Blade - Challenger of the Supernatural Appreciation 2023

[Tracks]

I know we've talked about this. It's just bizarre because he's literally turned into a bat twice in canon and referenced his ability to do so with Deadpool (Ewing also acknowledged that he wanted to do something with that in Mighty Avengers before writing on panel that Blade can't do it in Hulk).

Beyond our personal opinions, Blade's stated power set (all vampire strengths, none of their weaknesses) has been interpreted in so many different ways at this point. We have writers like Aaron who literally just write him as a vampire who's immune to sunlight, then others who take the movie route and write him as a more muted vampire with just strength, speed, and a bit of healing (even the healing varies depends on how vampiric they want to make him).

[Jabare]

I wouldn't mind if he had hypnosis in a subtle sense like a Jedi mind trick nothing full blown. As he did in the Ultimate Comics

"All a vampires strengths none of their weakness," is a cool slogan its marketing. For the most part it's true. Turning into a bat is a parlor trick. Mist etc.

But super strength, healing, speed he's got all that and it allows him to stand on equal footing in a fight unlike a regular human. It's also a line that has added impact when Blade isn't in a combined universe with a thousand other super powered heroes

I don't put any stock into that Mojo Supernatural Avengers showing. That's a clone or replica for all I know. The comic doesn't even explain it. I'm not going to rant about Aaron since he gave us one cool arc, but there were some inconsistencies with his run. Plus the one instance of him turning into a Bat happened in a Mephisto altered reality/timeline. Aaron's depiction of Blade felt like an outlier. He had him act more vampire like at times than any other writer. From him sucking blood, pouncing on opponents. Referring to himself as a vampire. Blade didn't do that before.

Blade already has an ideal archetype of a BAMF. He overcomes his opponents with prep, martial skill and his innate physical strengths and resilience.

From a narrative standpoint if he's a shapeshifter it throws a wrench into so many potential stories. I don't want to read a story and be nitpicking every time Blade doesn't shapeshifter to escape a situation. I can think of a dozen examples of writers giving heroes extra great abilities only to see them getting embarrassed regularly. Moreover, I think it takes away from Blade's martial prowess which should be one of his greatest strengths. Blade is suppose to be that guy who can walk into a room and beat everybody down. Those are some of his iconic moments.


https://www.marvel.com/articles/comi...nkId=204768911








well at least Bloodline is getting Blade out of Russia. I'm getting the feeling Marvel might be going the Luke Cage route with him and make him a family guy if this takes off.

[MichaelC]

If he really had all of a vampire's powers, then he'd be almost as powerful as Storm, Mesmero, Shadowcat, Swarm, and Sabretooth combined. I doubt most writers really want him to be that powerful.

[Tracks]

We're somewhat agreeing but I'm just not explaining away the inconsistencies. That uncanny avengers annual had MOJO capture the 616 heroes and place them in his own world. The story WAS canon. And similarly, in the Mephisto universe, it was 616 that was manipulated and it was more or less revealed that the only difference about Blades timeline was that he never became a vampire hunter because there were no vampires (which they still haven't explained), so that Blade was just a homeless dude before regaining consciousness. No differences in his actual biology. Regarding other inconsistency, in that Darkhold comic they showed that, after being manipulated by the darkhold to give in to his vampirism, he more or less completely transformed into a vampire (with those ridiculously massive teeth). We saw in the books, the darkhold didn't actually amp anyone just internally took them through the darkest versions of their lives and extracted them. So we pretty consistently have writers that are a bit all over the place.

I hear you in terms of what's narratively consistent for Blade, what I'm thinking about is what's narratively consistent for a Dhampir. It's sort of like arguing a werewolf shouldn't completely grow fur, like a Dhampir is a specific creature that is essentially a vampire that can walk through the world like a normal human. The movie version of the dhampir made sense, because those movie vampires couldn't do much. In the marvel universe it's a bit more odd, because suddenly if you just take Blade from the movies you don't have a guy "with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses", you have a slightly weaker vampire which isn't that impressive in the marvel comic universe where vampires are pretty consistently just fodder for most heroes. I think Aaron's depiction of what dhampir has to be to be relevant in the 616 makes sense. Especially now that most of Marvel's vampires are daywalkers with their current tech.

