Blade is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan, his first appearance was in the comic book The Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973) as a supporting character.

The character went on to star and co-star in several comic book series as well as a Blade film series and television series. Actor Wesley Snipes portrayed the vampire hunter in the Blade film series while Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones took on the role for the television series.

Biography

Early life and career

Blade (born Eric Brooks) was born in a whorehouse in the Soho neighborhood of London, England in 1929.
Eric's mother, Tara Brooks, was a prostitute at Madame Vanity's Brothel. When Tara experienced severe labor complications, a doctor was summoned who was in actuality Deacon Frost, a vampire who feasted on her during Eric's birth and killed her. However, this inadvertently passed along certain enzymes in his own blood to the infant. This resulted in Eric's quasi-vampiric abilities, including a greatly prolonged lifespan and the ability to sense supernatural creatures, as well as an immunity to complete vampirism. Brooks' fellow prostitutes drove off Frost before he could kill the infant as well.

Eric grew up living at Madame Vanity's, and at age nine, returning home from school one December, he saw an old man being attacked by three vampires. Eric helped the old man, who used a silver cane to kill the vampires and fight off the attackers. The man was Jamal Afari, a jazz trumpeter and vampire hunter who then moved into Madame Vanity's and trained the young Eric in both music and combat. Blade was soon able to defeat many of the weak, younger vampires that he and Afari found in abundance. Eric became an Olympic-level athlete and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, with an expertise in edged weapons such as knives and daggers so notable that it earned him the nickname "Blade" among both his fellow hunters and the vampires they opposed, who began to fear the young hunter.

Blade's victories made him cocky. He joined a street gang, the Bloodshadows, headed by a much older and more powerful vampire than any Blade had met before, named Lamia. Blade barely defeated Lamia, and, in doing so, lost his girlfriend Glory. The tragedy of the experience left Blade more determined than ever to dedicate his life to the complete extermination of vampires.

Afari himself later fell prey to Dracula, the first occurrence in an ongoing battle between Dracula and Blade. Blade mercy-killed his mentor after Afari rose as a vampire, and tracked Dracula back to Europe, Asia Minor, and Asia, staking him many times, but never completely destroying him. In China, Blade joined Ogun Strong's vampire hunters, which included Azu, Orji, and Musenda. Together, they staked Dracula again. Dracula survived, and killed all the hunters except Blade and Musenda, who eventually retired from vampire hunting. Orji had created a lasting impression on Blade with his use of wooden daggers to combat vampires, leading to Blade adopting that weapon as his preferred arms. Consumed by grief for his fallen comrades, Blade resumed his quest alone.


Quincy Harker's vampire-hunters

Blade eventually located Dracula in Paris, where he first encountered the vampire hunter Quincy Harker, son of Jonathan Harker, whom he knew by reputation, and Harker's vampire hunters: Rachel van Helsing, great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, Taj Nital, and Frank Drake. Because of his mercurial temperament, Blade had a strained but steady relationship with the group, allying himself with them on several occasions.

Later, after an unsuccessful battle with Dracula, Blade realized he was immune to turning from a vampire's bite. Armed with this knowledge, he parted company with Harker and went after Deacon Frost alone. Blade later battled Dracula in London, as well as Morbius, and the Legion of the Dead, who framed him for murder. Blade also destroyed a band of vampire children.

Blade's hunt for his mother's killer led him to Boston, Massachusetts, where he allied with Dracula against Doctor Sun. Following this battle, Dracula withdrew, and Blade again set out on his own.

He eventually encountered Hannibal King, a private detective whom Deacon Frost had turned into a vampire. While initially distrusting King, Blade teamed up with him to hunt Frost. Blade and King fought together against Blade's evil doppelgänger, who absorbed the real Blade. King enlisted the help of Daimon Hellstrom, the so-called Son of Satan, who exorcised Blade from the doppelgänger and killed it with King's help. Blade and King eventually caught up with Frost, who had created an army of vampiric doppelgängers, one for each of his victims. Together, they shut down Frost for good, destroying Frost, and forging a lasting friendship.

Blade, Rachel van Helsing, and Harold H. Harold later confronted Dracula. Blade also saved Musenda's wife from becoming a vampire.


The Nightstalkers

In later years, Blade, along with King and Drake, became a frequent ally of the sorcerer Doctor Strange, and the three assisted Strange in battles with Dracula and the Darkholders and assisted in the casting of the Montesi Formula, which for a time destroyed all vampires on Earth. Blade, King, and Drake then formed the private detective agency, Borderline Investigations, Inc., to combat supernatural threats. Alongside Doctor Strange, the three detectives battled the Darkholders again. Blade also rescued his close friend Safron Caulder from the Darkholders.

