Since Marvel acquired 20th Century Fox, it has brought more heroes into the MCU, including those who already had movies released during the pre-MCU er
Since Marvel acquired 20th Century Fox, it has brought more heroes into the MCU, including those who already had movies released during the pre-MCU era. While some of these projects have already been released, like The Fantastic Four, and other characters are returning, like the X-Men, one project never saw the delicate of day, disappointing many. But that doesn’t mean fans can’t see this Marvel character anymore.
Blade is a Marvel antihero who first appeared in 1973 in The Tomb of Dracula #10. He is a half-human, half-vampire vigilante who received a live-action adaptation in 1998, starring Wesley Snipes. In 2022, Marvel Studios announced that it would release its own Blade movie, starring Mahershala Ali as the iconic vampire hunter. But despite an off-camera cameo in a post-credit scene in Eternals, the Blade movie had issues, and it was eventually canceled. However, just because the MCU adaptation is over doesn’t mean this character’s story has ended.
Peacock has revealed its list of films and TV shows entering its library this October, and among them is the Blade trilogy. Directed by Stephen Norrington, Guillermo del Toro, and David S. Goyer, the three films were released between 1998 and 2004 and grossed over $417 million worldwide. While critics panned all three movies, audiences had mixed reactions to each installment. The first earned a 78% audience score, the sequel, Blade II, earned 68%, and the final installment, Blade: Trinity, received 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the MCU adaptation has ended, one could argue that Snipes’ Blade is technically part of the MCU since his portrayal of the character had a supporting role in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes
Which MCU Character Is Your Best Friend?
Steve Rogers · Tony Stark · Peter Parker · Shuri
Pick where you meet, what they text you at two in the morning, what they hand you on your birthday and what the two of you keep arguing about. Four very different people are waiting on the other side: the one who never leaves, the one who is exhausting and worth it, the one who replies in four seconds flat, and the one who will roast you and then fix your life.
Steve Rogers(Captain America)
Tony Stark(Iron Man)
Peter Parker(Spider-Man)
Shuri(Black Panther)
FIND YOUR FRIEND →
01
Where do the two of you meet?
Nobody in this universe makes a friend somewhere normal.
AIn a gym at six in the morning, where the two of you are the only people awake.
BAt a party you were not really invited to, where they talked to you for an hour.
CQueuing for coffee in Queens while something clamorous happens six blocks away.
DIn a lab you had no clearance for, and they decided to let you stay.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Your phone lights up at two in the morning. What does it say?
You find out what kind of friend somebody is by what they send at that hour.
ANothing at all, because they are already outside, having heard you had a rugged week.
BFour hundred words about an idea they just had, plus a schematic you cannot read.
CAn apology for texting so behind schedule, followed by a question that could have waited.
DA meme aimed directly at you, sent with no context and absolutely no mercy.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
It is your birthday. What do they hand you?
The present is never really about the present.
ASomething tiny they made themselves, handed over slightly awkwardly.
BSomething absurd and high-priced that fixes a problem you mentioned once, months ago.
CA gift that clearly took months of saving, wrapped badly, with a long note inside.
DAn upgrade to something you already owned, installed without asking you first.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What does a good Saturday with them actually look like?
Superheroes have days off, and this is how they spend them.
AA long walk, an aged diner and a conversation you had both been avoiding.
BWhatever they decide at noon, which somehow ends with you in another country.
CBad takeaway and an aged film on their couch, interrupted about eleven times.
DTwo hours in a workshop, arguing about whether your idea would even work.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
You have your worst day in years. What do they do about it?
This is the part of a friendship nobody puts in the trailer.
AThey sit next to you and say almost nothing until you are ready to talk.
BThey throw money, noise and three terrible plans at it until one of them helps.
CThey turn up with food, refuse to leave, and then check on you every day for a month.
DThey tell you the straightforward version of it, which nobody else was willing to say.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Every real friendship has one fight it keeps having. What is yours?
The thing you argue about is usually the thing you like most about them.
AThey take risks with their own life that they would never let me take with mine.
BThey vanish into work for weeks and expect me to be completely fine about it.
CThey keep apologising for things that were never even slightly their fault.