My mini plot explanation for the inconsistency has actually always been that Uncanny Avenger story, because in it MOJO says they've amped the heroes for their fight with the Avengers.

[Tracks]

If he really had all of a vampire's powers, then he'd be almost as powerful as Storm, Mesmero, Shadowcat, Swarm, and Sabretooth combined. I doubt most writers really want him to be that powerful.

Which is easily explained away because old Dracula and other vampires who have been around for centuries can do that. Vampires are supposed to grow more powerful with age.

[Midnight_v]

Which is easily explained away because old Dracula and other vampires who have been around for centuries can do that. Vampires are supposed to grow more powerful with age.

I agree. He has vampire powers that haven't been unlocked yet because of age (or because of lack of feeding on enough natural blood or whatever). I like blade as being a same nebulous tier as spiderman, but
he should be allowed to grow. Turning into a bat is a misnomer though, vampires in marvel turn into a demonic bat like form not a small travel for, right?
End of the day though?
It helps him to have a couple spells up his sleeve and maybe having the ability to turn into a partial mist form (essentially intagiblity) "Occasionally" might enhance the character. A magic sword or 2, a borrowed bit of tech here and there and viola'.

I've often stated: "One of blades established powers that should MOST be focused on is: Favors. Everyone whos anyone owes blade a favor or 2 for dealing with their vampire problem for the last 60 to 100 years or so. Some people? Like A.I.M? He actually sent them a bill... which they PAID (and did so without betraying him, because it really wasn't worth it risking him coming back)."

[Jabare]

In Marvel 616 not every old vampire becomes incredibly formidable. I recall in the 2006 Blade series some of those vampires who infiltrated the Helicarrier stated the were centuries old. Yet they fought like any average vampire Blade had walked through. I know age is often a marker for strength in most vampire literature like True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Twilight etc., but it doesn't seem that cut and dry in the 616.

imo, it's a great slogan and one that doesn't need to be taken that literally.

Is Hulk really the strongest there is? Is Wolverine the best at what he does? Is Black Panther the Most Dangerous Man Alive? Is DareDevil really the man without fear? Probably not, but these sayings sound cool and help inform the reader about the characters. And the saying was even more relevant in the movies.

Blade has enhanced vampire: speed, strength, healing, senses and durability. But his heart still beats he needs to breathe, probably needs to eat etc.

I think his strengths really cover the basics for most vampires. Obviously levels will differentiations between vampires. I prefer vampires to have different unique abilities based on sect, species or dark gifts they've developed overtimes as we saw with he Legion of Undying.

Marvel has largely done a mediocre job developing vampires outside of a dozen characters over the years. It's a shame because you've got great examples like American Vampire, Castlevannia, Blood the Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D and other works that have done tremendous world building with vampires. I wish Marvel would emulate those stories regarding vampires


EDIT: I also believe in an effort to retain his humanity Blade would shy away from embracing all his dark gifts. He is effective the way that he is. If Blade went evil or something then we might see him as a more formidable Vampire overlord

[Tracks]

i mean to be fair that doesn't mean they weren't more powerful. One of those 300 year old vampires chucked Blade out of the window as soon as he showed up. Either way I think we're noting there really aren't too many consistent rules with Marvel vampires, which is part of why Blade's power set isn't all that consistent. Also I don't know if I'd compare "all the powers, none of the weaknesses" to those other tag lines, because it's literally the character description. It's more akin to "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets" or like "spiderman does whatever a spider can". It gives a general sense of the character's abilities, and a lot of writers play with those concepts which is why we've seen basically all of these heroes' powers change over time as people come with different interpretations. Some of them are just more egregious than others (Some writers forgetting Namor can fly, sometimes Thor not being bullet proof, and sometimes Blade can turn into a vampire bat).

There's a lot of room for story explaining how Marvel's dhampir works, because now there's two. To your point, I've always wanted them to essentially explain that it's extreme internal discipline that keeps his inner vampire from taking over.

