Eric Brooks a.k.a. Blade isn’t exiting the Marvel Universe anytime soon. All the opposite, in fact, as the Daywalker is officially teaming up with the X-Men to find his daughter. Blade is undeniably the central hero of Marvel’s vampire mythology in every timeline of the Marvel multiverse. Whenever Dracula or other bloodsucking threats arrive, Eric Brooks almost invariably leads the response, whether he fights alone or assembles allies from the Midnight Sons, the Avengers, or Marvel’s supernatural collection of heroes and anti-heroes. His unique heritage as a dhampir allows him to confront dangers that most traditional superheroes can’t understand.
Marvel Studios’ planned Blade reboot generated enormous anticipation from the moment Mahershala Ali surprised audiences with his appearance at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. Ali’s Academy Award-winning reputation and Blade’s importance to Marvel’s cinematic history after Wesley Snipes’ influential trilogy created widespread expectations that the Daywalker would usher the MCU into a darker supernatural direction. Marvel further fueled that excitement by introducing Ali’s Blade through an off-screen vocal cameo in Eternals before giving the vampire hunter his first animated appearance in What If…? season 3. Unfortunately, Mahershala Ali’s project is no longer moving forward, and Blade’s MCU debut will have to wait.
On the bright side, Blade continues to take the spotlight in Marvel Comics, where he’s starring in one major team-up and one major crossover.
Blade Teams Up With The X-Men To Find His Daughter
X-Men United #8; Written By Evan Narcisse; Art By Eve L. Ewing; Art By Tiago Palma
Marvel’s next wave of X-Men comics includes X-Men United #8, where Blade is set to join forces with the titular mutant team to search for his lost daughter, Bloodline, which leads the heroes to discover a secret mutant conspiracy. Stefano Caselli’s main cover for X-Men United #8 shows the mutant Wither holding Jubilee and Blade by the head, both heroes seemingly drained of their life energy and defeated in front of a smoking battlefield. While covers featuring beaten heroes are a staple of superhero comics, the possibility of Blade being taken out by Wither is an unprecedented landmark in Eric Brooks’ comic history.
Blade’s upcoming mission alongside the X-Men adds a new chapter to a career that extends far beyond Marvel’s supernatural corner. Eric Brooks has fought alongside the Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain Britain, Captain America, the Punisher, and numerous street-level and cosmic heroes whenever vampire threats reached a large enough scale. Blade’s history with mutants, however, has been surprisingly limited despite occasional encounters with Wolverine and other X-Men characters. After all, mutant society is no stranger to vampires or vampire-like threats, including the psychic vampire Selene, Ororo Munroe’s alternate-reality counterpart Bloodstorm, and Jubilee herself, who was once bitten by Blade’s longtime enemy Morbius.
Blade Is Having A Resurgence In The Comics Despite His Movie Cancelation
The MCU’s Blade Movie Cancelation Hasn’t Affected Eric Brooks’ Time In The Spotlight
Blade’s current prominence in Marvel Comics creates an interesting contrast with his cinematic future. Although Mahershala Ali has confirmed that Marvel Studios’ long-delayed MCU Blade movie is no longer moving forward, the comics have made Eric Brooks quite a relevant hero to the Marvel Universe. Blade recently helped establish a new incarnation of the Midnight Sons alongside Moon Knight and Clea, with the addition of Robbie Reyes and Daredevil in his first adventure with the supernatural team. Blade’s involvement with the X-Men further expands his role beyond horror stories, placing him in contact with another one of Marvel’s flagship teams.
Blade has taken the spotlight in the Marvel Comics universe even before his team-up with the X-Men. While his MCU movie stayed in development hell, Blade effectively headlined Marvel’s comic crossover event Blood Hunt, which revolved around Varnae’s corruption of Blade and transformed Earth’s greatest vampire hunter into its greatest threat, and plunged the entire Marvel Universe into darkness with a worldwide vampire invasion. The consequences didn’t end with Blade’s liberation. Blood Hunt directly paved the way for One World Under Doom and ultimately fed into the current Armageddon era.
How do you think Blade‘s X-Men team-up will end?
X-Men United #8 is available October 21 from Marvel Comics
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David S. Goyer, Stephen Norrington, Guillermo del Toro
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