In 2022, Sir Patrick Stewart earned himself the Guinness world record for longest career as a live-action Marvel character, following his cameo as Professor X from Earth 616 in Doctor Strange 2. But with Deadpool & Wolverine, Hugh Jackman was expected to surpass him, who made his Marvel debut with the first X-Men movie, which hit the big screens 24 years ago.
But unexpectedly, it wasn’t Jackman, who made the world record with his appearance in the multiversal story, thanks to the surprise return of Wesley Snipes.
Wesley Snipes Defeats Hugh Jackman for a World Record With Deadpool 3
Before Fox’s X-Men and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man flicks pushed Marvel to new heights, Wesley Snipes‘ Blade gave the comic book giant its first major break on the big screen. Now, after two decades since the threequel’s release, which also starred Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King, Snipes made a surprise return in the heavy cameo-studded Deadpool & Wolverine.
Not only was it one of the biggest surprises from the Deadpool threequel, but with his return, Snipes also earned himself the Guinness world record for the longest career as a live-action Marvel character.
Even though Robert Downey Jr. will be returning for the upcoming Avengers flicks, considering Secret Wars is slated for a 2027 release, it’s safe to say Snipes is going to hold on to the record for a while.
Wesley Snipes Gave up on Playing Blade Again Before Ryan Reynolds’ Call Arrived
Although the 1998 release did go on to receive two sequels, both written by David Goyer, Wesley Snipes recalled there were conversations about reprising the role once again. While some of them were substantive and some of them were not, reflecting on his run as Blade, which he considered pretty good, the Demolition Man star had no problem moving on from it.
Moreover, with the MCU bringing Mahershala Ali on board for their own Blade project, Snipes thought a potential return was highly unlikely.
He told Entertainment Weekly:
I didn’t think that Marvel was into it, Disney was into it — also because they had Mahershala [Ali] cast for the next upcoming version of it
But his stance changed after he got a call from his Blade: Trinity costar Ryan Reynolds, and while the offer initially didn’t make sense to him, it didn’t stop him from playing Blade one more time.
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.
On the flip side, Hugh Jackman will have another shot at this record if he chooses to return for more MCU projects in the foreseeable future.
Deadpool & Wolverine is currently running in the theatres.
