Kevin Feige Explains What’s Going on with Blade at Marvel Right Now

Blade, the movie starring Wesley Snipes as the not-quite-a-vampire superhero who protects humans from the befanged and bloodthirsty creatures of the night, was a huge commercial success upon its 1998 release and launched a series that’s garnered a cult following over the years. It doesn’t get the credit it deserves for relaunching big-screen superhero movies, and some fans are hungry for the character’s return. Rumors recently flew on bat-wings about Marvel Studios perhaps planning to reboot the character, but Marvel president Kevin Feige says that probably won’t happen. At least, not on a large scale.

The rumors grew out of a NYCC Q&A with Kate Beckinsale, who was asked whether there was any chance there’d be an Underworld/Blade crossover. According to SlashFilm, she replied, “No. We had that idea. No. They’re busy. They’re doing something with Blade.”

Our hopes of a leather-trenchcoat-clad vampire hybrid team-up dashed, we clung to the possibility that a Blade movie was imminent. However, Feige, while speaking after Monday’s Doctor Strange sneak peek, said that, no, Marvel is not working on a Blade movie, although they do have the character in the backs of their minds. When he was asked specifically about Beckinsale’s comments, he answered:

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. We think he's a great character, a really fun character. You know, this movie [Doctor Strange] going into a different side of the universe has fun potential for him to pop up, and between the movies, the Netflix shows, the ABC shows, there's so many opportunities for the characters to show up -- as you're all seeing now with Ghost Rider on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. -- that rather than team-up with other studios with that character, we'll do something cool on our own. What that is and what that will be? We'll see. There is nothing imminent to my knowledge... of course, he shows up in the next episode (laughs).

So, we will be seeing Blade again at some point in some incarnation in the Marvel universe. Probably. Maybe. Nothing is certain. All that’s left to do now is wait, and drown our Blade/Underworld (Bladerworld) sorrows by watching the Underworld: Blood Wars trailer over and over again.