Five Ways The Blade Reboot Can Improve On The Original

Marvel

Mar 12

While we think that Iron Man was the film that jump-started the superhero movie genre, it was actually another Marvel property which saved their whole brand back in 1998 with the movie Blade. The Wesley Snipes movie was certainly a mixed bag when it came to critics but there was no denying the financial success of earning over $130 million during its run and single-handedly saving Marvel from shutting its doors for good and showing people that comic book movies could be successful. Then in 2019, Kevin Feige announced that a new Blade would be released and it would be a part of the ever-growing MCU.

In a recent interview, Kevin Feige stated that production of the new movie is scheduled to begin “in, like, the next 10 weeks or so” down in Atlanta. And as recently as late last year, the production was in a bit of trouble with the original director, Bassam Tariq left the film citing changes to the production schedule and “creative differences.” So with the new blade now coming in 2024, here’s what we want to see from Yann Demange from HBO’s Lovecraft County and the Emmy-nominated Michael Starrbury.

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5. Leave Behind Convoluted Lore

In the original Blade movies, not only was Blade fighting vampires but we learned all about the class structure and hierarchy within the vampiric world. While it was nice to get a building of the universe, it certainly led to some of the more dragging parts of the series. Now that we have Blade in the MCU, we don’t need to go into his world because we already have a pretty in-depth world to stay focused on. The movie can certainly discuss it but without any precedent to speak of in any of the recent MCU movies, as Morbius is technically in its own universe right now, we can just leave this behind.

4. Keep It Simple

During the original movies, Blade started with a simple concept, one half-man, half-vampire fighting against vampires who are trying to take over the world. But he managed to do all of this with just a katana, some bullets and simple throwing knives. As we moved out of the first movie we started to get flash grenades, and more friends to help in the fight. How about we keep Blade as the single fighter in a world that as far as we know doesn’t need multiple vampire hunters?

3. Build Into The Overall MCU

When the first film came out, it was a standalone film/series and Marvel hadn’t started connecting their world through TV shows and movies. So now that Blade is part of Phase 5 of the MCU, we need to see how Blade fits into the overall universe. We know that Blade does make an appearance, albeit uncredited, at the end of The Eternals in a post-credit sequence when Dane Whitman played by Kit Harington is seen about to wield a dark sword which will lead to Dane becoming Black Knight but is there a world where Blade could fit? The Eternals is a good place to start and there are supernatural beings as seen in the special Werewolf By Night. And in the comic universe, Blade was seen to be interacting with both Doctor Strange and Spiderman.

2. Play It Straight

The first movie was a hard R movie with graphic violence, hard language and nudity but as we moved along the series, it started to get campier and decidedly became more about winking and nodding at the audience about what is happening on screen. If we are going to do this then we need to play it straight. Keep it serious and don’t leave room for gags and jokes. Now that the director from Lovecraft County is behind the helm, we should be able to get ourselves a movie which is a serious take on the vampire lore and yet within the realm of the MCU.

1. Don’t Be Afraid To Grow

The original Blade that we have come to know and love is a hunter of vampires while being a vampire himself. But we don’t need a vampire hunter. Vampires cinematically are in a down period so let’s move on to other things. Blade is known to work with Doctor Strange and so that means he can certainly still kill vampires but how about we start looking at a man who is part vampire but also slays mystical beings? Or maybe he chases some demons from a different universe or perhaps a multiverse?

While we can’t forget the series that started it all, Blade needs to change with the times. Under the MCU controlled by Disney and Kevin Feige, we are definitely going to see some changes to the original movies we have come to know and love. However, in the right hands and with an engaged star we can look back fondly on those movies and not at what used to be and I’m excited.

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