Warning: Spoilers for Blade #6!Half a century after making his debut in the Marvel Universe, Blade is finally embracing his vampire side. One thing that has always separated Blade from most vampires is that he is half-human and half-vampire, allowing him to walk out in daylight. His human side help sgive him a moral compass, but an eye-opening conversation with Dracula makes Blade realize that it’s time to let his monster out.
The Daywalker learns to welcome the monstrosity within him in Blade #6 by Bryan Hill, Lee Ferguson, KJ Diaz, and VC’s Cory Petit. In the last issue, Blade suffered his most damning defeat in his superhero career after letting the sword of Lucifer fall into the hands of a monster known as the Adana. This allows the Adana to set her plan in motion to transform random citizens around the world into monsters.
To bounce back, Blade feels compelled to reach out to none other than Dracula to train for a rematch with the Adana. However, training proves more philosophical than physical, as Dracula teaches Blade to better understand what evil is.
“You Have the Bloodline of Eternity in Your Veins”: Blade Gets a Dark Power Upgrade Ahead of His MCU Movie
In anticipation for his MCU debut, Marvel continues to update Blade for the modern era as he receives a new power from an unexpected mentor: Dracula!
Blade Has Always Been Too Human
At the top of the issue, Blade explains that he came to Dracula in order to better understand evil, so he can defeat the embodiment of evil in the Adana. When Dracula questions why Blade thinks he’s evil, Blade acts like it’s obvious the king of vampires is evil, but Dracula counters suggesting Blade’s view of evil is limiting. More importantly, Dracula thinks Blade judges the evil around him without acknowledging the evil in himself. Dracula doubts Blade can ever destroy something as evil as the Adana if Blade doesn’t embrace his own evil.
Upon returning to his home, Dracula points out the similarities between himself and Blade. Dracula even mentions that, like Blade, before he was a vampire, he, too, thought he was fighting the forces of evil with a sword in the name of an almighty purpose. This leads to a skirmish between the two, and as Blade struggles, Dracula warns him to stop thinking like a man or else “you will have the limits of a man.” When Blade destroys Dracula’s horde of zombies, the Prince of Darkness reminds Blade, “that was not the work of a man.” He adds that Blade must be the evil he hates so much and embrace it, or else he’ll never beat The Adana.
Blade Finally Understands the Duality of Man and Evil
After the pep talk and an upgrade-inducing sip of Dracula’s blood, Blade finally admits that he is no man. “Not anymore,” he responds when Dracula asks again if he’s a man. He’s always resisted becoming the monster he actually is. It’s been established before that resisting his bloodlust and urges as a vampire has helped Blade become a better fighter, but now is the time for him to unleash everything he’s resisted for so long.
Blade doesn’t unleash the monster in him as much as he should, and he acts like he kills because it’s something he has to do rather than something he enjoys. That’s why he lost to the Adana. To beat a monster, Blade has to embrace the monster he truly is. To kill a monster, Blade must let himself be a monster.
