We tend to think of studio “suits” and faceless goons who continually get in the way of a film’s creative integrity. While that may true in many cases, it would be ignorant to say “all” of them get in the way of art. This is why it’s so exhilarating when a high-level executive says something that us hardcore movie fans agree with.
Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, has been doing some press rounds as of late, talking about everything from X-Men to Venom. One title we’re desperately hoping gets revived is Blade. While there’s no real news here, Feige does reveal something that warms my cockles. In speaking about the impact of Blade on the internal thinking of Marvel Studios, Feige explains that the Wesley Snipes trilogy opened the door for other lesser known titles/characters to make their way to the big screen.
“My tenure at Marvel started 17 years ago, and there were two things that sort of launched the modern era. One was X-Men, which was the first thing that people said, ‘Oh, there’s life here.’ But a few years before that, there was Blade,” Feige tells AITH. “A character nobody had heard of at all, had only appeared in a few issues of ‘Tomb of Dracula’ or something, turned into a big franchise. That was always a great lesson for me, where you go, ‘It doesn’t matter how well known the character is, it matters how cool the movie is.’ Which, many years later, would be the reason we do Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange.”
In regards to seeing Blade return to action, Feige teases, “We think it would be cool. Someday.
“I think Blade is a legacy character now, and I think it would be fun to do something with him one day.”
New Line Cinema’s 1998 Blade spawned two sequels and even a short-lived television series in 2006 on Spike.