Wesley Snipes brought the little-known Marvel comic book character Blade to life in cinemas in 1998, and now it seems that another installment may be on the horizon. The film franchise was previously owned by New Line Cinemas, with the last film Blade: Trinity having been released in 2004. Since then, the vampire-hunting superhero has been absent from the silver screen, save for spawning a short-lived television series on Spike TV in 2006 starring rapper Sticky Fingaz.
Recently, Wesley Snipes spoke about the Blade series while promoting his current NBC series The Player, giving fans a glimmer of hope that he could return to the role in another installment. “There’s always a possibility, you know. It’s in Marvel’s hands,” the actor said. Marvel Studios, whose first theatrical release was 2008’s Iron Man, re-acquired the film rights to the Blade series within the last couple of years, along with The Punisher, Daredevil, which 20th Century Fox let go of, and Ghost Rider, which originally belonged to Sony Pictures. While Marvel seemed happy to have these characters back in their stable, there were no immediate plans for film reboots – although Daredevil got a very successful adaptation on Netflix and is currently filming its second season.
Snipes went on to say that his camp, along with Marvel Studios, sees the value in continuing the franchise and telling more stories within the Blade universe. The actor is not sure what the studio will ultimately choose to do; however, he did point out that he is still in good shape at 53 years old, and he could still handle the physicality of the role. When Maxwell introduced the idea of Blade starring alongside the likes of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America in the Avengers franchise, Snipes seemed to be open to the possibility and was curious as to where the Blade character could fit into that world. “He’s got to bite somebody. I don’t know who he’s going to bite,” he playfully said.
1998’s Blade is recognized as the beginning of the superhero-era that we find ourselves in today, grossing a total of $131 million worldwide. Although the sequel, Blade 2, earned a little more money worldwide, the series took a dive with Blade: Trinity, both financially as well as critically. Wesley Snipe’s current television show The Player has him playing a former intelligence officer working as a security expert in Las Vegas. The show premieres NBC on September 24th at 10:00PM.