Wesley Snipes Still Open To ‘Blade 4’

When fans discuss the current age of the superhero renaissance in feature films, one of the films that is often overlooked is 1998’s Blade, starring Wesley Snipes. Considered more of a horror movie than a comic book adaptation, the film’s gory subject matter didn’t fit in line with the PG-13 adventures of other iconic heroes at the time. 20 years later, Snipes himself has confirmed he’s open to the idea of reprising the role for the fourth time.

“I am very much open to all of the possibilities,” Snipes confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. “If Blade 4 comes along, that is a conversation we can have. And there are other characters in the Marvel universe that, if they want to invite me to play around with, I am with that too. I think the fans have a hunger for me to revisit the Blade character, so that could limit where they could place me as another character in that universe.”

After a trilogy of solo Blade films, which featured an installment directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, the character earned both a live-action and animated series, neither of which connected with audiences.

The character’s films were ahead of their time, as audiences are now clamoring for Snipes to resurrect the character in any project related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, bringing Marvel characters to life is easier said than done, as the MCU has demonstrated it would rather hold onto a character until an organic entry point can be created as opposed to making a character appear merely due to fan excitement.

“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,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told The Playlist in 2016. “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.”

Given how long it’s been since Snipes played the character, some fans have toyed with a new actor taking over the role, with Idris Elba’s name often tossed into the mix. Elba, however, doesn’t think Snipes’ performance can be topped.

“Blade. Wesley killed that,” Elba recalled to ScreenRant about Marvel characters he admires. “No one can do Blade better than Wesley.”

Stay tuned for details about Blade’s future.

[H/T The Hollywood Reporter]