Ryan Reynolds Praises Wesley Snipes’ Blade in ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’

Ryan Reynolds is calling for more Blade on the big screen following Wesley Snipes‘ long-awaited return as the Marvel superhero in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Reynolds shared to Instagram behind-the-scenes photos he took with Snipes on the film’s set. Snipes debuted as Blade in the 1998 movie of the same name and reprised the character in 2002’s “Blade II” and 2004’s “Blade: Trinity,” the latter of which co-starred Reynolds.

“The reaction when Wesley Snipes enters the movie is the most intense thing l’ve heard in a theater,” Reynolds wrote in the caption to the post. “People screaming with uninhibited joy and love is also the sound of a legacy. More Blade, please.”

Snipes’ Blade was one of several heroes from Fox’s era of Marvel movies to return in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm also appeared much to the delight of comic book movie fans. Snipes opened up to Entertainment Weekly about what it was like reprising Blade after 20 years in “Deadpool & Wolverine” following the movie’s record-breaking opening weekend.

 “Over the years, we’ve had very interesting conversations, some of them very substantive and some of them not,” Snipes told EW about bringing his iteration of Blade back for a fourth go-around. “So I kind of resided that I was moving on from them, which is okay. 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.”

Reynolds texted Snipes during development on “Deadpool & Wolverine” to ask if he might be interested in reprising Blade. Reynolds sent a text that read: “I want to talk to you.”

“I did not think it was possible,” Snipes said of his return to Blade after 20 years. “I didn’t think we would be able to pull it off. I didn’t think that Marvel was into it, Disney was into it — also because they had Mahershala [Ali] cast for the next upcoming version of it…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.’ He told me the idea…They said ‘yes’ and ‘it’s a go.’ ‘If you’re in, we’re in.’ Here we are.”

Marvel has been developing its own “Blade” reboot with Ali for the past couple years, although it has faced numerous development issues. It was announced on June 12 that director Yann Demange was exiting the movie and that a new screenwriter, Eric Pearson (“The Fantastic Four,” “Black Widow”), was coming on board.

“Deadpool and Wolverine” has grossed $1.15 billion at the worldwide box office and counting to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history. The film is the second highest-grossing movie of 2024 so far behind “Inside Out 2.”