Blade

Origin

The man called Blade was born in a Soho Brothel, in Great Britain. Blade himself has revealed that the exact date of his birth was October 24, 1929 (also known as Black Thursday), as it was the day the stock market crash began. Blade said he is 72 years old, but his vampire powers make him look much younger. Blade’s mother, Tara Brooks, a prostitute at Madame Vanity’s Brothel, experienced severe labor complications, and a doctor was summoned.

The “doctor’s” name was Deacon Frost, in reality a bloodthirsty vampire. Frost feasted on Blade’s mother during Blade’s birth, killing her, and accidentally passing along certain enzymes in his own blood to the infant. This process turned Blade into a Dhampir: one who has been touched, but not converted, by a vampire.

This resulted in Blade’s superhuman abilities, such as immunity to being turned, the ability to “smell” supernatural creatures, and a significantly prolonged lifespan. This also caused Blade’s sensitivity to bright light. Frost was driven off by Blade’s mother’s coworkers before he could kill the infant as well. They raised him until he was nine years old. Though Blade lacked superhuman physical prowess, he trained himself to become an Olympic-level athlete and formidable hand-to-hand combatant. Most notably, he became an expert with edged weapons, especially knives and daggers.

Walking home from school, Blade saw an older man being attacked by three bandits. Blade fought off the hoodlums, who turned out to be vampires, and rescued the old man. He learned that the old man was Jamal Afari, a jazz trumpeter and vampire hunter. Afari moved into Madame Vanity’s brothel and trained the young Blade in both music and combat. Blade was soon able to defeat many of the weak, younger vampires that he and Afari found in abundance. However, Blade’s victories made him cocky.

Creation

Blade was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan and first appeared in Tomb of Dracula #10 (1973) .

Major Story Arcs

Bloodshadows

Blade soon joined a street gang, ‘the Bloodshadows,’ headed by a much older and more-powerful vampire than any Blade had met before: Lamia. Blade barely defeated Lamia, and, in doing so, lost his girlfriend Glory. This loss caused Blade to accept his destiny as an enemy of the undead and to swear to it forever. Afari later fell prey to an attack of the vampire Dracula, the first occurrence in an ongoing battle between him and Blade. Blade slew the vampire Afari and followed Dracula back to Europe.

Blade tracked Dracula throughout Europe and Asia Minor, then into the far east, staking him many times, but never entirely destroying him. In China, Blade joined Ogun Strong’s vampire hunters, including Azu, Orji, and Musenda. Together, they staked Dracula again.

Once more, Dracula survived, teaching Blade a purposed lesson by killing all of his new-found friends except Musenda (who eventually retired from vampire hunting). However, Orji created a lasting impression on Blade with his use of wooden daggers to combat vampires. Sometime after Orji’s death, Blade mastered the use of daggers and adopted the use of wooden ones as his preferred method of fighting vampires. Consumed by grief, Blade resumed his quest alone. It was decades before he again allowed himself to endanger another human.

The Dracula Hunters

When hunting down Dracula in Paris, Blade met up with a group of vampire hunters being led by Quincy Harker. They aligned with each other on various occasions, but Blade does not officially join the team. He became friends with a few of the team members, among them Frank Drake and Taj Nital. After tracking down Dracula in London, he fought him, Morbius, and his minions. Back in America, Blade once again finds himself joining Harker’s team, but with another ally: Dracula. Here they fight a more ruthless villain, Doctor Sun. After the battle, Dracula fled, with Blade hot on his tracks. He then encountered Hannibal King, a private investigator who was turned into a vampire by Deacon Frost.

Blade and Hannibal first team-up to defeat a Blade-doppelganger, but when the doppelganger absorbed the real Blade, Hannibal called for Hellstorm to exorcise Blade out of the fake one. Eventually, Blade and Hannibal killed Deacon.

Nightstalkers

Some years later, Blade and his old friends Hannibal, Frank Drake, and Doctor Strange formed Borderline Investigations Inc., an investigative agency that battles supernatural beings. They battle Dracula and the Darkholders, but briefly disbanded when King left, and Blade was put in a mental hospital after a fight with a resurrected Dracula. Doctor Strange then reassembled the Borderline Investigations Inc., renaming it ‘the Nightstalkers‘. When the demon Lilith tricked them to kill Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) and Johnny Blaze, they all team up to defeat Lilith and Lilin. They also fought Hydra. In the story arc “Midnight Massacre,” Blade becomes ‘Switchblade’ by a page of the Darkhold before returning to normal. Blade’s final battle with the team of Nightstalkers was against an entity known as Varnae, an ancient vampire who had also recruited Blade’s friend Taj Nital. The climactic battle ended with the death of Taj Nital, and the seeming death of Frank Drake, which later turns out not to be true – Frank is in a coma. Blade quietly disbands the team after these events.

Blade Alone Again

After the disbanding of the Nightstalkers, Blade sees it upon himself to resume his war against the vampire threat. He finds himself once again fighting against a resurrected Deacon Frost and Dracula, but with the help of Hannibal King, Frost was killed yet again.

