The Following Contains Spoilers ForDeadpool & WolverineDeadpool & Wolverineisn’t the best superhero movie, but it certainly delivers on its premise. For its virtues as an action comedy, it’s most in its element as an act of cinematic necromancy. Wesley Snipes' Blade might be the best recipient of the film’s desire to pack in every existing 20th Century Fox character. The awkward aspect of his presence is that it comes at least a year before Marvel’s attempt to bring Blade back to the big screen.
Cameos rarely serve a purposeoutside their pure presence. The cinematic universe model practically guarantees a culture of callbacks and brief appearances. Sometimes a character popping up in an unexpected place might be a joke. Sometimes it’s a tease for a future project. Sometimes it’s just there to elicit applause. Very few cameos have an effect outside the moment they appear. There is an interesting possibility that a cameo in one film could impact the perception of another.
Deadpool & Wolverine Brought Back Blade
Among the many familiar 2000s characters whoreturned forDeadpool & Wolverine, fans saw Wesley Snipes in the role of Eric “Blade” Books for the first time in 20 years. Snipes first became the Daywalker in 1996. The firstBlademovie had a long, strange development process that shifted gradually to 20th Century Fox. David S. Goyer was the primary voice behind the project. Goyer is a fascinating screenwriter, with everything fromThe Dark KnighttoCall of Duty: Black Opsunder his belt. New Line Cinema head Michael De Luca pitched a few potential stars for Goyer’sBlade, but Goyer only really ever considered one. For his part, Wesley Snipes was trying to getaBlack Panthermovieoff the ground. It didn’t work out, but that missed opportunity allowed Snipes to sign on for theBladetrilogy.
Snipes stuck around for all threeBlademovies. Goyer wrote all three entries and even stepped in to direct the disastrous conclusion. No one would argue thatBlade: Trinityis asatisfying send-off for Snipes’sBlade. The production was a struggle at every step. Each entry had a different director. Oliver Hirschbiegel, the talent in talks forTrinity, skipped the project to directDownfall, the film from which the internet got the iconic “Hitler Reacts To” meme. The actual on-set events are still disputed. It’s fair to say that Snipes had some static with Goyer and his co-stars. He and Ryan Reynolds evidently got over it becauseDeadpool & WolverinegaveSnipes something approaching a proper final act. Brooks could have survived his fate and stuck around for future projects, but this serves as a decent goodbye. It’s also a strange glimpse at the old when fans should be looking toward the new.
Marvel is Still Working On TheirBlade
The Marvel Cinematic Universe technically has Wesley Snipes' Blade under its massive empire. Marvel had a working script for their take onBladein 2013. Theycast Mahershala Ali for the partin 2019. They gave Ali his off-screen debut inEternalstwo years later. They’ve since gone through two directors and at least four writers on the project. It’s still scheduled for next November, at least 12 years after its first script hit Marvel’s desk. It makes the New Line CinemaBlademovies look flawless in their production cycles. People were thrilled to seeBladereturn. Though Marvel only does comic book movies, there’s an upper level of notoriety one only attains through a film adaptation from a couple of decades ago. As the production cycle marched on through multiple script rewrites, many fans lost faith. A glimpse at the quality of the old Blade pushes Marvel’s effort into the spotlight.
The Time ForBladeis Now, but the Film Isn’t Ready
If Marvel’sBladeever makes it out of production, it will be measured against the original trilogy. Right now, it would have a fresh reminder of his acting skills and general coolness inDeadpool & Wolverineto build from. Snipes dominates the two or three scenes he appears in. The previous showcase was unmistakably his worst, and whileDeadpoolis not his best, it’s a massive improvement. Beyond bringing Wesley Snipes back into the public eye, the project also pushes Marvel into the hard R-rating that it’s always avoided. The energy is in the air to getBladeinto the conversation. Unfortunately, Marvel will leave the audience waiting for around a year and a half.
The idea that superhero movies are worse now than they were 20 years ago is not fair. The truth is that they’re far more ubiquitous. Even the bad superhero movies from the 2000s have a certain clumsy charm about them.Bad superhero movies from a yearor two ago just feel like the biggest empire in the world, blowing every possible advantage and still earning the GDP of a small nation. The MCU’sBladewill have to compete against Goyer’sBladetrilogy. Thanks toDeadpool & Wolverine, it’ll have a fresh Wesley Snipes to compare to as well.
