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The original Blade movies were products of their time. They were campy and never hesitated to throw in a cringey line now and again. However, for better or worse, they embraced the source material. In fact, there was a point in time when a controversial Marvel character showed up at the end of the first Blade to set the stage for a major big-screen rivalry.
Morbius Nearly Had a Role in the First Blade Movie and Changed the Franchise
Blade throws the kitchen sink at its titular vampire. While trying to take down an ambitious vampire, Deacon Frost, Blade discovers that his mother is still alive and part of the villain’s crew. But saving his mother isn’t an option for Blade, who kills all of the vampires, including Frost, to save humanity from the blood god La Magra. After all that fighting, the next logical step for Blade is to take Dr. Karen Jenson up on her offer to find him a cure and live a normal life. However, he turns her down, choosing to continue fighting injustice. The final shot of Blade sees the hunter confronting a vampire in Russia, paving the way for an international story in Blade II. The Daywalker wasn’t always going to head to Russia, though, as there was another ending that saw him become the prey.
An alternate ending was filmed that played out similarly to the original, with Blade turning down the cure. After making his decision, a figure appeared in the distance wearing a trench coat. While the character’s name was never revealed, director Stephen Norrington intended it to be Morbius, the Living Vampire. Of course, Blade and Morbius have a longstanding rivalry in the comics, and Norrington clearly wanted to explore that in live-action. He even went as far as to play the mysterious figure himself. However, the ending found itself on the cutting room floor, which was probably a good thing because Guillermo del Toro came in to helm the sequel, and painting a creative like him into a corner would’ve been a mistake. There may also have been rights issues because Morbius belonged to Sony at the time, and New Line Cinema was making the Blade movies.
While things worked out for Blade just fine, Morbius wasn’t so lucky. He sat around at Sony until the powers that be attempted to capitalize on the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man movies, casting Jared Leto in a solo film. Morbius was an unmitigated disaster, but that doesn’t have to be the end for the Living Vampire. The MCU could bring him into the fold and set him on a collision course with Blade.
