Blade’s Wesley Snipes Says Character Doesn’t Need to Be R-Rated

The topic of R-rated superhero movies has long been a point of contention among fans on social media. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is Hollywood’s largest franchise and has never featured anything rated more adult than the standard PG-13 rating. Other projects like The Boys, however, push the boundaries with hardcore violence and language, taking the TV-MA or R designations to new heights.

In the debates, many look to the Blade trilogy of the late-1990s and early-2000s for guidance. The films feature Wesley Snipes’ cult-favorite Eric Brooks and each of the three pictures was rated R for violence and language. Still, Snipes himself tells us he doesn’t think that is a requirement of the vampire-hunting Marvel character.

“I think those kind of stories lend themselves to a wide range of dialogue and situations. Both adult and young adult,” Snipes tells us of the ratings debate. “I don’t know, it seems like the R-rating and PG-13 base is sliding now because it seems that now the 13-year-olds can speak better words than the adults can.”

Whatever the case, the actor says the story needs to be dedicated to the source material. If the story is faithful to its inspiration, Snipes says you can’t go wrong.

“As long as it’s true and organic to the subject matter, the plot, and the world that’s created,” he adds. “If there’s consistency, I think it’s fine [to be PG-13].”

After the Blade trilogy, it took a few years to see mainstream superheroes dip their toes back in adult-oriented storytelling. It wasn’t until 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool franchise took off where the discussion became as prevalent as ever. Now that the property is owned by Marvel Studios, the likes of Kevin Feige have said it will remain R-rated instead of falling in line with the studio’s other films and television shows.

We spoke to Snipes in support of The Exiled, an original graphic novel that is now funding on Kickstarter. The Blade trilogy is now streaming on HBO Max. The Marvel Studios Blade reboot has yet to set a release date.

What other characters would you like to see make up the MCU’s new Midnight Suns team? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!