Over the course ofComic-Con, while promoting his new NBC seriesThe Player,BladestarWesley Snipesconfirmed that he’d had meetings with Marvel aboutreprising the character. Now comes word that, while this may be true, the next incarnation ofBladeon the big screen may not focus onWesley Snipes’s vampire hunter. Instead, it will focus on Marvel comics new female hunter.
Marvel is set to launch a new version of theBlade comic booksthat focuses on Blade’s daughter, though they have been delayed.Bleeding Coolclaims this delay is in effect because Marvel and Disney want the publication to fall in line with what they have planned on the big screen. What was once known simply asBlade 4has suddenly become very important to those at Marvel in terms of multi-media, and the renewed interest is partially due to the overwhelming responseWesley Snipes' comments received this past July.
The new female Blade that is being introduced in the comic books will be the Blade that headlines the next movie.Blade, which was released in 1998, was the first ever successful movie based on a Marvel Comics title after a number of flops over the years. The movie pulled in $70 million stateside, with a global cume of $131.1 million. It went onto spawn two sequels and a TV show. And it turned the Daywalker into one of Marvel’s most popular characters. But the franchise has laid dormant for over ten years, with the previousBlade: Trinity, released in 2004, not well received by critics or fans.
TheBladetitle only recently transitioned back to Marvel after being housed at Warner Bros.' sister company New Line. There was talk of incorporatingBladeinto Netflix’s crop of Marvel shows that includeMarvel’s Daredevil,Marvel’s Jessica Jones,Marvel’s Luke Cage, andMarvel’s Iron Fist. While he didn’t get his own series, many believed he would be used like The Punisher, and feature as a guest star, most likely inMarvel’s Luke Cage. That has never been confirmed by Marvel and Netflix, nor has a new feature film been given the green light.
There are no plot details for the Blade 4/reboot mentioned in the new report. But it is speculated thatWesley Snipeshas in fact been in talks with Marvel to repriseBlade. But he would be starring in a secondary role as a mentor figure who trains his daughter to hunt and killvampires. At this time, there is no production start date, director or cast attached. It’s possible that a new Blade could be part ofMarvel Phase 4, which doesn’t kick off until 2020. That would makeWesley Snipesat least 58 years-old by the time he returns to play The Day Walker. Which certainly adds more credibility to this rumor. As Marvel is always seeking out fresh blood. We have a look at some concept art from the new Marvel Blade comic book reboot, which features Blade and his daughter.
