Alright, let’s address the question on the mind of all Marvel fans: Will Wesley Snipes make another return as Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The Blade actor was one of the surprise guest stars in Deadpool & Wolverine, making a return to the Daywalker after more than 20 years. Audience reaction to Snipes as Blade was overwhelming, with Deadpool & Wolverine even poking fun at the notion of Marvel attempting to reboot Blade with Mahershala Ali. That particular project has had a rocky road in its production, with Marvel removing the rebooted Blade from its 2025 calendar. All of this is to say that if there was ever a time for Wesley Snipes to reprise his role as Blade in the MCU, it may be now.
Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has been in favor of Wesley Snipes playing Blade again, and he speaks from a place of experience. Reynolds starred alongside Snipes in 2004’s Blade: Trinity, and was a big advocate of Snipes being a part of Deadpool & Wolverine. Reynolds even wants Snipes’ Blade to get the Logan treatment, stating, “There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market. He’s Marvel Daddy. Please retweet for a Logan-like send off.” But with Snipes’ Blade existing in a different universe, and the MCU deep in the Multiverse Saga, maybe there’s a way for him and Ali’s Blade to co-exist at the same time.
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Maybe Wesley Snipes and Mahershala Ali can both play Blade in the MCU
As much as Wesley Snipes has helped usher in this era of blockbuster superhero films, it’s also fair for Marvel Studios to look ahead to its future and reboot Blade with a younger actor like Mahershala Ali. Marvel has been fleshing out its supernatural corner of the MCU with projects like Moon Knight and the Werewolf By Night Special Presentation on Disney+, and a new Blade movie would just help push that along. It’s not Ali’s fault that Marvel can’t seem to settle on a director or script for the project. It also didn’t help that Hollywood shut down for the writers’ and actors’ strikes, delaying work even further.
But just imagine that we finally see Mahershala Ali’s version of Blade teaming up with Kit Harington’s Black Knight, while Wesley Snipes makes another return as Blade for something like Avengers: Secret Wars? The big crescendo to the Multiverse Saga is bringing back filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo to direct, and there’s already been fancasting for the film to include Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men. There’s a good chance Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will also be involved, especially since he’s chilling on Wade Wilson’s world after Deadpool and Wolverine.
Whatever state the MCU is left in following Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s a good bet that older actors like Hugh Jackman and Wesley Snipes won’t be sticking around for more team-ups. The passing of the superhero baton will be taking place, but Wesley Snipes can get a hero’s sendoff in the process. And we’re not even talking about dying in the line of duty. Maybe the Fox characters survive on their world, and Snipes’ Blade finds a nice home there. Then, Ali’s Blade can get down to the business of officially forming the Midnight Sons.
Wesley Snipes’ Blade deserves a Logan sendoff
It may be a controversial opinion to not let either Wesley Snipes or Mahershala Ali be the primary Blade of the MCU, but in our scenario, everybody wins. Fans that are currently championing for one final run for Snipes get to see him be the Daywalker once again, and Marvel gets its future Blade off the ground with Ali. The way we’re thinking is Ali’s Blade movie is a standalone feature that introduces audiences to his version of the character, and Wesley Snipes shows up later for the big superhero ensembles, maybe even getting to meet Ali’s Blade while all this is happening.
It’s not often that fans service lives up to the hype, but that’s a possibility with Blade. Wesley Snipes never envisioned he’d get to play Blade again, but thanks to Ryan Reynolds, he got to suit up again.
“I did not think it was possible,” Snipes told Entertainment Tonight about his Blade return. “I didn’t think we would be able to pull it off. I didn’t think that Marvel was into it, Disney was into it – also because they had Mahershala [Ali] cast for the next upcoming version of it … I thought it didn’t make sense to me, but [when] you get a call from Ryan Reynolds out of the blue after 20 years, you go, ‘Okay, I got to take this call. Let’s see what this is about,’” he explained. “He told me the idea… They said ‘yes’ and ‘it’s a go.’ ‘If you’re in, we’re in.’ Here we are.”
Since Marvel had no issue bringing Wesley Snipes back as Blade for Deadpool & Wolverine, there’s nothing stopping the actor from doing it again as an official part of the MCU.