New Powers

Blade was not seen again for some time after his battle with Dracula and Frost. However, some months later, Blade was spotted battling Morbius, who at the time was being controlled by another vampire. Blade followed Morbius after their first battle to New York City, where Blade teamed-up with Spider-Man. When Morbius bit Blade, his vampire anatomy reacted to Morbius’s natural vampirism, and granted him all the strengths of a vampire and eliminated his sensitivity to sunlight, which gave him the title “Daywalker” by his enemies. Blade also had a run-in with SHIELD, who were retrieving his blood to create vampire operatives. With the help of other vampire hunters, they were able to stop them. He then joined with other vampire hunters all over the world to prevent Dracula from becoming a god.

New Missions

After this, Blade tracked down a resurrected Dracula to New York City. He proceeded to beat both Dracula and a Vampire Spider-Man. S.H.I.E.L.D.’sHowling Commandos arrived on the scene hours later to confiscate the body. Blade, however, sensed something wrong with the S.H.I.E.L.D. troops. He infiltrated their Helicarrier to find that it had a massive vampire infestation. He proceeded to destroy the helicarrier.

Weeks later, In Madison Square Garden, Blade was attacked by four Doombots, who were tasked with bringing Blade to Latveria for a meeting with Dr. Doom. Blade defeated the Doombots, however, and the battle gave him the motivation to make the trip of his own accord. Blade was informed that he was destined to save his mother from a vampire infested jail facility. Though not entirely willing, Dr. Doom didn’t take no for an answer and teleported Blade years into the past. Along with saving Dr. Dooms’s mother, he kept his own father, Lucas Cross, from rotting away, which would fulfill the first part of a prophecy his father had set in motion back in the present. In return, Dr. Doom gave Blade a formula that could cure an individual of their blood lust for vampires. Blade accepted the gift but didn’t use it.

Civil War

Blade then became one of America’s most notorious, after the police mistook his series of vampire killings as homicides, attempting to jail him. While on the run, Blade ran into a Level 9 demon by the name of Animus. Blade defeated the beast and continued his run from the law. He proceeded to Long Beach, California, where he ran into a long-time rival – Morbius. The two did battle before Morbius, who was revealed to be a registered superhuman, called in S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture Blade. Blade took out several agents before being taken down.

In the office of Maria Hill, it was revealed that Blade was part of a contingency plan to bring down Wolverine, seeing as the tacticians felt Blade was their best shot at taking him down. Though dismayed, a newly registered Blade went after Wolverine. After a drawn-out fight where the two were on the verge of killing each other, Blade realized Wolverine had saved his life years ago and that he owed his very existence to him. Blade called off the fight and stormed into Maria’s office, claiming that if S.H.I.E.L.D. went after Wolverine, they would have him to deal with.

Several weeks later, Blade is captured by none other than Lucas Cross, as father and son meet for the first time. Blade, chained to a wall, is instructed by his father to feed upon a young girl. Unbeknownst to Blade, this would fulfill the second part of the prophecy. Blade passes on the offer and chews off his own hand to escape confinement, before fighting through the entire facility and escaping with the little girl.

Against his Father

Blade then travels to London, where he encounters possibly one of his greatest enemies – the priest Draconis. It is revealed that Draconis has been training for years to kill Blade, which is exactly what he does. The newly handicapped Blade is no match for his mysterious new foe and is staked through the heart. Blade wakes up in the morgue to find a mystical amulet he had taken from a vampire thug earlier had saved him from death. Infuriated, he calls upon the help of Hannibal King. With Hannibal at his back, Blade takes on Draconis once more. To defeat Draconis, Blade feeds upon him to remove his enhanced abilities, before killing him. To his father’s joy, Blade accidentally fulfilled the second part of the prophecy by feeding upon virgin blood.

Blade uses his S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to order himself a new hand: a gun hand, which he tests out on none other than England’s Union Jack. After the two resolve their differences, Blade makes his way back to New York, where everything started. He interrogates both Lucas Cross and Spider-Man to discover that his long time mentor, Jamal Afari, was alive and kicking, on Dracula’s side. He goes home and is abducted again by his father, who seeks to complete the third and final part of the prophecy. Blade, Hannibal King, and Lucas Cross travel to Dracula’s Castle (now a tourist attraction). They attempt to complete a prophecy Lucas believes will give all vampires their souls back. All it would require is Blade to shatter his newly acquired amulet and drop a piece of the stake he used to kill Dracula to the salted ground. Blade declines, and a furious Hannibal King attacks him.

Blade makes short work of Hannibal King and his father’s henchmen. However, Dracula arrives on the scene with Jamal Afari to help Lucas complete the prophecy. Dracula shatters the amulet and then attacks Blade; Jamal Afari breaks Dracula’s control and attacks him, but is kicked to the ground. Enraged Blade charges at Dracula, yet knocks into his father, who accidentally drops the vial containing the stake fragment that killed Dracula. It shatters on the ground. However, they feel no different, save for a resurrected Hannibal King.

