Characters / Blade Trilogy

Blade (Eric Brooks)

Portrayed by: Wesley Snipes

Dubbed by: Thierry Desroses (European French)

When Blade's mother was attacked by a vampire while giving birth to him, it resulted in him being born a half-breed, immune to all of the vampires' weaknesses and possessing all their strengths. When Blade entered puberty however the thirst also emerged. When Whistler realized that he wasn't a vampire, he took him in and the two have hunted vampires ever since. Blade is known among vampires as the infamous "Daywalker".

• Acquired Poison Immunity: In the first film, he's started to build up an immunity to the serum that suppresses his Thirst. At the end, he has Dr. Karen Jensen make him a better one.
• Action Hero: He's a martial artist expert and a professional swordsman who can jump from high heights and always lands on his feet. Of course being a Dhampir helps a lot.
• Adaptational Badass: He was a Badass Normal in the comics aside from his immunity to vampire bites. In making him a Dhampyr, the movie version of Blade is basically Spider-Man with a sword, with Super-Strength, Super-Reflexes, and a Healing Factor.
• Adaptation Personality Change: The Blade of the comics was more The Everyman and loquacious, as opposed to The Stoic.
• Adaptational Nationality: In the comics, he was born in London, England. Here, he was born in Detroit.
• Age Lift: In the comics, Blade was born in 1929, but in the movie, he's born in 1967.
• Anti-Hero: Though still heroic, Blade has no problems beating the tar out of vampire familiars. And robbing them after. You probably won't feel all that sorry for the folks selling out mankind. Though as the films progress and he begins viewing them within increasing hostility, killing them indiscriminately, Blade becomes an even darker anti-hero.
• Badass Biker: He occasionally rides one.
• Badass Longcoat: Usually has a red interior lining, alluding to the traditional vampire cloak motif.
• Berserk Button: Over the course of the films familiars just seem to rub Blade the wrong way. Understandable given they're selling out mankind and all. Blade's hatred of them only increases over the course of trilogy as he goes from beating them senseless (and occasionally robbing them), to straight up murdering their asses without so much as second thought. That said the familiars he meets every sequel continue to sink to new depths serving their vampire masters.
• Blood Knight: Nothing makes Blade light up like the chance to slaughter hordes of the undead.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's an absolutely ruthless vampire hunter, but he's shown to have a soft spot for children and his primary focus at all times is protecting humanity.
• Celibate Hero: He shows no outward interest in the opposite sex. The Thirst probably has something to do with it. The second film marks the closest he's came to an actual interest in a woman, and it's clearly a mutual attraction. Sadly she dies in Blade's arms and they never so much as kiss. There was a scene filmed between Blade and Nyssa after they'd done the deed, but it never made the final cut.
• Cool Shades: Just look at his character picture. Whistler even makes a point to give them to him in the second movie just before he kicks ass.
• Cool Sword: It even has a defense mechanism that activates after a few seconds if not turned off. Blades protrude from the hilt fast enough to slice a hand off.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Blade is made of badass! Nearly any vampire mooks that he comes across are going to be ashes within a few seconds and there are only a handful of characters who can challenge him.
• Cursed with Awesome: Discussed in the first film.
  Frost: You got the best of both worlds, don't you? All of our strengths... none of our weaknesses.
  Blade: Well, maybe I don't see it that way.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He is a half-vampire and he wears a black leather jacket, But only hunts down and target the evil vampires.
• Daywalker: Not a Daywalker. Blade is the Daywalker.
• Deadly Euphemism: "I must release you."
• Deadpan Snarker: Anytime he's not being deadly serious, this is his sense of humor.
• Disappeared Dad: His biological father is never even alluded to. Thankfully, he has Whistler.
• The Dreaded: To the vampire community. In the first film a whole crowd of vampires backs away in sheer terror with only a few daring to attack him despite heavily superior numbers.
• Establishing Character Moment: When the hapless victim falls at the feet of Blade, the terror on dozens of vampires is clear to see. His smile as they run for their lives or whisper in fear tells you all you need to know. The ass kicking that follows is truly one of the greatest character introductions ever.
  • At the very end of said ass-kicking, the same victim tries to run away from Blade. Catching him, Blade checks his neck and jaw and confirms he isn't a vampire or familiar before releasing him unharmed. Yes, Blade's the good guy.
• Experienced Protagonist: In the first movie, Blade is already a seasoned vampire hunter and The Dreaded among the vampire community.
• Genius Bruiser: The first movie ends with him speaking in fluent Russian against a vampire he will kill. He's shown to be versed in vampire lore and can even recite verses in the ancient vampiric languages. In addition he's quite calculating.
• Good is Not Nice: He fights for humanity, but he has no qualms beating up and threatening humans.
• Heroic Build: Muscles cover his every limb.
• Half-Human Hybrid: A variation. Both of his parents were human, but his mother was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant, infecting the unborn Blade with vampirism.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Again, just look at the character image. That's all he ever wears.
• Hero Harasses Helpers: His reaction to the Nightstalkers, calling them rookies playing at vampire slayer.
  Blade: You amateurs are supposed to be helping me? You? Look at you. You're kids. You're not ready to roll with this. I mean, look at the way you're dressed. What, that's supposed to be tactical? [reads Hannibal's name tag] What is this? What is that? "Fuck you." It's a joke, huh? What the fuck is wrong with y'all? You think this is a joke? You think this is a fucking sitcom?
• Hero with Bad Publicity: In Trinity, he becomes the target of an FBI manhunt.
• Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: He and Whistler fund their operations by robbing familiars. When Dr. Jenson chastises him for doing so, Blade retorts that they're "not exactly the March of Dimes."
• Horror Hunger: While he lacks most vampire weaknesses, he still suffers from their blood-thirst. In the present day, he keeps it under control using a special serum.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Well, Hunter Of Half His Kind. He's a Vampire Hunter who is himself a vampire-human hybrid.
• I Am a Monster: A combination of the guilt from his younger years of feeding on people and being an outsider to the very humans he protects makes Blade feel this way, despite attempts to tell him otherwise.
  Blade: "I'm not human."
  Karen: "You look human to me."
  Blade: "Humans don't drink blood."
  • Another one also qualifies as a Badass Boast
    Blade: There are worse things out there than vampires.
    Karen: Like what?
    Blade: Like me.
• Idiot Ball: Blade picks this up when he somehow mistakes a human for a vampire in Trinity. This is kind of ridiculous considering he's instinctively able to discern between the two by how they look, act and even smell from a distance.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Not a single shot he ever fires misses.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As dark and violent as he can be, Blade still has some humanity within him. For example, in the first film, when forced to choose between pursuing Frost or saving a little girl the former just threw into traffic, Blade chooses to save the girl.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: He often robs familiars; he tells Dr. Jenson that that's how he and Whistler fund their operations because silver bullets aren't cheap.
• Lightning Bruiser: His strength is only matched by his agility and speed.
• Like a Son to Me: To Whistler, who even says this word for word in Trinity. Makes sense considering the fate of Whistler's actual children.
• Master Swordsman: His name should make it obvious. He's more dangerous with a sword than a gun, and primarily combats a Big Bad with the former.
• Mercy Kill: How he views killing his mother now that she's a vampire.
• Missing Mom: Until the climax of the first movie...
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: For vampires his name is akin to the boogie-man.
• No Social Skills: Considering his only company his entire life is Whistler, this was perhaps unavoidable, but it's been shown that Blade seems to have genuinely no idea how to interact with people who aren't on his team.
• Oh, Crap!: The reaction most vampires have when Blade suddenly appears.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: The tagline "All of their strengths, none of their weaknesses" is mostly true. However he does age like humans (A notable change from the comics where Blade's physiology meant that, while not immortal, he aged at a much slower rate than humans) and he suffers from the thirst. The former means the vampires have the significant advantage of outlasting him till he dies of old age and the latter causes Blade no small measure of misery.
• One-Man Army: Just ask those vampires in the Bloodbath Club...if there's one left alive. A reason why Blade became a Master Swordsman, is because he regularly fights through hordes of vampires and it's inevitable his guns run out of expensive silver ammo.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Blade's real name (Eric Brooks) is never even mentioned in the films. The closest is when his mother turned vampire recognizes him and calls him "Eric".
• Pay Evil unto Evil: "Thought I might try fire for a change."
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: The infamous last words uttered to Frost.
  Blade:"Some motherfuckers are always tryin' to ice-skate uphill."
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Blade's insanely accurate with his glaive.
• Red Baron: Blade. Daywalker comes as a close second.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Whistler's apparent death in the first film, Blade goes on one of these against Frost's fortress. Showing no mercy to even the familiars. However, given Blade's general M.O. against vampires, it's hinted his work is an everlasting Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Scary Black Man: A rare heroic example. Especially terrifying to vampires and their allies.
• Sociopathic Hero: His actions can come across as this, since he takes great enjoyment in some of his work.
• The Stoic: He's silent and unemotional.
  • Not So Stoic: While still the Stoic, he lightened up somewhat in Blade II.
• Strong and Skilled: He has vampire level physical abilities and is an outstanding martial artist who is highly skilled in various martial arts such Karate, Hapkido, Kung Fu, Capoeira, Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, all of which Wesley Snipes is extensively trained in real life.
• Sunglasses at Night: He's almost constantly seen wearing sunglasses.
• Super-Strength: One of the strengths he gets from the vampire-half of his physiology is the vampire's immense strength.
• Sword and Gun: He's a Master Swordsman, and often uses guns as well.
• Underestimating Badassery: The main reason why some combat trained vampires actually try to fight him. They believe the horror stories are embellished and it's impossible for Blade to be that much of a One-Man Army. As they soon discover, Blade is more badass than any tale told to them.
• Vampire Hunter: His main profession is killing vampires.
• Vegetarian Vampire: While he did feed on the homeless as a child, nowadays Blade fights his thirst and uses a special serum to suppress it (which his body is slowly starting to reject).
• Would Hit a Girl: Blade has zero qualms delivering beatdowns and death to female vamps. One of his first victims during the "Bloodbath Rave" was Racquel (who had just lured a human there for fun) and Blade shotguns her head off without a second thought. In another scene he punches Mercury right in the face. He even kills his own vampire mother. Considering what kind of women these vampires are is this is quite justified.
• You Killed My Father: He spent a considerable amount of time searching for the vampire who bit his mother. He'd already been pursuing Frost for a while before he found out that Frost was the one who did it.

