Long before the MCU and before even 2000's X-Men, which is largely credited with the start of the superhero movie age we are now living in, there was Blade. Wesley Snipes starred as the titular vampire hunter in the 1998 film that was successful enough to spawn two sequels. But Blade has been absent from cinema screens since 2004's Blade: Trinity and he has yet to make his debut in the MCU. That doesn't mean that he'll be gone forever, and the one man everyone identifies as Blade is hinting that the character has a future. Speaking about a potential Blade 4, Wesley Snipes teased the possibilities, saying:
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. But they got a business to run and they gotta square the things that they gotta figure out before they can get to it, I guess. In the meantime, we got a business to run and our own slate of things to do.
This is far from a confirmation that Blade 4 is happening, but if nothing else multiple conversations seem to have taken place over the years between Wesley Snipes and his team and the people at Marvel. There are definitely ideas for the character on the table. That is encouraging for fans of the daywalker, but as Wesley Snipes told Vice, Marvel has a business to run and things it has to do before starting real work on Blade. The way I interpret this is that Marvel may be interested in bringing Blade back into the fold and perhaps Wesley Snipes along with him, but the when and how that will happen are still open questions. With access to the Fox characters imminent, the MCU has a lot of toys to play with and only so much time and money to do so.
In his conversation with Vice, Wesley Snipes also mentioned that there are two projects that could fit into (presumably) the Marvel world, and that the next time you see something from Blade, it will make what came before look like child's play. It's not clear what he means by these two projects, and whether or not both could come to fruition, but Wesley Snipes is nothing if not a great hype man. Even if there is no clear timeline on if or when we could see Blade again, it is pretty cool that there are ideas being developed for the character. It would also be nice for Wesley Snipes to be involved in the character's return. The actor has made it pretty clear that he is the only man who can play the character, but if they do reboot him, it would be great to see Wesley Snipes involved creatively or onscreen in a different role.
Kevin Feige has addressed the topic of Blade over the year, but has never really committed to anything firm, which isn't surprising. Now does feel like the right time to reboot the character, though. The MCU hasn't really gone into the horror and supernatural realms too much, but Doctor Strange provides a perfect conduit to introduce Blade. Although given Blade's, shall we say, bloody nature, I'd be fine seeing him not on the big screen but in a dark Netflix-verse series. Maybe that's one of the ideas Wesley Snipes has been working on. Hopefully it isn't too long before we see the character again.
Keep an eye on our guide for everything going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any updates on the future of Blade.