The agency discontinued after Drake left and Blade was committed to a psychiatric hospital following a battle with a temporarily-resurrected Dracula. Doctor Strange later arranged the release of Blade so that he could join Drake and King in reforming Borderline, Inc. as the Nightstalkers. Blade, King, and Drake were hired by the demonic Lilith to kill the second Ghost Rider and the non-powered John Blaze. The three Nightstalkers battled Meatmarket. The Nightstalkers then teamed with Ghost Rider, Blaze, Morbius, Doctor Strange, and the Darkhold Redeemers to battle Lilith and her Lilin. The Nightstalkers also battled other threats, such as HYDRA's DOA.

Upon the eventual weakening of the Montesi Formula, and the return of vampires, Blade encountered and staked a former ally, a now-vampiric Taj Nital, and survived a battle with the vampire lord Varnae in which Drake and King appeared to have been killed.


Daywalker

A solo vampire-hunter once again, Blade briefly joined forces with the mystic Bible John Carik, and encountered a vampire impersonating Deacon Frost and a once-again resurrected Dracula. Later, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Blade discovered that Hannibal King had survived, and the two joined forces to defeat a genuinely resurrected Frost. Blade remained active in New Orleans, defeating the vampire Ulysses Sojourner and his own former ally, Morbius, the Living Vampire, who was under Sojourner's mental thrall. Blade followed Morbius to New York, where, while teamed with Spider-Man, Blade was bitten by Morbius. Blade's blood enzymes reacted unexpectedly with Morbius's unique form of vampirism to grant Blade many vampire strengths while eliminating weaknesses inherent to a vampire, most notably the weakness to sunlight. It was at this time that Blade assumed the unofficial title of "Daywalker" among his prey.

The United Nations-sanctioned espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. sought to use Blade's blood for Project: Silvereye, an attempt at cloning vampire operatives. Blade and the vampire-hunting twins Mosha and Mikado shut down the project. Blade later joined Noah Van Helsing, actually Noah Tremayne, Rachel Van Helsing's adopted cousin, and several vampire hunters worldwide to stop Dracula from becoming a genuinely god-like vampire lord. Blade then returned to New Orleans.

Blade re-encountered Dracula, and appeared to fully destroy the vampire once again, aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Pericles V. Unbeknownst to Blade, his wealthy father, Lucas Cross, had been responsible for Dracula's most recent resurrection. Cross later kidnapped Blade and attempted to force Blade to feed on a virgin girl in an attempt to fulfill a prophecy. Blade escaped after biting through his own hand. Later, Blade would feed on a virgin after biting an evil vampire priest, Draconis.

In exchange for undertaking a time travel adventure for the supervillain Doctor Doom, Blade received from Doom an elixir that would purportedly cure a vampire of thirst for human blood but would also remove the bloodlust vampire hunters get for killing the undead. At the end of the series, Blade gave Hannibal King the elixir. During this time travel mission, Blade fulfilled another part of the prophecy by freeing his imprisoned father.


"Civil War" and beyond
During the events of the "Civil War" storyline, in which the superheroes of the Marvel Universe were split over the Superhuman Registration Act, Blade registers and begins cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. This alliance allowed Blade access to S.H.I.E.L.D. tech, gaining himself a "gun hand" to replace his missing one. Blade completes a prophecy he believes would give all extant vampires back their souls, but which instead returns to existence every vampire that had ever been killed.

Blade next leads a group of superhuman black-ops agents funded secretly by the U.S. government, called the Vanguard, of which even the president is unaware. During his time with this squad, Blade receives a cybernetic replacement hand. The squad disbands after their cover is compromised, and Blade returns home to the United Kingdom to join MI-13 in its fight against supernatural evil. He soon afterwards stakes his new teammate, the vampire hero Spitfire. Blade and Spitfire clashed again with each other in a fierce battle, but the two were forced to work together and seemed to have formed an unlikely friendship. Upon completing their first mission together, Blade attempts to apologize to Spitfire for trying to kill her, but before he could finish she kisses him.

During the "Curse of the Mutants" storyline, Blade appears in San Francisco to assist the X-Men in capturing a vampire specimen for the X-Club. He confirms Dracula's death and reveals that his son Xarus is the new lord of vampires, having united all of the vampire sects under a single flag. He immediately objects to Cyclops's plan to resurrect Dracula stating "You don't dig up Hitler to get rid of Saddam Hussein". The conflict concluded with Dracula being resurrected despite Blade's objections. Blade attempts to kill the now-vampire Jubilee, but is forced to withdraw after a stand-off with Wolverine, who refuses to allow her to be staked, even as Blade warns the X-Men that they will eventually have to kill her.

Blade was later revealed to have been using the Ronin identity as part of the Mighty Avengers team.

Best films