Even before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there were movies based on the well-known comic universe. Some of them are still popular today, while others are considered poor representatives of the genre. In one of the most famous, there is a moment that shows how bad the atmosphere must have been during the shoot.
Which movie is it? The first Blade from 1998 was one of the first big successes of a Marvel movie, long before the MCU started. Blade became a trilogy, but the finale in 2004, Blade Trinity, was not well received.
Although the film was a success, with a box office of nearly 132 million US dollars on a budget of 65 million US dollars (via IMDb), critics and fans were not impressed. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a critic score of only 24%, and the audience rating was just 58%.
The apparent lack of quality can be attributed to the major issues during production. This is exemplified in the film, especially at the end and in Wesley Snipes’ eyes.
Snipes apparently didn’t want to open his eyes
What’s wrong with Snipes’ eyes? In the finale of Blade Trinity, Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, seemingly dies at the end of the final battle. You see his body in the morgue being inspected. Suddenly, he opens his eyes, breaks free, and you see him riding a motorcycle through the city.
However, if you pay close attention to the moment he opens his eyes, you can see that something is off. Those are not real eyes, but CGI eyes.
The scene in question can be seen here:
What is the reason for that? Although there was never an official confirmation, it can be assumed that Wesley Snipes simply refused, and they were forced to insert them that way. The catastrophic production of the film is infamous, especially the situation between Snipes and director David S. Goyer.
In an interview with A.V. Club, actor Patton Oswalt recounted how ridiculously crazy Snipes was said to be. He even claims that Snipes tried to choke Goyer.
Snipes himself denied this accusation in another interview (via The Guardian): Let me say this. If I had tried to choke David Goyer, you would probably not be talking to me right now. A Black man with muscles choking a film director goes to jail, I guarantee you that.
At least 20 years after his last Blade appearance, Snipes was able to step back into the role of the vampire slayer in Deadpool and Wolverine and please fans.
10 years after the first Blade, Marvel established its Cinematic Universe with Iron Man, which became a huge success and continues to this day. In a year, you can finally see the Avengers on the big screen again: Avengers: Doomsday – All about the cast, trailer, and release – Everything about the upcoming Marvel movie
