It's no surprise to anyone that Wesley Snipes, the man who played Blade first back in 1998, is keen on a cinematic revival. Marvel's preeminent supernatural hero, Snipes' first two films paved the way for the superhero genre as it now exists. No Blade, no Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And that's why it's so surprising that Marvel, despite holding the keys to the Blade bandwagon, have been so reluctant to use the character. Snipes again made noise about a potential reboot just the other week, and Kate Beckinsale herself said that plans for a Blade/Underworld crossover were shelved at the behest of Marvel themselves but a few short years ago.
It's clear that the House of Ideas aren't done with the property, but the fact that the project has been kept under wraps surely implies caution on their behalf - and for good reason. There are a whole host avenues to take when resurrecting Blade for a live-action format, and with Marvel boasting a dominant presence on the big-screen and off it, it could be that Blade finds renewal in a TV series of his own.
In any case, the Daywalker is long overdue a cinematic comeback - with Snipes, or without him.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
