Wesley Snipes has starred in a huge number of action movies during his career, but if most people were asked to name one right off the top of their head, chances are it would either be Blade or Demolition Man. While the latter saw him playing second fiddle to Sylvester Stallone’s John Spartan, the Marvel Comics adaptation had a huge part in resuscitating a genre that Batman & Robin had almost killed entirely.
Of course, Blade was first mentioned as early as 1992 with L.L. Cool J circling the title role, while Snipes was ironically busy trying to get Black Panther off the ground. After admitting defeat when it came to T’Challa, the actor was then seen as the ideal fit for the Daywalker, given his unshakably cool screen persona and extensive martial arts background.
Back in the late 1990s, an R-rated vampire action movie was hardly a guaranteed box office success, and while Blade eventually went on to earn $131 million on a $40 million budget and launch a franchise, Snipes revealed in a recent interview that his agents at the time tried to convince him that taking the part was a bad idea.
“The irony of the whole thing is that when I chose to do the film, the first Blade, most of the representation I had at the time suggested I shouldn’t do it. They were absolutely against me taking on the role. And now look what it turned out to be. Who knew? But we ain’t done yet.”
That was 23 years ago and Snipes is still fielding questions about Blade, so his decision was more than vindicated. Of course, interest in the original trilogy has surged now that there’s a reboot in the works from the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Mahershala Ali stepping in as Eric Brooks, and the original Blade has already voiced his support for the two-time Academy Award winner as his replacement. Snipes admitted that he’s open to the idea of a cameo as well, but it remains to be seen if Marvel are interested in nodding to the past when they bring the character into the present.
