Guess who’s the longest running MCU character? It’s not Hugh Jackman or Robert Downey Jr

After Robert Downey Jr’s return to the MCU and Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine, this actor broke the Guinness record for being the longest-running character.

Updated on: Aug 3, 2024, 16:27:25 IST

By Neeshita Nyayapati

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Hugh Jackman once held the record for being the longest-running live-action character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Robert Downey Jr will soon return to Marvel with a new character, Dr Doom. But it’s 61-year-old Wesley Snipes who broke the Guinness record. (Also Read: Deadpool & Wolverine: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman is ‘shocked’ how Marvel allowed to keep some of the jokes)

Wesley Snipes first played Blade in 1996 and was recently seen in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Blade is the longest-running Marvel character

Wesley appeared unexpectedly in Hugh and Ryan Reynolds’ recently released Deadpool & Wolverine as the half-vampire daywalker Eric Brooks aka Blade.

Wesley has broken records, reprising his role as the vampire hunter for the film. He first debuted as the character in the 1998 film Blade, reprising the character again 25 years later. Hugh held the record to date for first appearing as Wolverine in the 2000 film X-Men and was expected to take the record till Wesley played the cameo.

He also earned the record for the longest gap between character appearances in Marvel film, having last played Blade 19 years 231 days ago in the 2004 film Blade: Trinity. Alfred Molfina’s Doctor Octopus had a 17-year gap between 2004’s Spider-Man 2 and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Wesley Snipes on two decades of Blade

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Wesley claimed that he had ‘very interesting conversations’ about bringing Blade back but none of them came to fruition. That changed when he got a call from Ryan for the cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Wesley said, “I thought it didn't make sense to me, but (when) you get a call from Ryan Reynolds out of the blue after 20 years, you go, okay, I got to take this call, let's see what this is about. He told me the idea... They said, yes and it's a go, if you're in, we're in. Here we are.”

After that, the actor said he worked out extensively for around a month to get his body ‘Blade ready’. Mahershala Ali’s name has been making rounds to take over from Wesley in the Blade reboot.

Deadpool & Wolverine was released in theatres on July 26. The film featured numerous other cameos by some fan-favourites.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeshita Nyayapati
Despite having a Master's degree in Journalism and over a decade of experience in print and digital media as a field reporter and sub-editor at organisations such as The Times of India and Reader's Digest, Neeshita Nyayapati remains a movie buff first and a Chief Content Producer second. She fell in love with movies in childhood and believes nothing matches the magic of watching a good film that moves you with a warm tub of popcorn in hand. Her love for writing about cinema follows that. Come Friday, you'll find her at her happy place, the movies, catching the latest rom-com or masala offering, for reviews or otherwise. As for the rest of the week, she's here reporting the juiciest news in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi or bringing out the best of celebs in interviews. While her niche is Telugu cinema, Neeshita likes to dabble in a little bit of everything to stay up to date. From film announcements to scandals and hard news angles, she has explored it all. A good book, a comforting cup of hot chocolate, puppy kisses and a stunning beach view are all she needs to unwind. Her passion for biking and travelling has taken her to various places across the country. She has found peace in everything from the frozen lakes of Gangtok to the coffee plantations of Coorg and the dense forests of Bandipur, to the monasteries of Darjeeling. But no matter where she goes, Neeshita loves coming across inspiring and moving stories.Read More

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