Warning: Spoiler alert for 'Deadpool & Wolverine'
Actor Wesley Snipes broke two Guinness World Records after making a surprise cameo in the MCU film Deadpool & Wolverine currently playing in theaters.
Snipes played the Marvel superhero Blade, a human with vampire strengths known as a Dhampir, from the titular Marvel franchise beginning in 1998 and in the sequels Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004).
According to Guinness World Records, the 62-year-old action star secured a Hollywood record for having the longest career as a live-action Marvel character.
Snipes' unexpected cameo in the Deadpool threequel came exactly 25 years and 340 days after he first starred as Blade in the first film, which was released on August 21, 1998.
He beat out previous record holder Hugh Jackman, who first debuted as Wolverine in 2000's X-Men 24 years ago.
Since then, Jackman became synonymous with Wolverine after he portrayed him in all ten of the mutant superhero's live-action film projects.
However, it's worth mentioning the record here is for the longest duration in which an actor portrayed a live-action superhero, not the number of films.
The new record also surpassed the one held by Alfred Molina, who played Peter Parker’s conflicted nemesis Doc Ock in 2004's Spider-Man 2 followed by a 17-year gap until he reprised the supervillain character in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
In the latest MCU film, starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool and Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, the title characters meet Blade after rogue Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent Mr. Paradox hurls them into The Void.
Wade and Logan team up with Blade, who is part of a resistance group along with the Marvel characters Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner) and Remy LeBeau / Gambit (Channing Tatum), and X-23 (Dafne Keen), to take on the nefarious Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
A planned fourth sequel for the Blade franchise starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has been struggling to come to fruition.
Filmmaker Bassam Tariq was attached to direct the reboot project planned for a November 2023 release. However, in September 2022, Tariq announced he was leaving the director's chair "due to continued shifts" in the production schedule.
Filmmaker Yann Demange then signed on to direct the project in November 2022 after it had been delayed for a September 2024 opening, but it was pushed back again for February 14, 2025, due to last year's drawn-out writer's strike followed by the SAG/AFTRA strike
When Demange recently announced he was now backing out from directing duties, Snipes mocked the troubled Blade reboot with a cheeky comment on X (formerly Twitter), writing:
"Blade, lordylordylordy."
"folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don’t they?"
Currently, the new Blade reboot is planned for a November 7, 2025 release date.
Meanwhile, Deadpool & Wolverine continues smashing box office records with a worldwide gross of $824.2 million as of August 4.
Erika Lee
