Wesley Snipes is back to slaying vampires and breaking records! Reprising his iconic role as Blade in the hit Deadpool & Wolverine film, the 62-year-old actor has set two new Guinness World Records.
Snipes now holds the title for the “longest career as a live-action Marvel character,” surpassing Hugh Jackman. Snipes first appeared as Blade in 1998, edging out Jackman, who debuted as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, according to People.
Snipes also set the record for the “longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films.” Returning as Blade after a 20-year hiatus since 2004’s Blade: Trinity, he broke the previous record held by Alfred Molina, who returned as Doc Ock in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, 17 years after his debut in Spider-Man 2.
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During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly at Comic-Con 2024 on July 26, Snipes disclosed that Ryan Reynolds asked him to reprise his role as Blade in the new Marvel movie.
“Over the years, we’ve had very interesting conversations, some of them very substantive and some of them not,” the actor told EW at the outlet’s Comic-Con suite. “So I kind of resided that I was moving on from them, which is okay.”
Snipes added, “I did three of them, and I thought they turned out pretty good. Not so bad … So we move on to other things, and bigger and better things, as well.”
Deadpool & Wolverine star, producer, and co-writer Reynolds texted his former Blade: Trinity co-star Snipes before suiting to play Deadpool again in the sequel. Reynolds, 47, previously played Hannibal King in the third Blade film.
“I thought it didn’t make sense to me, but [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,’ ” Snipes said. “He told me the idea … They said ‘yes’ and ‘it’s a go.’ ‘If you’re in, we’re in.’ Here we are.”
Snipes, who isn’t involved in the upcoming Blade film starring Mahershala Ali, praised Ali’s challenge in taking on the role.
Meanwhile, Deadpool & Wolverine, featuring Snipes’ reprisal of Blade alongside Reynolds’ Deadpool and Jackman’s Wolverine, dominated the box office with $205 million domestically and over $824 million globally.
The film also boasts cameos from Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum, Chris Evans, Henry Cavill, Tyler Mane, Jon Favreau, and Blake Lively.