They all realize Dracula had been manipulating Lucas Cross the entire time, not into giving vampires their souls back, but into resurrecting every single vampire that had ever died. Blade and Hannibal part ways, leaving a broken Lucas Cross, but not before Blade gives Hannibal the serum Dr. Doom had made to cure a vampire of his or her blood lust.

Vanguard

Blade is then recruited to lead a secret government team of superheroes known as Vanguard. The team if comprised of, Micromax, Retcon, Dominic Fortune, and Yelena Belova. The original leader is murdered and they’re tasked with finding the murderer, it is revealed that Stacy Dolan, the detective assigned the murder case, was in fact their leader murderer. However, she had been mind-controlled by an individual named Yoosef. After he manipulates The Thing into attacking their team, Blade shoots him in the head, and has the team wipe The Things memories and teleport him away.

Surprisingly, their original leader, Colonel America, the most powerful telekinetic on the planet, shows himself and it is revealed that not only was he never dead, the government wanted the team disbanded, seeing as Micromax had been captured and tortured by Al Qaeda on a mission and they now knew more about Vanguard than the president. – in other words killed. Thinking quickly, the team gives Colonel America the illusion that he killed them and port away. They then go into hiding. Unfortunately, Blade is captured and tortured, the rest were safe as Blade used a back-up story to explain why he was the only one who survived.

MI:13 and Captain Britain

After this Blade made his way to England to serve in another secret organization – MI 13. Following the Skrull invasion of Britain, Blade joined MI:13 to aid with the resurgence of evil forces, resulting from the Skrulls defeat. Blade fails to ingratiate himself, however, when he attempts to kill fellow team member, and part-vampire, Spitfire. His actions were tempered by the Hell-Lord, Plokta, in action at the moment, and his surprise at finding out about her Vampire nature. Coaching her on the extent of her new abilities he helped her to regenerate from the damage he had caused, before moving on. Blade was able to use his senses to track Plokta, using one of his special weapons, a paper katana made from Holy Texts, to harm the beast. Until he and the rest of the team were capture in the Dream Corridor, by their turn-coat teammate.

While in the Dream Corridor, Blade and his team-mates were forced to confront visions, and more of the Plokta’s useless drones, though when Peter forced the Ebony Blade to free them they were able to once more confront the Hell Lord. Realizing that Blade’s weapon was the only one that could hurt him, surprising considering Excalibur and the Ebony Blade were present, he used his hell fire to destroy it. Blade and his teammates were able to figure out how to defeat him, with Captain Britain dealing the finishing blow.

Blade was kept on the team at the insistence of Spitfire, much to Peter’s and his own surprise. Once they returned to base, he confided in Lady J about his unease with working someplace he originally set out to assault. She allayed his fears and also kisses him, making clear her intentions at starting something with him.

Next, came repercussions of his father’s mistake. Dracula – along with Captain Fate, Lilith, and the new Baron Blood – launched an attack on an unsuspecting England in an attempt to transform the country into a haven for the world’s vampires. Dracula’s initial strike involved an attempt at taking out MI:13’s heroes early, when this failed the agents rallied at base where they assessed the threat and realized Spitfire was missing. Blade never failed to remain calm despite rising tension between him and Union Jack. MI:13 used the captured Plokta to ensnare Dracula into the Dream Corridor where they watched Dracula’s entire plan pan-out. They saw as each of them fell before the enormity of Dracula’s army, and with Spitfire in command of his ground forces, Dracula took over England. In this dream Blade was the only survivor in England; after one of Lilith’s blasts sent him flying from the battlefield he fled to the north.

However, Dracula realized the situation and broke free from the Dream Corridor, just as his plans began to fell apart. He lost control over Spitfire, and MI:13 began to tackle Dracula’s forces directly. Captain Fate fell against The Black Knight, Lilith against Captain Britain, Dracula against Excalibur, and Baron Blood against Blade. Britain is saved and we see a glimpse of Blade and Spitfire exchanging a kiss as MI:13’s victory is celebrated.

Following this victory, MI:13 is invited to, where else but, NYC to be honored for their decimation of Dracula’s forces. However, unbeknownst to Captain America, who is honoring them, Blade and Spitfire are on a secret mission. This mission consists of tracking down a vampire believed to be selling secrets to the Mys-tech Corporation, old enemies of the UK heroes. Again, we see Blade teaching Spitfire the extent of her abilities, and the two work great together. Ultimately, Spitfire defeats the vampire and we hear her tell Blade she loves him, although Blade doesn’t hear.

Sometime during Blade’s MI:13 membership, he, alongside a plethora of Marvel’s magical characters, was possessed by Nightmare in an attempt at taking over the world. Blade, fighting alongside his MI:13 comrades, both Ghost Riders, a newly resurrected Dracula, and more, launched an assault on both Dr. Doom and Dr. Voodoo, who both managed to hold the assault back for days. Blade was seen among the many bodies strewn across the landscape after being defeated by Voodoo and Doom.

