Why The Blade Franchise Stalled After Blade: Trinity

Summary

Blade's trilogy ended with "Blade: Trinity," and Marvel's plans for a fourth film were never officially confirmed.
Post-Trinity projects included a Deacon Frost prequel trilogy pitch and a planned Underworld crossover.
Due to delays, Ali's MCU debut as Blade has stalled, but he may feature in other projects like "Midnight Sons."

Despite the likes of Fox's X-Men and Sony's Spider-Man taking the honor of kick-starting the ongoing trend of comic book movies, Steven Norrington's Blade is an often forgotten part of Marvel movie history. Having churned out a trilogy of movies between 1998 and 2004, Blade: Trinity was the end of the road for New Line Cinema's franchise. Still, this wasn't the end of Marvel's plans for the character.

Following the success of Steven Norrington’s first Blade movie, the reins of the franchise were handed over to Guillermo del Toro for 2002’s Blade II. Before work had even started on the sequel, New Line had signed a deal with David S. Goyer to write a third movie. Although del Toro stayed on to do conceptual artwork, Goyer himself stepped up to direct. Despite Blade: Trinity making a reasonable $132 million at the box office, a fourth Blade movie never happened. But was it ever supposed to?

Marvel Comics character Blade with actor Mahershala Ali as seen as Cottonmouth on the Marvel series Luke Cage

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By Dan Conlin

What Happened After Blade: Trinity?

Aside from being the worst-reviewed entry in the trilogy, there were rumors of behind-the-scenes drama on Blade: Trinity and a general fatigue for the franchise from Snipes. Trinity’s box office profits matched the original, but coming in behind Blade II, it might’ve been a gamble to continue the series. It’s important to note there’s no concrete evidence that Blade 4 was ever officially on New Line’s radar.

There were confirmed plans to continue the story in a different way, as Norrington pitched a prequel trilogy that would focus on the character of Deacon Frost. Stephen Dorff played the villainous Frost in 1998’d Blade, telling The Sunday Mail in 2008:

"Frost is a character I have never been able to shake."

Dorff told the outlet that this ‘new trilogy’ was due to start filming in 2009, but that obviously never happened. Another tantalizing tease of projects that never happened came from Kate Beckinsale, who said that a crossover between the Underworld franchise had been planned after Blade: Trinity. Ultimately, the rights to Blade reverted back to Marvel from New Line in 2012.

Blade: Trinity wasn't quite the end of Snipes’ time in the leather jacket or Blade’s live-action legacy. In the aftermath of Trinity, Goyer created Blade: The Series for Spike, with Sticky Fingaz taking over from Snipes. Criticized for Snipes’ absence and for being a clichéd vampire series, the network pulled the plug after just 13 episodes. As for Snipes, he had a notable cameo in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about how his return to the role happened, Snipes said: "I did three of them, and I thought they turned out pretty good. Not so bad... So we move on to other things." A chance text from Blade: Trinity co-star Ryan Reynolds sparked conversations about suiting up again, and in Snipes’ own words:

“[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.'"

Playing a small but memorable role alongside Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Dafne Keen’s X-23, and Channing Tatum’s Gambit, Snipes was part of the Void resistance fighting against Emma Corrin’s wasted Cassandra Nova. Even though Blade's fate is left up in the air, the movie’s ending featuring X-23 and a deleted scene showing Gambit’s survival suggest that Blade might’ve also survived a run-in with Alioth.

Blade’s MCU Debut Has Just Been Staked

After news first spread that the MCU was working on a script for a Blade reboot, Snipes said he was exploring options of reprising his role and had been in discussions with the studio. That was in 2015, but after things went deathly quiet, a Blade reboot was eventually announced in 2019. Snipes was out, but instead, True Detective’s Mahershala Ali was due to take the lead.Despite his clear affection for the role, Snipes doesn’t seem bitter about the whole thing and has at least offered Ali his own words of advice. Speaking in the EW interview, Snipes said:

“You need a lot of secret sauce to do the Blade thing, man. Good luck. You're my man, though."

Ali claims there were early talks of the Blade reboot being a TV series instead of a movie, saying it took "a couple of years" to work things out. Production has been shifted several times, it’s been hard to lock in a director, and aside from Ali, it’s been hard to nail down down a cast. Up there with the Don Cheadle-led Armor Wars, Blade is a project that's been consistently in trouble.

Unfortunately, Disney has just run a stake through hopes of seeing the movie anytime soon, with its release date being removed and it being shelved 'indefinitely.' The only plus side is that news of the delay seemingly confirmed Mia Goth is set to play Lilith. There’s a sense of irony to this considering Snipes’ Deadpool & Wolverine cameo features him saying that while there are multiple Punisher variants, there’s "only one Blade."

Hopefully, all is not lost for Ali. Just because the Blade movie is on hold, that doesn't mean he can't play him in other projects. The actor has technically already made his debut in the post-credit scene of Eternals, and with whispers that a dark and magical outing is on the way for the Midnight Suns team, Ali could soon be starring alongside the likes of Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight, Eternals' Kit Harington, and Werewolf by Night's Gael García Bernal.

While Snipes' cameo felt perfect for the comedy of Deadpool & Wolverine, others say his tenure has largely run its course. That hasn't stopped Ryan Reynolds from calling for a Logan-inspired sendoff for the character, admitting that working with Snipes again has proved how much love there is for the character. Marvel has been trying to get out of the shadow of Snipes' Blade for well over a decade now, but aside from a potential appearance from the OG actor in the crossover chaos of Avengers: Secret Wars, it could be time for that era of the character to take a trip back to the crypt.