Wesley Snipes is an American treasure, and Ryan Reynolds wants more.
The Deadpool & Wolverine star posted a carousel of photos featuring Snipes to Instagram on Wednesday, writing, “The reaction when [Wesley Snipes] enters the movie is the most intense thing l’ve heard in a theater. People screaming with uninhibited joy and love is also the sound of a legacy.”
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Wesley Snipes and Ryan Reynolds.
Ryan Reynolds/Instagram
Wesley Snipes’ Blade beats out Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine for major Marvel superhero record
Beginning in 1998, Snipes played the daywalking human-vampire hybrid Blade in a trilogy of films produced by a little company that hadnt yet taken over the entertainment industry, Marvel. He reprised his role in a much feted supporting part in Deadpool & Wolverine as part of a resistance contingent who join up with Reynolds Deadpool and Hugh Jackmans Wolverine to defeat the villainous Cassandra Nova (Emma Corin).
“More Blade please. #DayWalker. A Logan-style send off, specifically,” Reynolds concluded his Instagram caption, referencing the highly-acclaimed 2017 superhero movie following Jackman as an aged Wolverine.
Reynolds connection to Snipes and Blade extends well beyond their latest blockbuster. Before he starred as Deadpool/Wade Wilson in 2016s Deadpool or even his earlier appearance in 2009s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds appeared as an entirely different character, Hannibal King, a minor character from The Tomb of Dracula comics (the fount where Blade springs from), in Blade: Trinity.
In fact, if it werent for Snipes and Blade, Deadpool & Wolverine might never have had the chance to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first place. Released in 1998, the original Blade wasnt the first movie to center on a major character from Marvel lore – Fantastic Four (1994), Captain America (1990), The Punisher (1989), and, yes, Howard the Duck (1986) preceded it. But Blade was the first Marvel movie to garner wide critical praise and gesture toward the potential for a vast cinematic franchise like the MCU.
Ryan Reynolds explains Deadpool & Wolverine tribute to costar Rob Delaney’s late son, Henry Delaney
Snipes isnt the only surprise star from Marvels past to be warmly welcomed back in Deadpool & Wolverine. The resistance squad Blade rolls with in the film includes Jennifer Garners Elektra; Dafne Keen as Wolverines daughter, Laura; and Channing Tatum as Gambit, a character/actor pair wed never actually seen on screen before as Tatum was supposed to star as the Cajun card-thrower in a film for Fox from Doug Liman, but that full house eventually crumpled.
Other notable Deadpool & Wolverine guest stars included Rob Delaney, Henry Cavill, Chris Evans, Tom Hollands brother, but somehow not Halle Berry
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Wesley Snipes didn’t think Blade return was possible until Ryan Reynolds called: ‘If you’re in, we’re in’ (exclusive)
The film has just surpassed Joker as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, and its box office continues to climb in its fifth week in theaters. It has earned a cumulative total of $1.086 billion worldwide. But that still isnt enough to dethrone the years reigning champ, Inside Out 2, which has raked in upwards of $1.5 billion.
Snipes appearance as Blade sadly marks what will likely be his last as the character, as Marvel has been in works for some time rebooting the character for a series starring Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali. The film has been beset by setbacks and both actor and director dropouts.
Snipes himself recently joked about the bumpy production, writing on X, “Blade, lordylordylordy 👀 folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don’t they?”