Curse of the Mutants

During the events of Curse of the Mutants, Blade would go on to investigate vampire slayer killings, independent of MI:13. He traveled the globe with ex-lover Claudia Bell before finally discovering that Dracula’s throne had been usurped by his son Xarus. He lead an army of slayers to Xarus’ base of operations and blew it up during the day time, expecting the vampires would turn to dust. However, to his surprise, the vampires walked out of the base into broad daylight, undaunted. His team was massacred but Blade obtained a vital bit of information, that Xarus would be launching an attack on Utopia, home of the X-Men.

Blade escaped Xarus and traveled to San Francisco where he met up with Colossus and Wolverine to help them catch a vampire. He delivered the fact that Xarus was now in power and helped the X-Men battle back the invasion. To his dismay, Cyclops resurrected Dracula in the hopes that the former Lord of Vampires would aid their defense. Dracula did indeed kill his upstart son and agreed not to press the vampiric invasion on Utopia.

This was not good enough for Blade though, he attacked Dracula. Before Blade could land a sword on the Drac, he was blasted out of the air by none other than Cyclops who didn’t want to reignite tensions with the vampires. Blade returned to Utopia in order to try and get Wolverine to stake Jubilee, who had been turned in the invasion, yet when Wolverine contested him, Blade stormed off the island, saying they would have to listen to him eventually.

Mighty Avengers

During Thanos‘ invasion of Earth during Infinity, Blade partners with Monica Rambeau to help fight off the attacking aliens. He dons a knockoff Spider-Man costume to hide his identity, claiming that he can’t allow it to be known that he is back in the United States.

Once the crisis is over, Blade joins the Mighty Avengers, using Clint Barton‘s old Ronin costume to hide his identity. He is eventually exposed after being captured by the Deathwalkers, the powerful enemies he was attempting to hide his identity from in the first place. He and the other Avengers are able to take down the Death Walkers, and he leaves the team after this.

Damnation

Las Vegas was destroyed during Secret Empire. When Doctor Strange attempted to revive it, he accidentally brought Mephisto with it. Mephisto took over the city, allowing people to gamble their souls and locking up Strange so he couldn’t stop it. Blade was one of many mystic superheroes recruited by Wong for a new Midnight Sons team to rescue Strange.

He fought alongside the likes of Elsa Bloodstone, Iron Fist, and Moon Knight to keep Mephisto’s goons busy, while Ghost Rider attempts to dethrone Mephisto.

Avengers Mountain

Blade was being held captive by vampires when Wasp, as an Agent of Wakanda, rescues him offering him membership into the Avengers. The Avengers needed a vampire expert as they faced the Legion of the Unliving. This legion was faking an uprising against Dracula. Dracula used this leverage to negotiate the Russians for Chernobyl, which is habitable to vampires. Blade managed to behead the Shadow Colonel forcing the rest of the team to retreat to Dracula’s side.

Blade would continue to fight alongside the Avengers to protect the new Starbrand and fight back against a crazed Moon Knight and the Phoenix Force. He was also assigned to Strikeforce, a short-lived team of Avengers allies who were targeted by the Vridai. The Vridai were stranded on Earth after the destruction of the Black Bifrost. Blade has experience fighting them before, but they eventually learn that the refugee Vridai were being taken advantage of the power hungry regent, Lady Birgit. So, Blade and his team end up finding the Vridai a home on Monster Island, thanks to Deadpool.

Due to ongoing negotiations with the new vampire nation of Chernobyl and the United Nations, Blade’s membership as an Avenger was questioned by Dracula. However, due to the distrust of the UN in Dracula’s new nation, they appointed their own peacekeeper. Thus, Blade was made the sheriff of Chernobyl.

Heroes Reborn

Blade wakes up in a world with no vampires and no Avengers. Instead, the Squadron Supreme are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Agent Coulson is the President, thanks to a deal with Mephisto. Blade seems to be the only person with knowledge of the world as it used to be. He travels the world looking for his Avengers teammates and the heroic mantles only to find that most of them never experienced their special origin stories to become heroes in the first place. He was able to trace it back to one major change: Captain America was never revived.

He dug Cap out of the ice and convinced him to round up as many Avengers as they could. They didn’t keep the lowest profile and eventually were tracked by the Squadron and Coulson to Wakanda. They fought them off the best they could, but the battle did not turn in their favor until the combined power of The Phoenix and The Starbrand weakened the Pandemonium Cube, the artifact Mephisto gave to Coulson to remake the world.

Both the cube and Coulson were dragged to Hell, and the world reverted back to its original form. Blade was one of the few people to remember. He returned to his position of sheriff of Chernobyl and continued being available for any Avengers business they might need him for.

