Eric Brooks is a superhero primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the New Line Cinema Blade franchise—based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name—commonly known by his alias, Blade. Brooks is depicted as a dhampir with superhuman abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. Brooks is trained as a vampire hunter by Abraham Whistler and dedicates himself to protecting humanity. A variation of the film's storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film, and Blade's redesigned costu
Eric Brooks is a superhero primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the New Line Cinema Blade franchise—based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name—commonly known by his alias, Blade. Brooks is depicted as a dhampir with superhuman abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. Brooks is trained as a vampire hunter by Abraham Whistler and dedicates himself to protecting humanity. A variation of the film's storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film, and Blade's redesigned costu
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Eric Brooks is a superhero primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the New Line Cinema Blade franchise—based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name—commonly known by his alias, Blade. Brooks is depicted as a dhampir with superhuman abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. Brooks is trained as a vampire hunter by Abraham Whistler and dedicates himself to protecting humanity. A variation of the film's storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film, and Blade's redesigned costume and powers were integrated into comics in 1999. Snipes reprised his role in two further sequel films, Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), as well as in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), which incorporated his iteration of the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise through the multiverse. The character also appeared in Blade: The Series (2006), portrayed by Sticky Fingaz.
Snipes' portrayal of the character received significant critical praise, described as the "quintessential black superhero [before] Black Panther", with the first film starring him receiving a cult following and beginning Marvel's film success, setting the stage for further comic book film adaptations. Snipes' portrayal of the character won him the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live action Marvel character" in 2024 with his reprisal of the role in Deadpool & Wolverine.
In 2015, New Line Cinema producers were in talks to have Snipes reprise the role in a crossover with the Underworld film series, but ultimately the concept never came to fruition. In 2019, Mahershala Ali was announced to be cast as Blade in a planned reboot for the MCU before dropping out of the role in 2026.
Concept and creation
The character Blade made his first appearance as a supporting character in The Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973), written by Marv Wolfman with art by Gene Colan, his first solo story coming in the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Vampire Tales #8 (December 1974), and his first solo series (in color), Blade the Vampire Hunter, being published from July 1994 to April 1995 across ten issues, written by Ian Edginton and Terry Kavanagh, with art by Doug Wheatley.
When New World Pictures bought the rights to Marvel Comics, they were set to make a Mexico-set western starring Richard Roundtree (who would later portray Blade's father in Blade: The Series) as Blade. Marvel Studios then started to develop the film in early as 1992, when rapper/actor LL Cool J was interested in playing the lead role. Blade was eventually set up at New Line Cinema, with David S. Goyer writing the script. When Goyer heard a film was in development he went in to pitch director Ernest Dickerson. New Line originally wanted to do Blade as "something that was almost a spoof" before the writer convinced them otherwise. Goyer wanted to take the character seriously and pitched a trilogy of movies "almost Wagnerian in scope", saying that "I'm going to pitch you the Star Wars of black vampire films", wanting to demystify vampires and treat them as serious villains with a greater sense of realism instead of the doomed romantic characters shown in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Goyer's vision for the project was to create a "post-modernist vampire film", noting that his initial draft was written before the release of movies with similar approaches such as From Dusk till Dawn and Vampire in Brooklyn. Snipes stated that while such a character "isn't going to lend itself to a great deal of emotional depth", there is also "some acting involved in creating the character and making him believable and palatable".
Casting
When Goyer first pitched the idea of doing a Blade film, New Line Cinema asked that Blade and his mentor Jamal Afari both be cast as white instead of black, which Goyer rejected. While the role of Afari was redeveloped as Abraham Whistler, portrayed by white actor Kris Kristofferson, New Line head Mike DeLuca then suggested Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Laurence Fishburne for the role of Blade; of these three, only Snipes was seriously considered, and had the film's finalized script sent to, as opposed to Washington or Fishburne, who were sent earlier drafts. Having failed to get a Black Panther film starring him into production, Snipes signed on to star as Blade in 1996, the film releasing in 1998, before signing on to reprise his role in Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004); in the first film, a young Blade is portrayed by André Hyde-Braithwaite. Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones signed to star as Blade in Blade: The Series, replacing Snipes following Blade: Trinity, with Jon Kent Ethridge portraying a young Blade.
Characterization and redesign
As created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan in 1973, the original comic book version of Blade used teakwood knives and was much more the everyman in his behavior and attitude, wearing red/green clothing and sporting a short afro-style haircut. Although cunning and brave, he displayed flaws as well, such as an inability to get along with certain other supporting cast members and a hatred of vampires that bordered on fanaticism. The character was not originally a "daywalker" but a human being immune to being turned into a vampire. Lacking the superhuman speed and strength of his undead quarry, he relied solely on his wits and skill. Prior to the film's development, Wolfman and Colan had partially revamped the comics character in 1991 with a dark leather jacket, short hair, and more violent tendencies. The 1998 film updated the leather jacket into a body-length coat and added sunglasses, a new haircut, and an enhanced dhampir powerset. The comics character was subsequently modified to match, wearing the new outfit and being bitten by the character Morbius to similarly make him a dhampir like his film counterpart.
Relishing the "challenge [of] stepping back into Blade's shoes" for Blade II, Snipes stated: "I love playing this role. It's f
