It's easy to give all the credit for the popularity of superhero movies to X-Men and Spider-Man, two movies that proved superhero films could be high-quality and attract big crowds. However, both of them are following in the footsteps of Blade, the 1998 superhero movie starring Wesley Snipes. While it and its accompanying sequels were more straight action films, Blade proved that comic books could make for good movies when treated seriously. It's not much of a wonder then that Marvel Studios has apparently been meeting with Snipes about the future of the franchise.
Wesley Snipes has been teasing the return of the Blade franchise and confirmed in an interview that he was having conversations with Marvel and that two Blade-centric projects were in the works. As to what those projects are, only time will tell at the moment but there are plenty of different options for Marvel if they wanted to find a way to bring the Daywalker back to the mainstream. The folks at Marvel likely have about 10 ideas, but here's an extra four, should they need a hand.
Blade 4
The Blade franchise wrapped up back in 2004 with Blade Trinity, a movie that wasn't received too well by fans or critics compared to the first two. This offers Marvel a chance to end on a high note with Blade 4, which would continue the story of Wesley Snipes' vampire hunter. For fans of the original movies, that would likely be the favorite option but it comes with some problems. The biggest obstacle is that because Marvel Studios got the rights to Blade back, any future film would be in the MCU. By doing Blade 4, that means that all the previous movies would be canon in the MCU and they don't really fit tonally with the rest of Marvel's connected franchises. It also raises the question of how the existence of vampires and the events of the Blade trilogy hasn't come up at all in 18 movies.
A Blade Netflix Show
If Marvel were to make another Blade, it's highly likely that it would be rated PG-13. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you've got a main character who guts bloodsuckers all day, you might want to see something a little harder edged. That's where Netflix comes in, with that particular corner of the MCU. The Netflix shows are allowed to be a bit more graphic (just watch Punisher), so Blade could fit right in there. People have wanted Marvel to make various connected shows around supernatural characters for a while, and Blade would certainly be a cool way to kick thing off. However, if Wesley Snipes is chatting with Marvel Studios, then it's likely it is a movie project. The studio has very little to do with the TV side of the business.
Reboot Blade
A reboot is a classic tool for both comics and movies, and here is where they intersect. Rather than continue the story of an established Blade (Wesley Snipes), Marvel can start fresh with a completely different actor in the role. That way, the new Blade movies can fit into the MCU while adding a new franchise of players into the mix. Jon Boyega is a fan-favorite for the role, so this would be a chance to snatch him up. It's possible that Snipes could be an executive producer or consultant, helping to steer the ship with his knowledge of the character. Marvel could also cast Snipes as a different character, or even go for a soft reboot and have Snipes play an older Blade -- implying the older movies exist but not actually address it -- passing on the torch to a younger vampire hunter. There's one specific way Marvel can do this. Read on.
Introduce Blade's Daughter
If you are looking for a character to pick up the Blade mantle, there's no one better than his own daughter. Blade's teenage daughter Fallon Grey has an interesting history. She was first teased by Marvel in 2015 during another of their almost yearly comic relaunches, wherein every series basically starts from scratch while new heroes are introduced. Fallon was supposed to be one of these characters for an all-new Blade series that would have seen the high school student following in her father's footsteps. However, the first issue never made it to the shelves. The writer, Tim Seeley, decided to leave the book because he felt a black woman would be a better choice to tell this story. Marvel has yet to find that writer but that doesn't mean that the idea can't be used for a movie. After all, people love high school girls killing vampires.
