WARNING: The article contains minor SPOILERS for Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy pulled off a fan fest with their latest MCU flick Deadpool & Wolverine giving fans what they want. But behind the fan service, Reynolds’ constant attempt to bring back all the stunning cameos in the movie certainly deserves applause. For context, it would be self-explanatory if we look at how he convinced Wesley Snipes to reprise his iconic Marvel character.
Wesley Snipes Shared How Ryan Reynolds Convinced Him To Reprise His Marvel Role
Wesley Snipes as Blade. Image Credit: New Line Cinema
Wesley Snipes played Blade, the titular vampire hunter in the Blade trilogy. Directed by Stephen Norrington, the first installment of the movie came out in 1998 followed by Guillermo del Toro’s second installment that came out in 2002, and David S. Goyer’s third movie in the franchise Blade: Trinity where Ryan Reynolds starred alongside Snipes in the movie.
Over the course of years, the franchise has gained a wide fan following while a potential fourth movie was in the air but New Line Cinema pulled the plug closing the chapter of the iconic character. Now, Snipes got to play the character once again before Mahershala Ali takes over the role for a future MCU reboot.
But Reynolds’ approach to Snipes was quite casual and friendly as he texted the 62-year-old writing, “I want to talk to you.” But Snipes had his fair share of doubts, “I did not think it was possible,” he told Entertainment Weekly at SDCC.
“I didn’t think we would be able to pull it off. I didn’t think that Marvel was into it, Disney was into it — also because they had Mahershala [Ali] cast for the next upcoming version of it… I thought it didn’t make sense to me, but [when] you get a call from Ryan Reynolds out of the blue after 20 years, you go, ‘Okay, I got to take this call. Let’s see what this is about.’ He told me the idea…They said ‘yes’ and ‘it’s a go.’ ‘If you’re in, we’re in.’ Here we are.”
Snipes return as Blade is definitely one of the biggest surprise for Marvel Fans. The studio is certainly in the mood for astonishing surprises lately, after every surprising cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, we have got Robert Downey Jr back in the MCU but now as big baddie, Doctor Doom.
Wesley Snipes Shared His Experience About Reprising Blade
Wesley Snipes in Deadpool & Wolverine. Image Credit: Marvel Studios
Snipes, the veteran of the character who claimed a global fandom, was quite enthusiastic to reprise his role but the thought of doing action sequences slightly worried that actor. “I wasn’t Blade ready, man,” Snipes told EW. “I don’t walk around as Blade every day, you know what I mean?”
“With a trench coat and shades and fangs in my mouth. We had to work out. We definitely had to get the body,” the actor continued. “And my biggest concern was being in condition enough to deal with whatever the action was,” he said of his concerns about doing action scenes.
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“They didn’t really tell me what the action was going to be, so I prepared for whatever that was going to come. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do as much as I thought I would because the action movies are tough. They’re not easy at all by any means. About a month into it, I got the body right… and then, with the help of a little customized foam well placed in certain areas, it was all good to go, baby. Let’s ride!”
It worked best for Snipes. His return was hilarious with a clear jibe at Ali’s film being delayed at Marvel as he said that he is the one and only Blade.
Wesley Snipes Was Not Done Playing Blade After His Celebrated Trilogy
Wesley Snipes as Blade. Image Credit: New Line Cinema
Snipes further shared that he has always been open to wearing the black leather, his iconic sunglass, and swinging the blades. “Over the years, we’ve had very interesting conversations, some of them very substantive and some of them not,” Snipes told EW.
“So I kind of resided that I was moving on from them, which is okay. I did three of them, and I thought they turned out pretty good. Not so bad… So we move on to other things, and bigger and better things, as well,” he added.
Marvel Studios Blade reboot has been in developmental hell since their announcement of the project in 2019 starring Ali as the titular vampire hunter. However, the movie has bumped into several production issues including multiple directors’ departures. Previously, Snipes also took a jibe at Marvel’s delay of Ali’s film which has a reported budget of $100 million. Last month, Snipes took to X to react to the Blade reboot. “Blade, lordylordylordy folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don’t they?”
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All things aside, Snipes’ return to his Marvel character was a nostalgia treat for Marvel fans who appeared alongside a league of Marvel heroes including, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Channing Tatum’s Gambit, and Logan’s daughter Laura/X-23 played by Dafne Keen. They teamed up with Deadpool & Wolverine to battle against Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now showing in theaters.
