“There’s only ever gonna be one Blade.”
While Marvel has been trying to put together a new Blade film since it was first announced in 2019, as of right now, there is still only one Blade. Granted, there’s two if you count the live-action TV series from 2006, but that was technically supposed to be the same version of Blade from the Wesley Snipes movies, even if it wasn’t Snipes playing the character.
The Blade trilogy, starring Wesley Snipes, began in 1998, with the second and third movies coming out in 2002 and 2004 respectively. In some ways, the Blade movies are considered the first successful Marvel movies with the first movie hitting theaters two years before the first X-Men movie helped to launch the popularity of superhero movies.
The movies follow Eric Brooks AKA Blade, a human/vampire hybrid who fights a never-ending war against the vampires. In some ways, it feels like a radical departure from the rest of the Marvel movies. The Blade movies are darker, and far more violent than the kind of movies that Marvel likes to put out today. All three movies are rated R, and easily earn the ratings. Plus, while Blade certainly has powers beyond that of a normal human, the character and the series don’t really fit into the standard superhero movie mold that Marvel has perfected over the years.
Yet, Marvel is not shying away from the character. Their commitment to bringing a new version of the character into the MCU, plus the surprise return of Snipes as Blade in Deadpool and Wolverine last year, prove that Marvel is quite fond of the character. But for those wanting to watch the Blade trilogy, that hasn’t always been easy to do.
If you want to watch all the Marvel franchises, Disney+ would be your best bet. Almost all of the MCU movies are streaming on the service, as well as the Marvel movies that Disney gained when it purchased Fox (including the X-Men franchise and the Fantastic Four movies). You could even watch both earlier versions of Spider-Man, but there have always been a few Marvel movies that were missing from Disney’s collection.
The Blade franchise has always been notably absent from Disney+, and in fact, has been unavailable to watch on streaming at all until recently. Now, all three movies are currently available to watch on Peacock, so if you’ve been looking to fill that gap in your Marvel viewing, now’s your chance.