DThey are three steps ahead of me and do not always bother explaining why.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
The alarm goes off and you are both in the field. What is your job?
You get one role on the team, and it says a lot about who you want next to you.
AHolding the front line so that everybody behind me gets out of the building.
BDoing the thing nobody has a plan for yet, at speed, and inventing the rest.
CGetting people off the street quietly before anyone realises we were there.
DRunning everything from a screen and talking the rest of them through it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Ten years on, what do you want this friendship to be?
Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who picks up the phone.
AExactly the same, because some people are simply enduring and that is the appeal.
BLoud and complicated and worth every bit of the trouble it caused along the way.
CStill the person I look out for, and still the first one who checks on me.
DTwo people who keep each other acute and never once get sentimental about it.
REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND →
The Line Is Ringing
Your Best Friend Is…
Four people, four completely different ideas of what it means to have
somebody in your corner. Here is who picked up, what they would ask of you, and what you would get
back.
Steve Rogers
You want the friend who does not leave. Steve is the one who
turns up at the door without being asked, who remembers what you said you were worried
about, and who has never once made you audition for his attention.
- His entire character is built on a single sentence, which is that he will not abandon
somebody just because it has become high-priced to keep them. - He is far funnier than people give him credit for, and the joke is almost always at his
own expense rather than yours. - The friendship comes with a cost, since being close to Steve means being dragged into
fights that were never yours and being glad about it later. - You would get a friend who tells you the demanding thing to your face and then defends you to
everybody else in the room.
Tony Stark
You want the friend who is genuinely exhausting and completely
worth it. Tony will forget your birthday, then build you something at four in the morning
that you did not know you needed, and hand it over as though it were nothing.
- He is bad at saying the toasty thing out clamorous, so he says it in hardware instead, which is
why everybody around him ends up with upgraded everything. - Being his friend means putting up with the disappearing, the deflecting and the jokes
that arrive about ninety seconds too early. - What you get in return is somebody who will spend an unreasonable amount of money and
effort on a problem the moment it becomes yours. - He is the loudest person in the room and the one most likely to be quietly panicking
about all of you.
Peter Parker
You want the friend who replies in four seconds and apologises
for it. Peter is earnest in a way that is almost unfashionable, and he will take on far more
than he can carry rather than admit that he is struggling.
- He is the only one on this list who needs looking after as much as he looks after you,
and that balance is exactly what makes it a real friendship. - Nobody in the MCU is better at the tiny stuff, from remembering the thing you were
nervous about to showing up with food you did not ask for. - Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived in July 2026 and put him back where he works best,
which is broke, local and carrying the weight on his own. - You would get a friend who is sincerely, embarrassingly elated for you when something
goes right, with no edge to it at all.
Shuri
You want the friend who insults your shoes, fixes your phone and
then quietly rearranges your entire life for the better. Shuri does not do pliable reassurance,
and that is the reason you would believe her when she says you are fine.
- She is the smartest person in almost any room she walks into and treats that as a reason
to tease you rather than a reason to lecture you. - The teasing is the affection. When Shuri stops making fun of you, something has gone
seriously wrong and you should probably ask her about it. - Her story is the one on this list that goes somewhere genuinely gloomy, which is what
turned her from a scene stealer into the emotional centre of the films. - You would get a friend who never pities you, never softens the truth, and never once
lets you take yourself too seriously.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Marvel Is Bringing Another Pre-MCU Hero Back To Life
Despite putting an end to Blade, Marvel has announced another project featuring a character who also had films released before the MCU was established. Marvel confirmed at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con that it will adapt Ghost Rider, starring Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) and directed by Shawn Levy, both of whom are currently working together on Star Wars: Starfighter. As of now, there is no plot or additional cast information, but the movie is scheduled to come out in 2028. Previously, two Ghost Rider movies were released in 2007 and 2012, both starring Nicolas Cage as the Marvel character.
The Blade trilogy will be available to stream on Peacock on October 1, 2026. Follow Collider for more updates.
Release Date
August 21, 1998
Runtime
120 Minutes
Director
Stephen Norrington
Writers
David S. Goyer, Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan
