With reporting by Chris Kim

Now that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has reached leading man status, Dave Bautista has proven himself to be Hollywood's new go-to strongman. The former pro wrestler followed up his standout performance in "Guardians of the Galaxy" with a memorable role in James Bond's latest outing, "Spectre."

As Mr. Hinx, one of Spectre's deadliest henchmen, Baustista revives the type of stoic, eccentric bad guy that tore through the Bond franchise's early days. Think a modern-day take on Oddjob, Harold Sakata's hat-throwing assassin from "Goldfinger," with a twist. For one, Hinx doesn't need a fancy weapon.

"Sam [Mendes] was trying to capture that very nostalgic, the very classic silent henchman," Bautista told MTV News during a press day in Mexico City. "He's the updated Jaws. He's the updated Oddjob. Those guys had their special talents -- Oddjob had his bowler, Jaw had his teeth and Hinx has got his thumbs."

Yep. Hinx uses his thumps to literally crush his opponents. His character's silent entrance features him crushing a man's skull with his hands... and squeezing his eyes out with his thumps.

"It's pretty awesome," he said. "The first time I read that scene, I knew it was going to be pretty special because it's such a statement and such a way to introduce you to a character. It really let you into the mind set of the whole organization. He's crossing into a world where there's no mercy."

"It makes sense with the character," Bautista added. "He's very manicured and elegant. It looks very natural, even though he's doing this ruthless act."

In making Hinx the baddest mofo on the planet, Bautista and Mendes disagreed on one major scene -- the scene in which Hinx opens his mouth for the first and only time to mutter the word "sh-t."

"I think Hinx, and this is my opinion, I think he said one word too many," the actor said. "I would have preferred that he had gone just completely speechless."