Blade’s Deadliest Movie Vampires Just Became Marvel Comics Canon

Warning: Spoilers for Blade #4!The memorable brand of vampire – The Reapers – from the Blade movie trilogy have just made an impactful return in the comics. In Blade II, the title character took on an entirely new breed of vampires when the movie introduces Reapers. They were created by the elder leader of the Shadow Cabinet to infuse the blood of pure vampirism, eliminating common weaknesses for vampires (i.e. garlic, silver) while also introducing a larger, horizontal mouth.

Reapers were strictly a product of the movies, but have finally made their way into the comics for Blade #4 by Bryan Hill, Valentina Pinti, Elena Casagrande, KJ Diaz, and VC’s Cory Petit. There, Blade can be seen taking on a train filled with vampires.

However, unlike regular vampires, these sprout a vampiric fruit punch mouth in three places, just as Reapers do in the cinematic trilogy.

The Reapers Make Their Comics Debut

Going into the issue, Blade joins forces with Doctor Strange to carry out a heist on a train owned by Hamilton Achilles, the vampiric equivalent of Tony Stark – a tech billionaire who doesn’t need a suit to unleash brutal punishment. The duo’s objective is to steal the sword of Lucifer, the only instrument capable of defeating the world’s latest threat to humanity, the Adana. While Strange and the rest of Blade’s friends fend off the rest of the Reapers, Blade himself takes on Hamilton in one last showdown with the sword on the line. Hamilton, meanwhile, is not just a vampire, but a Reaper himself.

Reapers are Deadlier Than Ever

Previous depictions of the Reapers have portrayed them more or less as mindless minions, but the introduction of Hamilton Achilles changes that narrative drastically. While his legion of Reapers follows the same mindless minion stereotype, Achilles himself obviously is far from being either mindless or a minion. He’s a wealthy, sophisticated boss who runs his own business and has his own legion of followers. On top of that, he actually proves to be a formidable opponent for Blade, as the Daywalker struggles to defeat him even with Lucifer’s Lightbringer weapon. It takes Achilles literally ripping himself apart for the bout to end.

Achilles being a head Reaper in charge goes to show that now that they’ve been reintroduced, the Reapers are set to be more dangerous than ever before. Achilles himself may have perished during the ensuing train heist, as do his legion of vamps, but surely, there are other Reapers out there in the world that Blade is likely to encounter. If this is just a taste for what’s to come, then the comics may have just reintroduced the deadliest vampires that Blade has ever encountered.

Blade #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.