate Drax almost kill her early on as the first example of this – a plot point that looks different now with the benefit of hindsight.

Drax’s First Interaction With Gamora In The MCU Sees Him Almost Kill Her

Drax being convinced to not kill Gamora despite her ties to Thanos is the first step in his journey to becoming a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Over the course of the 2014 movie, Drax goes from someone who would gladly kill Gamora to try and get back at Ronan and Thanos for killing his wife and daughter, to someone who considers Gamora a true friend.

However, the pair’s later bond doesn’t stop their first interaction – set after Gamora, Star-Lord, Rocket and Groot are taken to Kyln prison towards the start of the movie – from being a tense one. With the guards of the prison seemingly happy to let the prisoners kill Gamora, there’s absolutely nothing in place to stop Drax, other than him eventually deciding against it.

Drax’s initial threats on Gamora’s life come before the more comedic side to his character is revealed, and he appears almost as though he could be an antagonist for the group at first rather than a new major ally. While this makes his decision to instead join the team more interesting, it also makes a later MCU story moment even sadder.

Drax Not Killing Gamora For Her Ties To Thanos Ironically Is What Lets Thanos Kill Her Instead

Drax’s decision to not kill Gamora in order to try and get revenge on Thanos, ironically, helps Thanos’ MCU plans in the long run, as it allows him to later sacrifice Gamora on Vormir and obtain the Soul Stone. Since obtaining the Soul Stone required Thanos to sacrifice a loved one, it’s entirely possible he wouldn’t have been able to get the Stone if Gamora had already died.

While “Thanos’ Children” contained more than just Gamora, he doesn’t show the same soft spot for any of his other allies – even Nebula, despite her being raised alongside Gamora by Thanos as her sister. As such, Drax’s decision to not kill Gamora for her ties to Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy has major knock-on effects, since it’s this exact same tie that lets Thanos kill her to get the Stone.

This also makes the original scene of Drax deciding to forgo actually trying to kill Gamora look very different today in that sense that it now seems as though this decision essentially prolongs the inevitable to a degree, rather than ensuring this version of Gamora gets a long, happy life. Ultimately, the Snap appears to have been made possible by this decision, which is surreal to note when looking back now.

Gamora’s Death Seems More Tragic After Thinking About Her Guardians Of The Galaxy Story

Gamora’s MCU story involves her escaping death countless times before eventually meeting her end at the hands of the person who claimed to love her as a father. In Guardians of the Galaxy alone, Gamora is almost killed by various prisoners – including Drax – almost dies in the prison escape, and then almost dies in the final conflict of the film two separate times.

The fact that Gamora managed to escape all of these perils only to find herself facing her end thanks to Thanos himself – and, worse yet, because she was arguably the only person he truly loved – is hard to not find deeply tragic. In many ways, it seems Gamora’s MCU story was doomed from the start, with her destined to die in a way even worse than being murdered by Drax.

With Avengers: Endgame‘s time-travel shenanigans bringing back a different version of Gamora without her memories of Guardians of the Galaxy, its sequels, or her Infinity War death, it’ll be interesting to see if the MCU further explores the character’s story following her last appearance in the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Hopefully, this iteration of the character can perhaps balance out the tragedy of the first Gamora’s MCU arc.