Rise of the Midnight Suns

Blade was giving a guest lecture at Strange Academy about how to slay vampires when he was overcome with an apocalyptic vision. At the center of it was academy student, Zoe Laveau. When the vision ended, she was attacked by vapor minions, and Blade jumped into action to help protect her, along with other members of the faculty. After Agatha Harkness teleported Zoe to safety, Blade and the others stuck together as the new Midnight Suns with four days to stop the vision from coming true.

The team was immediately confronted by Clea Strange, working officially as the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. The team believed they were important since they were in the vision, but Clea saw it better to take them off the game board and change the prophecy in any way she can. So, she teleports them to the Dark Dimension. While looking for a way out, they find a sorcerer variant of Tony Stark, who forges them new supernatural armor and armaments for their coming fight.

Sidestepping Clea’s warning to stay away, the newly armored team makes their way to Valtorr, only to find him dead by the hands of a member of Agatha’s old coven, now going by Korrosion. She wanted revenge for Agatha leaving her behind when Valtorr turned on the coven and planned on using Zoe to fulfill a prophecy.

Kushala used her “spirit rider” ability to see across branched universes caused by the original vision. If showed them Korrosion’s intentions and helped open a portal out of Valtorr’s realm to fight Korrosion and the vapor goons. This gave Agatha the opportunity to create a magical dagger and stab Korrosion, causing them both to disappear. With the danger seemingly gone, Blade and his other teammates returned Zoe to the Strange Academy.

Bloodline

After the death of Doctor Strange, many of his spells and incantations were broken. This included one that Blade had asked him to put on his daughter, Brielle, to hide her from magic users and supernatural beings that might try to target him by going through her. Ever since, Brielle has become a regular target for vampires, especially as her dhampir powers develop, changing the taste and smell of her blood.

Blade is forced to leave his post in Chernobyl to protect Bri and his old girlfriend (Bri’s mom), Safron Caulder. After witnessing Bri give in to her feral bloodlust, he decides to stick around and train her. However, their training is cut short when Safron is kidnapped by a clone of Deacon Frost. Frost had been running a hunting party of vampires and humans. They had been attacking Bri to lure Blade out so they could use his blood in a ritual. However, father and daughter were able to team up and stop them.

Mother of Evil

Blade is tricked by an old werewolf acquaintance into protecting a woman who was being targeted by a monster. However, that monster turned out to be a monster hunter with a special weapon to kill the evil that was possessing the woman, Adana. Blade did not learn of this until after he had killed the champion and allowed his weapon to fall into Adana’s hands. After his failure, he was briefly kidnapped and tortured by the champion’s people only to be released by the champion’s sister, Rotha, who saw Blade as useful in the fight against Adana and stopping the end of the world.

Character Profile

• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 215 lbs
• Eye Color: Brown
• Hair Color: Black
• Citizenship: American, formerly British
• Place of Birth: Soho, London, England
• Marital Status: Single
• Occupation: Freelance vampire hunter, Sheriff of Chernobyl; formerly employee at Borderline Investigations
• Known Relatives: Vanessa Tara Cross (mother, deceased), Lucas Cross (father), Brielle Caulder (estranged daughter)

Powers and Abilities

Due to his mother being bitten by a vampire while pregnant with him, Blade displays unique abilities as a Dhampir. It has been shown, several times, that he is immune to vampire venom and cannot become an actual vampire by normal means. He has all of their abilities and none of their weaknesses. Blade does posses a trait common to all vampires: the thirst for blood.

However, rather than consuming blood, he injects a specially designed serum that provides the same nourishment. As a Dhampir, Blade possesses superhuman strength, agility, speed, endurance, and senses. He is capable of seeing objects with perfect clarity and at a much greater distance than a human or vampire, and he possesses particularly sharp night-vision. Blade’s hearing is similarly enhanced, allowing him to detect sounds that humans and vampires can not. . Blade also possesses a number of other powers and abilities due to training and his hybrid human/vampire physiology.

• Pseudo-Immortality: Blade possesses a form of immortality. Due to his vampire-like abilities he ages slower than an average human, which has allowed him to have a prolonged lifespan.
• Invulnerability: Due to his vampire-like physiology, Blade is resistant to the hypnotic gaze of vampires (known as mesmerism) and highly resistant to other psychic and physical attacks. Dissimilar to vampires, he is completely immune to sunlight.
• Healing Factor: Similar to Wolverine, Blade has a healing factor that allows him to recover from injuries at amazing rates. His immune system attacks alien substances (chemicals/viruses) and eliminates any chance of him being rendered helpless or maimed from toxicity or infection. The full extent of Blade’s regenerative abilities are unknown, but after being bitten by Morbius, he is able to regenerate missing/damaged limbs, tissue, organs, and muscles.
• Danger Sense: Blade has a very rare ability to sense supernatural phenomenon (which vampires do not seem to possess). This has helped him many times at identifying demons, even if they have taken possession of a human being (this is noticeable when a demon possessed a man, Blade sensed the demonic essence coming from him). Blade can sense nearing danger, allowing him to quickly react to incoming threats
• Superhuman Agility: Blade’s agility, balance and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of a human being. His agility is also greater then that possessed by most vampires.
• Hypnosis: Blade has displayed the ability to hypnotize his opponents. He can directly influence the minds of others. Ultimate Blade showcased this ability when he caused Tyrone Cash to revert from his Hulk-like level, to his human form.
• Superhuman Strength: Although the amount he can lift is not specified, it can be assumed that he has a lifting/carrying capacity of at least 6-10 tons. Blade has overpowered a vampiric Spider-Man, routinely makes prodigious jumps of hundreds of feet through the air, and has sufficient strength to easily rip the head off of another vampire with his bare hands.

