You know the name, but how much do you really know about Blade? Marvel’s sunglasses-clad vampire hunter has been slaying bloodsuckers in comic book pages since 1973. He hit the mainstream with the release of his Wesley Snipes-starring horror-action film in 1998, although the character went through quite a few changes from his comic counterpart in that adaptation. Two more blockbuster movies would cement his status as the monster who scares the monsters.
At 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel set Hall H ablaze with the news that Mahershala Ali would be taking over the iconic character in the MCU. So let’s learn more about Blade and his comic book roots to get an idea of where a new direction might take him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These are the topics we’ll be covering here:
- Who Is Blade?
- Blade’s Origin
- Blade’s Powers and Abilities
- Blade’s Signature Villains
- Marvel’s Blade in Movies
- Marvel’s Blade in TV and Games
- Mahershala Ali as Blade
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Who Is Blade?
Blade, whose real name is Eric Brooks, was practically born a vampire slayer. His mother was turned into a vampire mere moments before his birth, which granted him supernatural abilities including long life and immunity to vampire bites. He became a hunter of the undead with the driving desire to claim vengeance on Deacon Frost, the monster that bit his mother.
“For me, it’s only ever been about makin’ them pay,” he said in Blade: Crescent City Blues. “I’m a vampire hunter. I never claimed to be a hero.”
His quest for revenge would not only lead him to Frost, but ultimately into fights against the undead and other supernatural horrors alongside allies like Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Gwenpool, the X-Men, and the Avengers.
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Blade’s Origin
In 1929, Eric was born in England to a woman named Tara Brooks. (His father was Lucas Cross, a Latverian dissident who was arrested for treason; he had sent his wife away for her safety.) Eric’s mother died in childbirth when the “doctor” called in to assist with labor drained her of blood instead—with the help of two very sharp fangs. The fiend’s name? Deacon Frost.
Eric was born with an immunity to a vampire’s bite thanks to his dual nature of both human and vampire, but he was already an orphan. His mother’s friends raised the young boy until he was old enough to learn how to fight under the tutelage of Jamal Afari. The elder vampire hunter taught him everything he knew about the undead, investigation, and close combat. Eventually his prowess with weapons earned young Eric the nickname Blade.
True to his name, Blade brandished blades of all types, from teak wood daggers for staking to a lethal double-edged sword. He used them without mercy against any vampire who got in his way, whether the undead was an ancient horror or a recently turned innocent child.
Blade’s Powers and Abilities
Due to his dual nature as a dhampir — also called a Daywalker — Blade has a heightened awareness of the supernatural and he cannot be turned into a vampire. While not immortal, Blade ages much more slowly than a human.
Morbius and Blade clashed on more than one occasion; Morbius bit the hunter on the arm in one confrontation (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8). Blade was not immune to the living vampire’s unique physiology. As a result, Blade gained even more vampiric abilities like super strength and agility and regenerative healing, but also fangs and a thirst for blood.
He is highly trained in martial arts and is an expert marksman—especially with silver bullets locked and loaded.
Blade’s Signature Villains
No matter the vampire he faced, Blade was undaunted. As he hunted Frost, Blade crossed paths with vampires from the smallest lackey all the way to Dracula himself. He took out the Lord of Vampires more than once. The two have a long history of facing off (and even occasionally teaming up) ever since Blade’s original appearance in 1973, including as part of the X-Men event Curse of the Mutants and in the 2019 Avengers storyline War of the Vampires.
But he remained single-minded in his pursuit of Deacon Frost. The vampire had the unique ability to create doppelgängers of anyone he had turned and was capable of making a decoy of himself as well. Any doppelgänger he created was under his complete control. Blade would battle against copies of himself, his friends, and Frost before their final confrontation in 2005’s Tomb of Dracula #4.
Later, in the aftermath of the Infinity storyline, Eric Brooks joined the Mighty Avengers to fight against an old foe, the immortal Deathwalkers. He wished to remain anonymous so his undead enemies wouldn’t find him; he donned a store-bought Spider-Man costume and posed as “Spider Hero.” Later he would find Ronin’s costume in a box that belonged to Clint Barton and assume that masked identity for a time. He revealed his face to both his foes and readers in Mighty Avengers #9.
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Marvel’s Blade in Movies
Most moviegoers picture Blade in the form of Wesley Snipes thanks to his incredibly successful trilogy of explosive movies that began in 1998. In the film version of the character, Blade was born with all of the vampire powers such as super strength and reflexes but with none of their weaknesses. He was born in Detroit, and, true to his comics history, his mother was bitten by Frost while pregnant.
In another nod to his comics past, Blade works with an older mentor in the trilogy. Eventually he teams up with other bad-ass vampire hunting allies, including Hannibal King (played by Ryan Reynolds), a classic Marvel character that originally made his debut in the Tomb of Dracula comics alongside Blade.
The Blade films are often credited with electrifying audiences and kicking off the superhero movie surge that has dominated the box office in recent years.
Marvel’s Blade in TV and Games
- TV: A short-lived Blade TV series made its debut on Spike TV in 2006 following the third movie. In the series, Blade’s roots are again in Detroit, where he hunts a vampire named Marcus Van Sciver with the help of a new vampire named Krista. Only twelve episodes of the action-packed series were produced. Blade has appeared in animation as well, from the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon to Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. ( where he was voiced by Terry Crews). He even starred in his own anime.
- Games: He’s also shown up in several Marvel video games, including movie tie-in games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Puzzle Quest, Marvel Heroes, Marvel Contest of Champions, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 1 and 2, and most recently Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
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Mahershala Ali as Blade
As Marvel wrapped up another earth-shattering panel in Hall H at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, they had one last surprise for the ecstatic audience. Mahershala Ali joined Kevin Feige on the stage to announce that a new Blade film is in the works for the near future. While the vampire hunter probably won’t be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe until after Phase 4 is complete, excitement is already growing for his introduction.
Given Blade’s early stories with Doctor Strange, the two could make for a magical movie team-up that adds supernatural horror to the MCU. Blade also has a long comics history with both Spider-Man and Morbius, easily opening the way for his entry into the Sony side of the Marvel movies. No matter who he takes along on his blood-filled quest for vengeance, we can’t wait to see how his introduction will change the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Kelly Knox is a freelance writer who also contributes to StarWars.com, DCComics.com, Nerdist, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and comics.
Source: IGN.com Marvel's Blade Explained