Born Eric Brooks, Blade is a half-human half-vampire, a condition he received at birth after a vampire fed on his mother and altered him. He trained to hunt vampires and would become a Daywalker after being bit by Morbius, the one vampire whose blood he wasn’t immune to. He became as strong as a vampire, developing many of their abilities and bloodthirst but receiving none of their weaknesses. He is well-known among supernatural beings and feared specifically by vampires. Most would never dream of invoking his wrath. While Blade is proficient with many weapons, his usual weapon of choice when hunting vampires is a sword, which is how he got his name. But what would it look like if Will Smith brought Blade to life instead of Wesley Snipes?
Who Will Be Bringing Blade to Life on the Big Screen?
Wesley Snipes had been the man behind the iconic character for years. From 1998 to 2004, comic book, movie and vampire fans got to watch him run around with a sword as he cut down hundreds of vampires while wearing a stylish pair of glasses. Snipes was briefly replaced by Sticky Fingaz in the short-lived Blade series. After learning that the character would be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans were worried and then excited when they learned that Mahershala Ali, a Wesley Snipes lookalike, would be the one to bring the character to life. However, a few fans have wondered if someone else shouldn’t take the reigns, namely Will Smith.
Will Smith as Blade
Over the course of his long-running career, Smith has proven himself an incredible actor several times over, and several fans began to wonder what he’d look like as the Daywalker. We’ve seen Smith deal with supernatural creatures before, most famously the vampiric, not-exactly-zombies from I am Legend. He’s also been in his fair share of superhero, or rather anti-hero, films and has saved a sci-fi universe more than once.
Deciding he wanted answers, Anderson Luis Souza finally used Midjourney to see what the beloved Men in Black actor would look like as the stoic, cynical vampire hunter with a taste for vengeance. In every image, Will Smith is seen wielding a gun rather than Blade’s iconic sword and wearing all black. His outfit consists of the long, black, high-collared jacket/coat that Blade is never seen without and is usually topped off with a pair of glasses. Much like the Wesley Snipes movie, many of the images look like they could easily fit into The Matrix.
Based on these photos and his film history alone, many fans were assured that Will Smith would have made an excellent addition to the MCU as Blade.
What do you think of Will Smith as Blade in the MCU?