Wesley Snipes has reached new career heights with his latest movie appearance.
The actor broke two Guinness World Records after making a surprise cameo as his signature Marvel character, Blade, in the new superhero film “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Snipes now holds the record for the longest career as a live-action Marvel character, appearing as Blade 25 years and 240 days after he first starred as the half-vampire superhero in 1998’s “Blade,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Snipes beat his co-star Hugh Jackman, who first starred as Wolverine in 2000’s “X-Men,” the publication reported. Jackman was poised to take the record from Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Charles Xavier/Professor X, but lost out to Snipes, per THR.
Snipes’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” appearance also broke the record for the longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films, Guinness announced over the weekend. The actor last appeared as Blade in 2004’s “Blade: Trinity,” which was 19 years and 231 days before the release of “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The record was previously held by Alfred Molina, who had a 17-year gap between his appearance as Doc Ock in “Spider-Man 2” and his latest appearance in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” per THR.
Snipes’ new records come as Marvel Studios execs are working to bring the Blade franchise back to the big screen. Mahershala Ali is set to star as the iconic character in an upcoming film that has faced significant delays, per THR. Snipes poked fun at the movie’s production challenges in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” saying that he’ll be “the only Blade people are ever going to see on the big screen.”
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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke about the new Blade film in an interview with Blacktree TV in June, saying that the movie will be rated R.
“I mean, for the last two years as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right Blade movie,” he said at the time. “Because there were some great Blade movies years ago — they were all rated R. So I think that’s, like Deadpool, inherent with the character of Blade.”
