Two decades ago, Wesley Snipes broke new ground in superhero movies as Marvel’s vampire hunter, Blade. But before he portrayed the Daywalker, Snipes had his eye on bringing another Marvel hero to the big screen. While Snipes’ ambition to star as Black Panther never came to fruition, he recently spoke about the movie that might have been.
Via Heroic Hollywood, reporter Kevin McCarthy caught up with Snipes at a premiere event. Snipes took the opportunity to explain how he went from trying to make Black Panther to starring in Blade.
“I tried to get Black Panther [made], I had the rights to Black Panther, maybe four or five years before the Blade project came around,” recalled Snipes. “When Blade came around because we didn’t do Black Panther, our version of it, I thought it would be cool opportunity for me to do something for truly my friends. All the martial arts cats, all the cats that love Shaft.”
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Snipes also addressed the technical limitations that may have affected his vision of Wakanda. Regardless, Snipes wanted to show off the futuristic cities hidden away from the rest of the world.
“At that time, we didn’t have the technology, but we would have done all the vibranium,” said Snipes. “I wanted it to be like what the comic was with the super city with the super-science.”
Until recently, Snipes had let it be known that he was interested in reprising his role as Blade in the MCU. After the announcement at Comic-Con that Mahershala Ali will play Blade, Snipes congratulated his successor.
Would you have liked to have seen Snipes’ version of Black Panther in the ’90s? And should he make a cameo in Black Panther 2 or Blade? Let us know in the comment section below!
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