Abilities:

• Espionage: Due to being a vampire-like being, Blade can not be captured on film, camera, or be seen in a mirror. His superhuman agility and enhanced speed allows him to infiltrate compounds almost undetected.
• Intellect: Blade has shown that he has vast knowledge pertaining to supernatural phenomenon, gained by his experiences and decades of living. He has an understanding of the supernatural realm. He no longer thinks of himself as just a vampire slayer, but a demonic reaper. He will do anything necessary to protect what he believes in.
• Master Martial Artist: Blade is Master Martial Artist, proficient with practically every known melee weapon and several martial arts forms. Blade can easily hold his own against multiple enemies, and can adapt to any fighting style (unarmed or armed). He is also an exceptionally talented marksman with various firearms.

• Expert Swordsman: His particular specialty is the use of edged weapons, be they teakwood daggers or swords.

• Multilingual: Blade is fluent in English, German, Romanian, and Japanese. He might be lingual in other languages.

Variants

Ultimate Blade

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Blade is seen soon after meeting with Nick Fury. He asks for his services in a recovery mission in exchange for Deacon Frost, the vampire who bit Blade’s mother when he was born. When Blade and the rest of Fury’s black op Avengers discover Tyrone Cash is selling Super Soldier secrets he takes on War Machine in a devastating battle. Blade approaches Cash after he beats Rhodey and hypnotizes him long enough for him to transform back to normal. As Cash is about to be beheaded he reveals he’s been working for Carol Danvers. This turns out to be a ruse orchestrated by Gregory Stark, and after Stark’s defeat, the Avengers disband and Blade presumably finishes off Frost.

Other Media

Television

Spider-Man The Animated Series (1994)

Blade first appeared in episode 22 of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He story was slightly changed he was the son of a vampire man and a human woman, whose mother left him in foster care after she was bitten by a vampire. He first appeared trying to kill Michael Morbius but Spider-Man stopped him on numerous occasions from killing Morbius. The series also introduced Abraham Whistler, who would later be more famously associated to Blade from the live action film. He returned when Vampires where appearing in New York city thinking it was Morbius, Blade returned and discovered it was his mother. He was last seen in the final part of the Secret Wars story-arc after Black Cat was returned to Earth where she, Blade, and Morbius had been fighting Blade’s vampire mother. He was voiced by J.D. Hall.

Blade: The Series (2006)

Blade: The Series was a sequel show to the movies. In it, Blade was played by rapper Sticky Fingaz instead of Wesley Snipes. The show aired on Spike TV until it was canceled after 12 episodes due to unknown reasons, more than likely due to the cost.

Blade Anime Series (2011)

Blade also appears in the 12-part episode anime series. In the series, Blade is sent on a mission to Japan where he confronts a dangerous vampire named Deacon Frost. Deacon was responsible for killing Blade’s human mother during birth. Due to his mother’s vampire bite, Blade was born a half-human and a half-vampire. Blade also faces a powerful organization of new vampires called Existence who were led by Deacon Frost. In this anime Blade also shows more powers of his such powers like his healing factor when one lady punches him with a spiked hand and he hardly feels it and heals back in seconds. His accuracy with weapons is much greater as well. For example when Blade smacks a bullet away from his face before impact. His speed is also much greater. He is voiced by Akio Ohtsuka in the Japanese version and LOST star Harold Perrineau in the English dub.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2013)

Blade appears in a two-part Halloween special episode of Ultimate Spider-Man along side members of the Ultimate Universe’s Howling Commandos. Here Blade carries his signature weaponry, but lacks the strength, speed, skill, cunning, and healing factor shown in other incarnations. He is voiced by Terry Crews, who also reprises his role in an episode of Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers (2015)

Blade appears in a two episode arc of Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto.

Film

Blade (1998)

In 1998 a Blade movie was made by New Line Cinema and directed Stephen Norrington. Wesley Snipes played Blade in the film (he was originally going to be in a Black Pather film but it was canceled). In it he was teamed up with Whistler trying to find and kill Deacon Frost (played by Stephen Doriff) trying to resurrect La Magra the Blood God.

