How Marvel should reintroduce Blade into its Cinematic Universe
1. Cast Mahershala Ali
He is not exactly a household name, but he showed some legitimate acting chops in both House of Cards (particularly in Season 2) and in the Movie “Predators” as the Sierre Leone Death Squad Soldier. Although Wesley Snipes portrayal as Blade probably cannot be topped (After the success of the movie, Marvel changed the character within the comics to be more like Snipes’s portrayal in the 616 universe and especially in the Ultimate Universe), but his combination of a superhero’s build (he’s 6’2” and pretty built) and onscreen presence (although his time in “Predators” was short, his character’s imposing presence amongst other killers was definitely felt) should produce a quality anti-hero or dark protagonist. Also, the quiet/understated confidence, intelligence, sense of realness and passion he brings to the role, as Remy Danton in “House of Cards” would bode well to a somewhat isolated character like Blade. It also might help to differentiate this Blade from Snipes' by changing the look (maybe lost the trench coat). Throw in a few one-liners the way Snipes did and I think you’d have a successful Blade.
2. Make Draconis the first Antagonist.
Although Deacon Frost and Dracula are Blade’s main enemies, I think a Deacon Frost centered movie would be too similar to the first Blade movie and I think Dracula should be saved as a villain. Most Blade movies feature him slicing through hundreds of vampires, so it would be cool to see him fight a vampire that is immensely powerful (even more so than Blade) by feeding on other vampires, and whose sole mission is to kill Blade. All of Snipes movies center on Blade being the hunter so it might be refreshing to see him as the hunted. I would love to see James Purefoy (Joe Carroll in “The Following”) portray this role.
3. Make Blade about 100 years old.
In both Marvel comics and most vampire lore, vampires become more powerful as they age. Blade often appears to be at least 10 times more powerful than the average vampire even though technically he isn’t any stronger than them. He’s just immune to silver, garlic, sunlight and holy water. This would make it clear as to why Blade is so deadly and would further explain why Blade runs through 99% of vampires and is so skilled in martial arts and with various weapons. Also, since vampires don’t age, Ali could still fit the cast. It also makes sense to amp up Blade’s power levels somewhat to make him more comparable to Marvel’s other cinematic characters.
4. Make the sequel a Blade and Werewolf by Night team up against Dracula.
In the comics, Dracula has defeated the whole X-Men team and has been a nemesis to powerful beings like Apocalypse. It would make sense for Blade to need major help to defeat him. I think this team up movie could be the precursor to a Midnight Sons movie.
5. Make a Midnight Sons Movie
It seems pretty clear that Marvel really wants to make a Dr. Strange movie in Phase 3, so it would make sense to incorporate the Midnight Sons. This could allow Dr. Strange to be the star of his own team and it would also allow Marvel to make darker-toned movies, which they probably wouldn’t want to do with their Avengers characters. They might want to add other characters (not Morbius though because he probably belongs to Sony/Spiderman) to make a more complete team, but I think the two most important characters would be Dr. Strange due to his popularity and impending movie and Blade because he’s already produced a successful franchise. If Dormamu isn’t used in a Dr. Strange film, I think he could be a good villain. I also think they could use the Switchblade storyline and have a possessed Blade be the villain.
6. Make a Midnight Sons and Avengers Team up
This probably wouldn’t happen, but it would be pretty cool to see a movie where the two teams had to fight Loki and Mephisto or something along those lines
Your Thoughts?