Try as they might, and there have been many attempts, no vampire hunter can live up to Wesley Snipe’s Blade.
Ok, Buffy runs a close second, but for many people the absence of Blade from the big screen has been a sore spot for lovers of the vampire genre.
Since its release the good name of vampire movies has been smeared by more recent franchises, from a violent, underworld setting to pale, insipid teenage romances.
So it’s fair to say, if Blade makes a return, he’s got his work cut out to try and redeem the genre. The good news is, it seems Snipes is up for the challenge, as he has revealed talks are in process to revive the character.
The first Blade film recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the unstoppable force that it is today, it was one of the first Marvel movies to be a commercial success, opening the doors for subsequent superhero films like Spiderman, X-Men and Black Panther.
Released in 1998, Blade was a dark tale of a human with all the strengths of a vampire but none of their weaknesses, who protected other humans from vampires. It eventually became a trilogy with Blade II and Blade: Trinity following.
In the time since its release, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone from strength to strength and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
As such, it seems the door is open for Snipes to resurrect his character. He revealed in a recent interview that his team have been in talks with studio heads at Marvel about bringing back the infamous vampire hunter.
Speaking to Vice, Snipes hinted at the possibility of not one but two Blade projects in the future:
There are a lot of conversations going around right now and we’re very blessed to have the enthusiasm and interest in something coming from that world again. We’ve created two projects that fit perfectly into this world and, when people see them, I think they’re only going to have a problem with deciding which one they love the most.
All the main execs [at Marvel] and my team, we’ve been discussing for the past two years. Everyone’s enthusiastic about it, everybody gets it.
He added:
But the next time you see something in [the Blade universe], mark my words: what we did before is child’s play compared to what we can do now.
Whether it’s a Blade 4 or a new take on the character is yet to be confirmed, but fans are excited by the prospect nonetheless. A crossover with other Marvel characters could also be on the cards, just don’t expect a return from Hannibal King any time soon.
In the interview, Snipes also implies that he communicated with Blade: Trinity‘s director via post-it notes that were signed ‘from Blade’. And if that doesn’t make you want to see Blade again I don’t know what will.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.