While trying to look for clues on Frost he encountered his lackey Quinn who he left to burn after a vampire rave. He was still alive and attacked the coroners inspecting him. He also bit a woman named Karen Jenson.Blade feeling sorry for what happened to her decides to take her back to his hideout to try and help her before she turns. Blade also discovers that Frost needs him for the ceremony to resurrect the Blood God. After returning to his hideout he finds Whistler nearly dead, and Karen taken hostage by the Frost men. Whistler then asked him to kill him before he turns into a vampire, Blade regrets at first but Whistler forces him to do so. So Blade walks away as Whistler kill him self.

Blade then prepares for his battle with Frost, and makes his way to his hideout. After killing many familiars and vampires he discovers his mother was still alive but now a vampire, and it was Deacon who bit her. They then knock him out and take him to the Temple of Eternal Night. He is then locked in a box where his wrists are cut and his blood drips into a hole in the floor where it seeps down the to the sacrificed pure bloods and Eventually Frost.

Karen then arrives to free him and lets him suck her blood so he can regain his strength. His mother arrives to kill but he is able to stop her, she then says “are you going to kill your mother”. To which he says I must release you and kills her. In anger he grabs his clothes and goes after Frost. He finally kills Quinn and all of Frosts men, and finally faces Frost. Blade is able to slice off his arm and and cut him in half but he discovers he is still alive and reattaches his body and grows a new arm. Frost begins to beat Blade until he finds the EDTA he brought with and throws all of them into Frost making him explode. He and Karen then leave the temple and she asks she going to make more of the antidote to cure him. But Blade says to keep and just make him a new serum to stop his thirsts. He then seen in Russia killing a vampire as the film ends.

Blade II (2002)

The second Blade film came out 4 years later. The film begins with Blade trying to find Whistler, who is still alive just a vampire. He captures a vampire and forces him to take him to Whistler, after which he sets him free saying “I find you later”. He is able to find him and take him back to his hideout. It is shown Blade has a new weapon smith named Scud, who was formerly a vampire familiar who is cautious of Whistler. Whistler is then cured and they are attacked by two vampires one named Nyssa Damaskinos who snuck in asking for his help. Blade is taken to the fortress of Damaskinos a ancient vampire who asked for his services in killing a new breed of vampire created by his men. It is revealed they have been trying to make a new breed of vampires but it was a failure and one of them named Jared Nomak has escaped. These new vampires called Reapers are able to humans and vampires into these mindless killing machines.

Blade is then teamed up with a team of vampire mercenaries called the Bloodpack who were trained to kill Blade. They then decide to start their hunt by going to a vampire rave to find the Reapers. The Reapers arrive and prove to be hard to kill with most of their weapons proving useless except for UV lights. Nomak and Blade and begin to fight but proves to powerful for Blade. Nomak escapes because it is sunrise and they are able to discover they are hiding and the sewers and find a captured Reaper starving to death.

They take the reaper with them to experiment showing their hear is protected by bone ribcage covering their heart. They then prepare to hunting them in the sewers and using light grenades to kill them. Once in the sewers each of the Bloodpack are picked off one by one until only two are alive and Whistler and Blade. Blade is able to use the light grenades to kill all the Reapers except for Nomak. Nomak then grabs Whistler and gives him his ring and telling him the truth behind the Reapers.

Damaskinoos men arrive and take Blade Whistler and Scud Prisoners and take them back to his fortress where they reveal the reason for making the reapers in hopes of creating perfect vampires that are able to live without a thirst and walk in sunlight. Whistler then gives Damaskinos Nomaks ring asking why he gave it to him to which he says is his son. Blade then tries to activate the grenade on the back of Reinhardt head but it proves to not work. Scud then reveals he was working for him and gave him a fake grenade.

Blade reveals he knew he worked for them all along and activated the grenade killing Scud. Blade is then taking to a lad where his blood is drained, and Whistler with Reinhardt who beating him up for fun. Blade then tells the scientists that they let Nomak know where they are. Nomak arrives and starts killing soldiers making his way to his father. Whistler is able to free Blade but is attacked by Reinhardt and his men. Blade is then falls into a pool of blood and regains his strength. Blade then kills Reinhardts men and finally killing Reinhardt. Blade then finds Nomak who just killed his father and bit Nyssa.

Blade then begins to fight Nomake but is unable to until he jabs his broken sword hard enough into Nomaks heart cage. Nomak happy at his pain finishes the Blow killing himself. Blade then goes to Nyssa wishing for him to take her outside so she can see the sun rise so she can die before becoming a reaper. Blade is then shown in London going after the vampire he let get away. He finds him in a sex club about to attack a stripper but Blade is on the other side saying you didn’t think I would forget about you, and stabbing him in the head with his sword.

Blade Trinity (2004)

The third Blade film was released December 8, 2004. It introduced Hannibal King, and Abigail Whistler to the series. The film main villain was a vampire named Drake, aka. Dracula. He was the first and has been sleeping for the last thousand years. A group of vampires awakened him so that he could help them in destroying Blade.

Blade (TBA)

At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, it was announced that Marvel Studios would be producing a Blade reboot as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new film will star Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as Blade.

