#Blade Almost Lost Wesley Snipes Because His Agents Thought It Was a Bad Idea

Before the MCU, before Fox’s X-Men movies or Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films, there was Blade, Marvel Comics’ first notable success on the big screen. Wesley Snipes played the role of the anti-heroic Daywalker to the hilt, making his take on Blade the definitive version of the character for decades. It is amazing to consider, therefore, as Snipes recently revealed to ET Online, that he was initially advised not to take the part by his team.

“The irony of the whole thing is that when I chose to do the film, the first Blade, most of the representation I had at the time suggested I shouldn’t do it. [They] were absolutely against me taking on the role. And now look what it turned out to be. Who knew? But we ain’t done yet.”

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The world of comic book movies is in a very different place today from where it was in the ’90s, when Blade came out. Marvel movies were largely considered a joke back then, and it is understandable that Snipes, who was a rising star at the time and had cemented his status as a serious actor, would be advised against committing to a project that was seen to have very little chance for success.

Fortunately,Wesley Snipes ignored the doubters, strapping on the pair of samurai swords and stepping into the black leather ensemble to become Blade. And the rest is history. Snipes’ portrayal became so iconic that Mahershala Ali, who is set to play the character in the upcoming MCU reboot of Blade, revealed last year that it was Snipes’ performance that drove him to seek out the role of the Daywalker.

“[It was my role as Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes in Netflix’s Luke Cage] that sparked the idea], married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes’ work and what he had done. And how much had changed since his iteration of Blade, and how that had really sort of ushered in this era of Marvel and DC, sort of like comic book stuff.”

Even though Ali is an Oscar-winning actor, many Blade fans are having difficulty moving on from the idea of Snipes playing the character. There have been multiple demands to have Snipes appear in the upcoming Blade movie in a supporting role or a cameo. According to Snipes, there is definitely a chance of that happening under the right circumstances.

“You never know. Under the right circumstances, I’m open to play with everybody. I know that people associate me with that role. The Daywalker community out there is a part of the Daywalker clique and our global community identifies with a little bit of that world and the new definition of Daywalkers, these global hyphenated multi talented individuals capable doing more things at one time — skill masters, as we call them. So, we gon’ keep going, we gon’ keep bringing.”

Written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Blade stars Mahershala Ali. The film has yet to receive a release date. This news originated at ET Online.

Topics: Blade