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With Deadpool and Wolverine out now, I think it's safe to say that we're taking a moment to absorb the multiversal chaos the film puts forward. Of all the fun Deadpool and Wolverine cameos packed into the action, there's only one that made the audience in my theater gasp – a surprise that nobody saw coming.
Perhaps that's because a few of the others were telegraphed jokes or had been previously leaked. But this cameo, on the other hand, which saw an actor return to an iconic superhero role for the first time in two full decades, was a welcome, almost total surprise. So join us as we sink our teeth into the details of what might be Deadpool & Wolverine's most special surprising guest appearance.
If you don't want this cameo spoiled for you, stop reading this article. If you're looking for viewing advice, check out our Deadpool and Wolverine review.
Return of the daywalker
Deadpool & Wolverine sees the Merc With a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) and an alternate version of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, reprising the role from his turn in the best X-Men movies) trying to stop the TVA, an organization that "prunes" variant timelines from reality that made its debut in the Disney+ Loki series, from destroying their universes. In the process, they both end up getting banished to the Void, a scrap heap reality where everything that the TVA has pruned from various timelines ends up. Following a run-in with another big cameo, Chris Evans playing the Fantastic Four's Human Torch, Deadpool and Wolverine get into a scuffle and wake up to find themselves inside a hideout of some other pruned heroes.
One of those heroes is none other than Wesley Snipes reprising his role as Blade, the daywalker vampire hunter who battled blood-suckers in three movies and hasn't been seen on the big screen since 2004.
Who Plays Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine?
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Blade isn't alone in the hideout. Before he rounds the corner, Elektra reveals herself. She's played by Jennifer Garner, reprising her role in the 2003 Daredevil film and 2005 spin-off. The card-slinging X-Men character Gambit follows Blade. He's played by Channing Tatum, a nod to the unproduced movie the Magic Mike actor was supposed to star in in the '10s. Finally, Dafne Keen reprises her role as X-23 from Logan.
There were some rumors that Snipes would appear as Blade in the movie, but not to the same extent as the early chatter and eventual confirmation that Garner would return as Elektra – and marketing for the movie certainly didn't spoil the cameo the way the final trailer did for X-23's appearance.
The cameo was extra surprising not just because there rumors about it were quiet but because Snipes has been making headlines recently as the MCU considers taking the character in a different direction. Snipes first appeared as Blade, a unique vampire with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses, in the 1998 film.
This was before the modern superhero movie boom, and indeed many people probably still don't realize that Blade is a Marvel Comics character, having made his debut in a 1973 comic. He would reprise the role in Blade 2 (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004) – the last of which amusingly also starred a young Ryan Reynolds. (Deadpool, naturally, makes a joke about this in Deadpool & Wolverine.)
Will Blade Appear in the MCU Again?
Blade: Trinity was the last time Snipes would play Blade for 20 years until this Deadpool & Wolverine appearance. Marvel's been eyeing bringing the vampire hunter back for more than a decade at this point, having talked with the actor about potentially reprising the role in the mid-'10s for a film that never happened. More recently, Mahershala Ali was cast to play Blade in the MCU, and Ali made a voice-only cameo in 2021's Eternals. That movie has been stuck in development hell, with multiple script rewrites and directors coming and going. It's currently aiming for a Fall 2025 release.
It was only a month ago, in response to a new wave of stories about the Blade reboot movie's development struggles, that Snipes threw some shade on the MCU on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. "Blade, lordylordylordy,” Snipes wrote. "Folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don't they?"
Given that Deadpool and Wolverine wrapped production a mere four days after Snipes posted this tweet, he was clearly already in the picture when he fired this little shot at Marvel's troubles in replacing him. That just makes the cameo even funnier – and it makes Blade's proclamation that there's only one Blade and there's only ever going to be one Blade worthy of the ironically knowing look Deadpool gives the camera.
Wondering where to go next? Here's how to watch all of the Marvel movies in order once you're done with Deadpool and Wolverine.
