Natalia S Duxbury > [Axions] are just hypothetical particles.
Yes, but they are sort of an unavoidable consequence of the favourite (if not only) explanation for why parity is not violated in strong interactions. But I am not sure that the axion is a good cold dark matter candidate; it must be cold enough, invisible enough, and plentiful enough.
The question doesn't make sense, since it's not true that (a) the particle content of dark matter has been determined and (b) that these particles don't have the properties of axions.
Axions aren't so much interesting for describing the particle content of dark matter, but for describing other effects, in particular, CP violation, since they have odd parity and their interactions with ordinary matter would be appropriate. It may be the case that they describe, also, dark matter. They have to be discovered, first (along with the particles that make up dark matter).
There's no a priori reason why the particles that make up dark matter should have odd parity (or that they must have even parity, which would exclude axions).