Novels

Blade

From New Line Cinema, distributors of such big-screen sensations as The Mash, Mortal Kombat, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, comes the movie event of the summer. Wesley Snipes stars as Blade, the DayWalker, born in violence, neither human nor vampire — but both. Trained as an instrument of vengeance by a scientist, and using his awesome powers and razor-sharp weaponry, he is pitted in a deadly struggle against the vampire overlord Deacon Frost, who is bent on bringing about an apocalypse known in legends as The Blood Tide. Aided by a beautiful woman doctor, Blade battles against the Dark Ones in a lonely and thrilling crusade to protect humankind. Written By: Mel Odom Publisher: Harper Entertainment (August, 1998) ISBN-10: 0061059137 ISBN-13: 978-0061059131

Blade: Trinity

Movie novelization. Written By: Natasha Rhodes Publisher: Black Flame (October, 2004) ISBN-10: 1844161064 ISBN-13: 978-1844161065

Video Games

Blade

Activision made an M rated adaptation of the Blade movie in video game form for the Sony Playstation, Activision would also make a game based on the sequel. The game was poorly received by critics.

Blade 2

Also made by Activision, Blade 2, based on the sequel movie of the same name, was released on the Playstation 2, it was likewise rated M. This game likewise received poor reviews.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006)

Blade is an unlockable character in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. He unlocked when you go to Arcade’s Muderworld and find him in the Claw machine and joins your team. He also had three unlockable costumes in the game which include the Classic, Ultimate, Nightstalker, and Daywalker variations. During the game if you have him in your team after you beat the Mandarin he will have a special dialogue with Mandarin and Volla. His comic book training mission has him fighting in Hell and the final boss is Dark Spiderman.

Ghost Rider: The Video Game

Blade is an unlockable character in Ghost Rider the video game. He is unlocked when you beat the game on easy or medium. In this game Blade only has the weapon choice of a sword (Katana) . Blade also has a bike in this game when you are selected to the next level.

Spider-Man Friend or Foe

Blade encounters Spider-Man in Stokerstov, Transylvania eliminating P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s where Blade tells Spider-Man, Venom is guarding a shard and later becomes an unlockable character. He is voiced by Khary Payton.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Blade was initially planned as one of the playable fighters, but he was cut due to worries that he’d be too similar to Deadpool in terms of gameplay. Despite this, he appears in Jill Valentine‘s ending, where he teams up with her to fight a horde of monsters.

Marvel Avengers Alliance 2

Blade appears as a playable character in the PS2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii versions, but was oddly not included as a playable character in the X-Box 360 and PS3 versions.

Marvel Heroes 2015

Blade is a playable character as DLC. He was not initially available in the original iteration of the game, but was added alongside War Machine, Kitty Pryde, Vision, Winter Soldier, Iron Fist, Iceman, Black Cat, and She-Hulk as part of an expansion pack for the Marvel Heroes 2015 relaunch. He once again sports a design similar to his movie counterpart.

Marvel Future Fight

Blade appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight.

Lego Marvel’s Avengers

Blade appears in his Ronin identity as a playable character.

Marvel Avengers Alliance

A teenage version of Blade appears in the game as part of the Halloween event.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Blade appears as a DLC character in the third Ultimate Alliance game. He is voiced by Imari Williams.

Fortnite

In 2020, Blade was added to the popular Fortnite battle royale title by Epic Games. He was featured as part of the ongoing crossover between Marvel and Epic that was kicked off by the Nexus War event earlier in the year.

Merchandise

Action Figures

• A Blade action figure was released byToyBiz for the Spider-Man: The Animated Series toyline.
• Despite the film being rated R, ToyBiz released a small line of action figures for the first live-action Blade movie.
• A larger 12 inch figure was released for ToyBiz’s Marvel Studios line of cinematic toys, based on Wesley Snipes’ likeness.
• ToyBiz released a Blade figure for the Marvel Legends line. This was one of the earliest examples of Marvel Legends using the movie version of a character rather than a comic version.
• Once Hasbro took over the Marvel Legends line, a Blade figure was scheduled as part of the Epic Heroes wave, but the figure was never released.
• Hasbro released a Marvel Legends Blade figure for the Man-Thing wave.
• Blade was featured in Funko’s Pop! line of bobbleheads.
• Hot Toys released a figure of Blade from the second movie.

Statues

• Kotobukiya produced a Blade bust based on Wesley Snipes’ appearance from the first Blade movie as part of the company’s Movie Fine Art line.
• Factory X produced a Blade figure based on his appearance from the first live-action movie.
• Factory X also produced a Blade bust, based on his movie appearance.
• Diamond Select produced a Blade bust based on the character’s appearance from the 90s comics.
• Dynamic Forces produced a Blade bust based on his cinematic appearance.
• ToyBiz produced a miniature diorama depicting a fight between Blade and several vampires as part of the Marvel Figure Factory line of buildable figurines.
• Blade was included in The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
• Sideshow Collectibles produced a diorama depicting a battle between Blade and Dracula.