To Midnight's point, I agree. I've always wanted to see Blade really show off his arsenal. That's what Aaron did best with the character. He's one of the best hunters with limitless supernatural knowledge. I love when there's an issue and he pulls out the perfect weapon for it (hellfire shotgun, Word Sword, breathing gun, boy-thing). The appearance in Hulk bugged me because why would Blade, knowing they're going after the Hulk, only bring his standard equipment? We saw Black Panther bust out some specialty spear that sliced right through Hulk.

[Tracks]

Reportedly Mahershala is requesting a lot of script re-writes and it makes me more confident they'll get this right. The other reported script seemed like the old "old, stoic man finds emotional sidekick to open him up" which is a bit lazy and cliche at this point. Makes me hopeful that Mahershala really wants to focus on Blade and dive into the character nuances. If he gets this right it could also unlock the comic character because writers have been struggling to write Blade at the center of a story for decades.

[Emperorjones]

Reportedly Mahershala is requesting a lot of script re-writes and it makes me more confident they'll get this right. The other reported script seemed like the old "old, stoic man finds emotional sidekick to open him up" which is a bit lazy and cliche at this point. Makes me hopeful that Mahershala really wants to focus on Blade and dive into the character nuances. If he gets this right it could also unlock the comic character because writers have been struggling to write Blade at the center of a story for decades.

I'm glad that Ali is making changes. I don't have much hope that if the MCU Blade film is successful that it will translate to how they deal with the character in the comics. If they didn't take advantage of the gift Goyer and Snipes gave them, I don't see them following Ali's lead for the MCU Blade. I think Marvel Comics has a limited view of who Blade is and what he can do. The daughter angle does open up new avenues, though at the same time, also has the potential to relegate him to simply being a supporting character yet again.

[Tracks]

I'm glad that Ali is making changes. I don't have much hope that if the MCU Blade film is successful that it will translate to how they deal with the character in the comics. If they didn't take advantage of the gift Goyer and Snipes gave them, I don't see them following Ali's lead for the MCU Blade. I think Marvel Comics has a limited view of who Blade is and what he can do. The daughter angle does open up new avenues, though at the same time, also has the potential to relegate him to simply being a supporting character yet again.

Well I think part of the issue was how Wesley worked in the movies didn't translate as well to the comics. He's a great actor and so his microexpressions and all that don't work as well in a comic medium. Also the type of action that was compelling in a movie format didn't work as well in comics. Honestly, whenever I see stories that try to leverage the movies, theyre just boring because Blade doesn't talk, slices up a bunch of no name vampires...and that's it. People don't do any of the character work to make the story interesting.

[Jabare]

Webtoons and mangas don't have those issues but somehow western comics do ...... seems more like a Marvel comics problem

[Emperorjones]

Well I think part of the issue was how Wesley worked in the movies didn't translate as well to the comics. He's a great actor and so his microexpressions and all that don't work as well in a comic medium. Also the type of action that was compelling in a movie format didn't work as well in comics. Honestly, whenever I see stories that try to leverage the movies, theyre just boring because Blade doesn't talk, slices up a bunch of no name vampires...and that's it. People don't do any of the character work to make the story interesting.

While I do agree that people don't do character work to make Blade interesting, and what Snipes was able to convey through film is not easily duplicated, if at all, in comics, I don't agree that Snipes' Blade didn't translate. Marvel had little problem making the comic version over visually to resemble Snipes, but they left behind the movie's world building/mythology. They also didn't fill in the holes in the Blade films. This was something they could've looked at what the Blade films weren't doing or didn't have the time (or rather sometimes chose not to explore) like a real love interest and do that. Or build on the vampire politics that came out of the first film especially, but also factored into each movie.

[taozen]

Has Blade fought any hero as much as Spiderman?

Which comic is this from?

[MichaelC]

Well I think part of the issue was how Wesley worked in the movies didn't translate as well to the comics. He's a great actor and so his microexpressions and all that don't work as well in a comic medium. Also the type of action that was compelling in a movie format didn't work as well in comics. Honestly, whenever I see stories that try to leverage the movies, theyre just boring because Blade doesn't talk, slices up a bunch of no name vampires...and that's it. People don't do any of the character work to make the story interesting.

Yeah, without the microexpressions, Blade is just this really taciturn, stoic guy. TV series Blade, in other words, who ended up taking second-fiddle to his sidekicks, because the sidekick actors could actually emote.