Many attribute the success of the contemporary superhero genre to Bryan Singer’s X-Men, which hit theaters in 2000 and helped usher in a new wave of comic book adaptations. However, the first successful Marvel Comics adaptation was Blade, which arrived in 1998 and starred Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire superhero.
The Blade franchise, while initially highly successful, came to a screeching halt with 2004’s Blade Trinity (and certainly wasn’t helped by the terrible 2006 series starring Sticky Fingaz), and since then the rights to the character have reverted back to Marvel Studios. We’ve heard rumors that the studio could be bringing the character to the darker, bloodier Netflix side of the MCU, and expected that the role would be recast. According to Snipes himself, however, there’s a chance that he may don Blade’s fangs again after all.
In an interview with Deadline about his upcoming series The Player, Snipes opened up about his history in the superhero world and stated that he has in fact met with Marvel about playing the character again:
[zerg]“The project is controlled by Marvel and we did have a really productive and a wonderful meeting and we discussed a number of things. I don’t know where it’s on their schedule at this point, that hasn’t been decided. I guess it’s still up in the air.”
Despite the meeting, I would say that it’s highly unlikely Snipes step back into the role. Now that Marvel has control of the character, they’ll want to take him in a new direction, just as they did for Daredevil. Still, Snipes says that he’d love to join the MCU in some other capacity if given the chance:
“That’s a possibility too. I’ve always been a fan of these pieces and adaptations and I’d be nice to be a part of the family again. But if we don’t to a Blade 4 or something else with Marvel, we’ll do something else. We have some other characters and some other concepts that are going to be just as exciting and hopefully just as successful. The first season of The Player will be interesting as well because we have drama and action, which is what I like. It gives me a chance to do a number of different things.”
Tell us, would you like to see Wesley Snipes play Blade again? Sound off in the comments below.