Abraham Whistler

Portrayed by: Kris Kristofferson

Abraham Whistler once had a wife and family before a vampire called round to visit. Since then he has dedicated his entire life to killing as many of them as he can. Mentor to Blade and the man responsible for crafting the various instruments of death the Daywalker utilizes in the war against vampires.

• Adaptation Name Change: Is based on Jamal Afari from the comics.
• Badass Normal: A normal human who happens to be pretty good at defeating and killing vampires.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears one in the first movie.
• Back from the Dead: Apparently killed in the first movie, he is later found barely alive and vampirized. He can still kick a lot of ass after his vampire cure takes effect. But then in Trinity, he was killed to give Blade time to get out of there and away from the FBI and SWAT.
• Bait-and-Switch: The second movie implies that Whistler Came Back Wrong after his bout with vampirism, and will betray Blade. It's a misdirect to distract from Scud, the actual mole.
• Big Damn Heroes: Turns up to bail out Blade after he falls into a trap.
  Whistler: "Catch you fuckers at a bad time?"
  • Does it again in the sequel.
• Brutal Honesty: He honestly tells Karen that her chances of turning into a vampire are pretty good.
• Came Back Wrong: The second movie heavily implies that something went wrong when Whistler was resurrected; Scud tells Blade that no one's ever gone cold turkey from "the thirst" in just one night, and Blade tells Whistler to keep "his friends close and his enemies closer" (implying Blade suspects Whistler will betray him). It's subverted, turns out that Whistler came back just fine and that Scud was the actual mole.
• Composite Character: He fills the mentor role Jamal Afari had in the comics, but his character traits are more in line of "Bible" John Carik.
• Canon Foreigner: He has only appeared in the movies, Blade: The Series, and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. However, as mentioned under "Composite Character", his role does fuse that of Jamal Afari and "Bible" John Carik.
• Dying as Yourself: Subverted in that his suicide fails to prevent him becoming a vampire.
• Forced to Watch: A vampire drifter killed his family and made him watch, even trying to make Whistler choose what order they would die in.
• Handicapped Badass: He has a pronounced limp and must wear a leg brace due to an injury that never fully healed. He still kicks ass though.
• Killed Off for Real: Dying for the second time via explosion in Trinity and this time forever.
• Incurable Cough of Death: His bad cough actually tips Karen off that he's dying of cancer. Subverted in that it never gets the chance to kill him thanks to Frost and his time as a vampire eliminates his cancer altogether.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's an absolute dick to everyone who isn't Blade, but it's not without good reason, he shares a father-son relationship with Blade, and he mentions his former wife and daughter in a way that makes it clear he loves them dearly.
• Only Friend: To Blade, and seemingly vice-versa. Whistler's social skills don't seem to be as poor as Blade's, which makes sense considering he used to have a normal life, and Blade never had a normal life.
• Parental Substitute: There's a definite father-son dynamic between him and Blade. Scud points it out in the second movie.
• Race Lift: Blade's master was African-American in the comics.
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: "Abraham" is also the first name of Van Helsing.
• Sociopathic Hero: Much like his student, his actions come across like this.
• Taking You with Me: Takes his would-be captors with him in explosive fashion.
• Timeshifted Actor: In the TV series, Adrian Glynn McMorran plays him in a flashback to his and Blade's first meeting.