Summary

Blade
‘s troubled production history highlights the challenge of making a good movie with a complex character like Blade.
Werewolf by Night could be the key ingredient missing from Marvel’s
Blade
reboot to help the film reach its potential.
Pairing Blade and Werewolf by Night in a Marvel team-up could solve many of the film’s problems and elevate both characters.

Of all the Marvel Studios projects that have had trouble getting off the ground, no one would have guessed Blade. When Marvel Studios first announced Blade in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con with two-time Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali in the lead role, it seemed like a no-brainer. Blade was already the star of three feature films from 1998 to 2004, so bringing him into the MCU should’ve been easy as the template had been set before. Yet due to a combination of factors ranging from delays due to COVID-19 and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes to two directors dropping out, Blade has become Marvel Studios’ most troubled production.

While some might say it is easy to make a Blade movie and have him fight vampires, it isn’t that simple. Making a good Blade movie is harder than one would think, as proven by how bad Blade: Trinity turned out. Yet the other major factor is that the MCU Blade needs to stand out from what came before, justifying its existence the same way the MCU Spider-Man needed to be different from the two previous film versions. The critical component to making Blade work within the MCU might have already been introduced in the 2022 Halloween special, Werewolf by Night. Jack Russell/Werewolf by Night might be the key ingredient missing from Marvel’s Blade reboot and just what the film needs to get off the ground.

Blade’s Problematic History With the Evil Species Trope

While the Blade trilogy certainly holds a special place in the hearts and minds of fans, as seen by the rapturous response to Wesley Snipes reprising the iconic role in Deadpool & Wolverine, Blade: Trinity’s ending certainly put a sour note on the entire franchise. Blade introduces Blade’s origin and his mission to kill all vampires, while Blade II sees Blade working with the vampires to stop a common threat, but due to his relationship with the born vampire Nyssa, he starts to open his mind to the idea that not all vampires were evil, as some were not given a choice to be born this way, and therefore should they die for that?

Instead of picking up that narrative thread and forcing Blade to evolve his mission to see not all vampires as evil, Blade: Trinity not only retreats to making vampires monstrous foes but ends with Blade and his human allies committing a war crime by creating a virus to kill all vampires. Blade and his allies essentially commit an act of genocide and beg the question of what happened to those born vampires like Nyssa or even those who just wanted to live a normal life.

Related The New Blade’s Woes Pale in Comparison to the Surreal Development Hell of the Original Conceived as a “hip-hop Marvel movie,” Blade’s creators had to fight to preserve the film’s integrity.

The evil race/evil species trope is one common trope in fantasy and science fiction that categorizes an entire category as “evil,” from the Orcs in Lord of the Rings to the vampires in the Blade trilogy. The concept of the evil races in fantasy and sci-fi often draws from real-world stereotypes that characterize real-world groups of people that can be hurtful and offensive. A lot of modern pop culture has moved towards correcting this idea, like how, in 2020, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast removed the concept of goblins and orcs being evil races. Marvel Studios themselves subverted fans’ expectations of Captain Marvel by taking the Skrull, one of Marvel Comics’ most famous “evil” race of aliens, and making them a refugee species.

This journey of realizing that not all vampires are evil and that he has been blinded by his own prejudice is a great journey for Blade to go on in the MCU. It not only makes him different from the version that came before but also engages with the prior films while updating the character for the 21st century. Marvel Studios already has the perfect character to help Blade confront this issue, and that is Werewolf by Night.

Werewolf by Night Protects the Vampires Blade Looks to Hunt

Werewolf by Night debuted on Disney+ on October 7, 2022. The special introduced audiences to Jack Russell, played by Gael García Bernal. Russell, of course, is the titular Werewolf by Night, but he has dedicated his non-werewolf hours to seemingly saving supernatural monsters from hunters like Blade specifically. While going undercover as a hunter to save his friend Ted, aka Man-Thing, the other hunters believe he has killed over 100 different monsters, but the implication is those monsters are not dead but ones he saved and helped go off the grid from being hunted.

Related Werewolf By Night: Is This the New Iron Man of the MCU Werewolf by Night has launched a new corner of the MCU, and its role in the franchise has a lot in common with the first Iron Man film.

The MCU has positioned Werewolf by Night as a supernatural monster conservationist. This puts him in easy conflict with Blade, and the two could have a similar differing ideology as Captain America and Iron Man did in Captain America: Civil War. Blade meeting a character like Werewolf by Night not only introduces Blade to even more supernatural foes but also allows him to see them in a new light.

Werewolf by Night could challenge Blade’s perceptions of what he knows to be true. It gives Blade a character arc, starting the film believing all supernatural creatures are evil and must be defeated. After meeting (and fighting) Jack Russell’s Werewolf persona, he changes his heart and reevaluates his mission. He can go from hunting all supernatural creatures to becoming a true hero, one who will fight the evil ones but also protect those who need it. It would give the MCU a version of the recent comic storyline where Blade becomes sheriff of the vampire nation.

Blade and Werewolf by Night are the Best Kind of Marvel team-up

Putting Blade and Werewolf by Night together is a strong pitch, as it gives something new for a Blade movie while continuing the storyline from the Werewolf by Night special. Bringing in Werewolf by Night also allows the film to be open to bringing in both Man-Thing and Elsa Bloodstone, but if the movie didn’t want to lose focus on being a Blade movie, it could stick with Werewolf by Night as the Marvel team-up as the pairing of vampires and werewolves is a time-honored Hollywood tradition from the Universal Monster films to Underworld and of course Twilight. Werewolf by Night’s inclusion also doesn’t take away focus from Blade, just like how, despite including 11 other Marvel heroes, Captain America: Civil War was still a Captain America movie or how Thor: Ragnarok is still Thor’s film despite a big role for the Hulk.

Bringing in Werewolf by Night to Blade could solve many of Marvel’s problems. It makes the film stand out from previous Blade films while bringing in a beloved new fan-favorite that also informs Blade’s character arc from going from a black-and-white view of vampires and monsters to a more nuanced one. It is all in service of the character, which has always been when Marvel works best. It isn’t the continuity but the interactions between two characters from different corners of the franchise meeting. Pairing stars Mahershala Ali and Gael García Bernal is an exciting acting collab regardless of what genre they would be playing in. It could draw in viewers who might not be interested in a Marvel film but want to see two great actors share the screen.

With Comic-Con and D23 passed, there still is no word on the future of Blade and if it will meet that planned November 2025 release date. Despite his Halloween special being a fan-favorite, Marvel has not made any new updates regarding the future of Werewolf by Night. These two supernatural heroes, who tend to be outside the normal realm of superheroes, could both work to elevate the other while drawing more interest in the upcoming Blade reboot. Werewolf by Night is streaming on Disney+.