If there is one thing that Marvel fans want, it’s more Blade. The titular Daywalker has been a fan-favorite since he first appeared The Tomb of Dracula #10 in 1973, but his popularity surged after Wesley Snipes brought him to the big screen in 1998. Marvel even announced a reboot in 2019, a film that would bring Blade into the Marvel Cinematic Universe complete with Mahershala Ali in the lead role. Unfortunately, that reboot hasn’t manifested just yet but fortunately, while fans try to patiently wait for the eagerly anticipated film, they don’t have to wait to see more of the iconic vampire hunter. He’s headed to Peacock in April.
Coming to Peacock on April 1st are all three films in the original Blade trilogy. All three films — Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004) — will begin streaming on the platform as of April 1st. It marks the trilogy’s return to the platform as it has previously streamed there last September, though if history is any indicator, fans will want to catch the Blade trilogy sooner rather than later, as previous stints on Peacock have been brief.
The Blade Trilogy Represents Some of Marvel’s Best Movies (And It’s Packed With Familiar Faces)
While most people think about the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe being the best in Marvel film, the reality is that the Blade trilogy was a great series years before Iron Man’s debut. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that, while Blade is a comic book movie, it’s also a solid horror film, something that the movie leaned into. The first film starred Snipes as the titular hero, along with Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, and N’Bushe Wright and not only established Blade’s story as a half-vampire “daywalker” who hunts vampires but gave him a story that appealed to audiences who had never picked up a comic book.
The two sequels followed that formula, blending comic book elements with those of more classic horror to give the movies their own unique experience. The complete trilogy also featured a number of familiar faces among the overall cast. Just the third film alone (Blade: Trinity) was packed, starring not just Snipes and Kristofferson, but Jessica Biel, Parker Posey, WWE’s Triple H, along with Ryan Reynolds and Dominic Purcell, both of whom would appear in other superhero properties. In Reynolds’ case, he went on to appear as Wade Wilson in X-Men: Origins and would famously become Deadpool in his own trilogy of films, not to mention him playing Green Lantern in the poorly received DC film while Purcell would go on to be one of the stars of television’s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
While Blade: Trinity was the end of that series of films (there was a follow-up television series titled Blade: The Series in 2006, but it was poorly received and Snipes was replaced by Kirk “Sticky” Jones as Blade) it hasn’t been the end of the line for Blade. Marvel announced that a Blade reboot was in the works in 2019 with Ali set to play the hero and, even while that film seems to be trapped in development hell, Snipes made a surprise return as the character in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
You can stream the complete original Blade trilogy on Peacock beginning April 1st.
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