Wesley Snipes is not only making waves as a vampire slayer but also setting world records! With his recent return to the Blade role in the highly successful Deadpool & Wolverine, the 62-year-old actor has achieved two Guinness World Records.
According to the organization, Snipes surpassed Hugh Jackman to earn the record for the “longest career as a live-action Marvel character.”
Snipes first portrayed Blade in the 1998 film Blade, marking over 25 years in the role. Jackman, 55, first appeared as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men.
Additionally, Snipes set the record for the “longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films.”
He last appeared as Blade in 2004’s Blade: Trinity, surpassing the previous record held by Alfred Molina, who returned as Doc Ock in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home after first playing the character 17 years earlier in Spider-Man 2.
In a recent interview during Comic-Con 2024 on July 26, Snipes discussed how Ryan Reynolds reached out to him about reprising his role as Blade in the new Marvel film.
“Over the years, we’ve had very interesting conversations, some very substantive and some not so much,” Snipes told. “So I had resigned myself to moving on from them, which was fine.”
He continued, “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, who stars, produces, and co-wrote Deadpool & Wolverine, contacted Snipes about returning to the role. Reynolds, 47, played Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity.
“I thought it didn’t make sense at first, but when you get a call from Ryan Reynolds out of the blue after 20 years, you think, ‘Okay, I’ve got to take this call. Let’s see what this is about,’” Snipes said.
“He told me the idea … They said ‘yes’ and ‘it’s a go.’ ‘If you’re in, we’re in.’ And here we are.” Marvel is also working on another Blade film, featuring Mahershala Ali as the titular superhero.
In 2021, Snipes confirmed he was not involved in the new movie and shared with Uproxx that he thought Ali, 50, had “a heck of a job on his hands” with the role.
Meanwhile, Deadpool & Wolverine—which features Reynolds’ Deadpool alongside Jackman’s Wolverine—earned an estimated $205 million at the domestic box office over its opening weekend and has grossed over $824 million globally.
The action-comedy also includes notable cameos from Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios, Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Henry Cavill as a Wolverine variant, Tyler Mane as Victor Creed/Sabretooth, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, and Blake Lively as Lady Deadpool.
