This clone was created by the Universal Church of Truth as part of their Destroyer Horde, an army created from the original Drax that had no will of their own, obeying only the will of the Church. While most of the Horde was destroyed by the Guardians of the Galaxy, this clone was given a consciousness of his own by an alternate reality version of Moondragon, who used her telepathic powers to collect memories of the original Drax from everyone present to do so. Once this happened, he abandoned the Horde and the Church to follow the Guardians so that he could become who and what he really should be.^[4]

The Guardians of the Galaxy had settled down in Halfworld when Nova approached them for their assistance in stopping the conquering rampage of the Olympians, who had been reborn as bloodthirsty rogue gods. Drax was one of the Guardians who turned away out of concern for the safety of each other.^[5] Some of the members, including Star-Lord, snuck away to assist Nova and were successful in their mission of trapping the Dark Olympians in an alternate dimension at the apparent cost of Quill's life.^[6] As a result, Gamora broke off the team with the other Guardians who had stayed behind, including Drax, and formed their own team of Guardians of the Galaxy to return to their mercenary ways. During this time, Drax reunited with the original Moondragon, the daughter of his genetic template.^[7] For their first mission, the mercenary Guardians came at odds with their former teammates, but eventually reached a truce.^[8]

Star-Lord returned from the other-dimensional world of Morinus, where he had spent a hundred of years of his life, albeit unaging, to herald the escape of the Dark Olympians from their imprisonment.^[9] The two Guardians teams came together for the final confrontation against the Dark Olympians which saw their defeat.^[10] In the aftermath, the Guardians of the Galaxy were sanctioned by the Galactic Council as protectors of the cosmos in light of the increasing uncertainty of the galactic landscape, providing them with headquarters in the space station Proscenium.^[11]