Blade (New Line franchise character)

Blade, born Eric Brooks and also known as The Daywalker, is a fictional character primarily portrayed by Wesley Snipes and Sticky Fingaz in the New Line Cinema Blade franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name created by writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Gene Colan. In his original 1970s comics, Blade had been depicted as a human immune to vampire bites, and had worn a red/green suit, bright green goggles, and an afro-style haircut. Wolfman and Colan updated his look in 1991 to include a dark leather jacket and short hair. The comics had also given Blade vaguely supernatural abilities, while still keeping him human. The character was completely streamlined for the film franchise, where Blade is depicted as a sunglasses and leather-wearing dhampir (a vampire immune to usual vampire weaknesses at the cost of ageing normally). In both comics and film, the character gained enhanced abilities after his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. A variation of the film's storyline was integrated into Spider-Man: The Animated Series by John Semper in 1995 ahead of the first Blade (1998) film being made, adapted from an early script for the film by David S. Goyer, and Blade's redesigned costume and powers were integrated into comics as well in 1999. Following two further sequel films starring Snipes: Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004), Fingaz was cast to replace him in Blade: The Series in 2006.

Snipes' portrayal of the character received significant critical praise, described as the "quintessential black superhero [before] Black Panther", with the first film starring him receiving a cult following and beginning Marvel's film success, setting the stage for further comic book film adaptations.

After discussions to have Snipes reprise the role in a crossover film with the Underworld film series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fell through, Mahershala Ali took over the role for the MCU reboot.