When tracing the evolution of the comic book blockbuster from the dark days of Batman & Robin to the almost ubiquitous presence on our screens that it’s become over the last 20 years, most people pinpoint Bryan Singer’s X-Men as the movie that marked a shift in attitude and convinced the major studios that superheroes could be a continually viable property.
Sadly, Stephen Norrington’s Blade frequently tends to get left out of the conversation, despite the impact it had on big screen comic adaptations. Just a year after George Clooney and Joel Schumacher’s neon and nipples disasterpiece had almost killed the genre entirely, Wesley Snipes threw on a leather trench coat and a pair of sunglasses to remind people that these characters could be effortlessly cool if they were handled correctly.
Blade made over $130 million at the box office on a $45 million budget, and the sequel was the first directorial effort of Guillermo del Toro’s career that actually earned any money, so the first two installments definitely left behind a lasting legacy. Trinity, however, has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali now faces the daunting task of stepping into Snipes’ shoes to reinvent Blade for modern audiences as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a new fan poster from ApexForm imagines how he could look in the title role, as you can see below.
Morbius may have been named as one of the most highly anticipated titles of 2021 for unknown reasons, but a lot of fans would agree that Blade is the vampiric comic book movie they’re looking forward to the most. Kevin Feige has already promised that big news surrounding the Daywalker’s return is coming soon, too, though as of yet, we don’t know when to expect it.
Published: Jan 4, 2021 08:23 am