Bad News, 'Blade' Fans; Marvel Says 'Nothing Imminent' on the Reboot Front
Long before there was an official Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was Blade, the half-vampire, half-human warrior played by Wesley Snipes whose mission in life was to hunt bloodthirsty vampires. Snipes’s trilogy of Blade films was a cut above — particularly 2002’s Guillermo Del Toro-helmed Blade II — and with the comic-book studio now populating both movies and TV with its numerous heroes, the question has arisen as to when Blade might finally make his proper MCU return. Those queries only escalated last week, when, while promoting Underworld: Blood Wars at New York Comic-Con, Kate Beckinsale stated that there had been talk about an Underworld-Blade crossover, but that it was killed because Marvel already had plans for the character.
While that comment got fans’ hopes up, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has now thrown some cold water on such speculation. Speaking to The Playlist after Monday night’s sneak peek at Doctor Strange, he admitted that while Beckinsale is correct in saying that a crossover was briefly discussed, there’s nothing on the immediate horizon when it comes to Blade.
“They did ask a long time ago and I think our answer was, ‘No, we’ll do something with Blade at some point.’ That’s still the answer. We still think he’s a great character. He’s a really fun character. We think this movie going into a different side of the universe would have the potential to have him pop up, but between the movies, the Netflix shows, the ABC shows there are so many opportunities for the character to pop up as you’re now seeing with Ghost Rider on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that rather than team up with another studio on that character let’s do something on our own. What that is? Where that will be? We’ll see. There is nothing imminent to my knowledge.”
In other words — don’t hold your breath for that phone call, Wesley Snipes.
