Although Bryan Singer’s X-Men might take the lion’s share of the credit for rejuvenating and revitalizing the comic book genre after Batman & Robin almost killed it entirely, Stephen Norrington’s Blade also had a huge part to play. After all, most high profile superhero movies tended to be geared towards family audiences and largely played it safe until Wesley Snipes’ Daywalker came along.
Arriving a year before The Matrix turned leather, sunglasses and kung fu into action cinema’s aesthetic of choice, Blade was a breath of fresh air for a style of filmmaking that was on life support, combining the standard tropes of the genre with some phenomenally choreographed fight sequences, R-rated violence and visual effects that were hugely impressive for the time.
For a lot of people, Snipes will always be Blade, although Marvel have found a suitably solid replacement for their upcoming reboot in the shape of two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali. And after being given the blessing of his predecessor to inherit the role, Ali will be looking to deliver a performance that’s just as intensely charismatic and even more engaging than the version that headlined the original trilogy.
Of course, ever since the project was announced, there’ve been rumors doing the rounds that Snipes could end up making a cameo, and the latest report claims that he might even end up playing the villain. Mikey Sutton of Geekosity is the one with the scoop, saying:
From what I heard, they are discussing of having him as the villain, perhaps the MCU version of Dracula or even as Blade’s mentor, Abraham Whistler.
As much as longtime fans would love to see this particular passing of the torch, having the 58 year-old show up in the Blade reboot might end up being a little too meta and distracting when the focus should be on Mahershala Ali putting his own unique stamp on the cult favorite character. That being said, we’re sure that it’s something that would still please a good amount of people.