The Original Ending for Blade Would Have Included a Controversial Marvel Character Decades Earlier

Through no fault of his own, Blade is under the microscope right now. After landing Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali to play the Daywalker and giving him an off-screen cameo in Eternals, Marvel Studios has dropped the ball, failing to get the character’s solo movie off the ground despite setting multiple release dates. There is a bevy of issues complicating matters, and one of them is the love for Wesley Snipes’ version of Blade. After years in the vampire retirement home, Snipes returned in Deadpool & Wolverine to fight alongside his old friend Ryan Reynolds and proudly explained, “There’s only been one Blade. There’s only ever gonna be one Blade.”

The original Blade movies were products of their time. They were campy and never hesitated to throw in a cringey line now and again. However, for better or worse, they embraced the source material. In fact, there was a point in time when a controversial Marvel character showed up at the end of the first Blade to set the stage for a major big-screen rivalry.

Morbius Nearly Had a Role in the First Blade Movie and Changed the Franchise

Blade throws the kitchen sink at its titular vampire. While trying to take down an ambitious vampire, Deacon Frost, Blade discovers that his mother is still alive and part of the villain’s crew. But saving his mother isn’t an option for Blade, who kills all of the vampires, including Frost, to save humanity from the blood god La Magra. After all that fighting, the next logical step for Blade is to take Dr. Karen Jenson up on her offer to find him a cure and live a normal life. However, he turns her down, choosing to continue fighting injustice. The final shot of Blade sees the hunter confronting a vampire in Russia, paving the way for an international story in Blade II. The Daywalker wasn’t always going to head to Russia, though, as there was another ending that saw him become the prey.

An alternate ending was filmed that played out similarly to the original, with Blade turning down the cure. After making his decision, a figure appeared in the distance wearing a trench coat. While the character’s name was never revealed, director Stephen Norrington intended it to be Morbius, the Living Vampire. Of course, Blade and Morbius have a longstanding rivalry in the comics, and Norrington clearly wanted to explore that in live-action. He even went as far as to play the mysterious figure himself. However, the ending found itself on the cutting room floor, which was probably a good thing because Guillermo del Toro came in to helm the sequel, and painting a creative like him into a corner would’ve been a mistake. There may also have been rights issues because Morbius belonged to Sony at the time, and New Line Cinema was making the Blade movies.

While things worked out for Blade just fine, Morbius wasn’t so lucky. He sat around at Sony until the powers that be attempted to capitalize on the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man movies, casting Jared Leto in a solo film. Morbius was an unmitigated disaster, but that doesn’t have to be the end for the Living Vampire. The MCU could bring him into the fold and set him on a collision course with Blade.

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Blade and Morbius Might Cross Paths in the MCU

Blade isn’t a priority for the MCU right now as the franchise prepares to release two more Avengers films, but it can’t let the character twiddle his thumbs forever. The best course of action is to push forward with the period piece idea for the solo movie and to make Morbius the villain. To right Sony’s wrongs, the MCU can take control of the vampire and have him torment Blade over several decades, until the two meet in the modern day. Maybe they even have to team up to face off against a major villain that threatens both of their lives. It doesn’t need to connect to Sony’s film if Marvel Studios would rather wash its hands of it completely.

There might be red tape in the way, the same kind that stopped Morbius from appearing in the original Blade. However, deals have been struck before, and going back to the table would be worth it if it meant two Marvel heavyweights got to shine together on the big screen.

Did you know that Morbius was going to appear in the first Blade? Would you like to see the characters meet up in the MCU? Let us know in the comments below!