Marvel Confirms ‘Blade’ Reboot Won't Be R-Rated
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Featured Image Credit: Marvel Enterprises, New Line Cinema
President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige stated that the reboot of Blade - the superhero horror series following the comic book character whose sole motivation is to eradicate vampires from Earth - isn't going to be as grim and gory as fans might have expected.
"I think we target everything we're doing for kids and adults, so I think your question is more adult or R-rated," said Feige during a press stop during the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. "Other than Deadpool, which has already established itself as a certain genre and a certain rating, that we already said we would not mess with when we started working on Deadpool - which we have - other than that, we haven't encountered a story or a storyline or a character's journey that a PG-13 rating, or the tone, or the ratings we've been using up to this point has prevented us [from telling that story.]"
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The original film, which was released in 1998, starred Wesley Snipes and it arguably became one of the actor's most iconic and most recognisable roles. As an entry into the medium, Blade also worked to inject darkness and brutality into the otherwise energetic and ultimately optimistic superhero genre, thereby setting the scene (pun not intended) for films like Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, V for Vendetta, and Watchmen. We shouldn't be surprised that Disney is sanitising some of the viscera of the original Blade series, as it is a company that is built from the foundations of family friendly films. But, Feige was clear that this artistic choice isn't going to come at the expense of the experience.
"We haven't been held back by it. If we ever are, then certainly there can be a discussion that can be had now that there's other outlets like Star," he continued. "But that just hasn't been the case. We've told all the stories that we wanted to with the tonality and the rating we have now." If this news fills you with dread, then never fear. Mahershala Ali, who will play the vampire hunter in the reboot, is apparently pretty pleased with the way things are panning out. "I love that it's darker. That's all in terms of tone," he said in an interview in 2020. "He's a little bit darker than some of the other ones and so that element was attractive to me."
