Marvel’s Blood Hunt Just Turned Blade’s Latest Series Into Essential Reading

Warning: Spoilers for Blade (2023) and Blood Hunt #1!To better understand Marvel’s newest event, Blood Hunt, and the villainous mastermind at the helm, readers must first read Blade’s latest solo series. A week after said series wrapped up, Blood Hunt #1 hit stores everywhere, unveiling a shocking twist in its final pages: Blade has gone bad. The beloved vampire has just become the biggest threat to the Avengers, but readers are still left with questions pondering why this hero has gone villain all of a sudden.

His turn to villainy isn’t as sudden or out of nowhere as some readers may assume it to be, not if they read the character’s self-titled series, which recently concluded after Blade #10 by Bryan Hill, Elena Casagrande, KJ Diaz, and VC’s Cory Petit.

Reading the series in full will not only showcase to readers what has quietly been one of the better Marvel releases of the past year, it will also help them better understand what led to Blade’s turn to the dark side.

Blade (2023) Follows His War with Evil

The Adana is Evil Incarnate

At the center of Blade’s recently concluded series is his feud with the Adana, the very embodiment of evil. After a misunderstanding with an ancient warrior tasked with destroying the Adana, Blade is tricked into killing said warrior on the Adana’s behalf, producing a domino effect of certain chaos across the globe. A new supporting cast is introduced to help the Daywalker try to stop her, including his arms dealer ex, Tulip, and the warrior’s daughter, Rotha, who Blade practically adopts as a sidekick and a second daughter.

One issue at a time, the Adana not only proves to be, by far, the deadliest foe that Blade has ever encountered, but one of the most menacing threats in Marvel history, especially coming out of the year 2023. As illustrated earlier, this new series is littered with memorable new characters to fill out the supporting cast, but it’s the Adana who leaves the biggest impression. At every turn, she seems to be one step ahead of Blade, to the point that he has no one else to turn to except Dracula for help.

The Themes of Blade’s Series

Loneliness and Evil Contribute to Blood Hunt

The series dedicates itself to covering many themes that have been recurring over the years in Blade’s best stories. Among the most prevalent themes are loneliness and defining evil, two things that have become especially important in paving the way for Blade’s villain turn. Loneliness – or maybe more appropriately, lonerism – has been a theme that follows Blade whenever he’s involved with a team. The theme was tackled most poignantly during this series, beginning as early as the series prequel, Blade: First Bite Infinity Comic, an exclusive of Marvel Unlimited that deserves its own read.

There’s a moment in that series that analyzes why Blade’s time with the Midnight Sons being cut short, despite how close of an affinity he has for the team, considering them a found family. Despite this, he leaves the Midnight Sons because he believes he works better alone, and that being with a team somehow makes him weaker. This was once speculated to be a weakness that would cost Blade his Avengers membership, but in retrospect, the distance he places between himself and the Avengers is what makes his villain turn all the easier.

There is never a falling out or major, notable disagreement between Blade and the Avengers. However, Blade was rarely a focal point on the team and did not often make his presence felt during big missions, opting instead to go back to playing solo every time for missions like those at the center of the Bryan Hill series. Because he never valued the Avengers as friends, a found family, or at the bare minimum, teammates, that made the betrayal easier for him to execute. It’s hard to even call it a betrayal when he’s betraying people he was never close with.

As the key themes of Blade reach the surface of Blood Hunt, that brings readers to the next biggest theme of the series: evil. The Adana exists as a personification of evil that Blade cannot counter. It’s constantly reverberated that true evil can only be combated by true evil. This is something that Blade has shied away from in the past in an attempt to embrace his more humane side than his vampire side. It’s Dracula who finally gets him to fully embrace the evil Blade harbors within.

Blade’s Series Gifted Him His Biggest Power Upgrade

Blade’s Exploration of Evil Runs Too Deep

Blade is first tempted by evil when he wields the Lightbringer, the sword of Lucifer. When he first steals it from Iron Man’s dark counterpart, Hamilton Achilles, Blade is told that wielding the Lightbringer will “change” him. Then, Doctor Strange reiterates that Blade’s pride is fueling Lucifer’s sword. After the Adana steals the sword from Blade in the next issue, he forms an alliance with Dracula, who mentors him to understand evil. This leads to Dracula gifting Blade his blood to drink for his biggest, darkest power upgrade.

This power upgrade especially paves the way for Blade’s evil ways. Not only does Blade now have full access to new vampire abilities (like shapeshifting), he fully embraces evil. That’s where it all goes wrong for him. Blade’s obsession with defeating the Adana puts him on a path to evil that he can’t come back from. Even in Blade’s final issue, the title character is drawn as if he isn’t even human anymore. Just an enraged, red-eyed monster, a shell of his former self as he roars, “I am not afraid of what I need to become to destroy you.”

Blade (2023) is One of the Best Series to Ever Depict The Daywalker

Dissecting the Ending of Blade

The final twist of Blood Hunt #1 also manages to put the final pages of Blade #10 in a new context. At face value, the ending of Blade #10 appears to end on a bittersweet, even muted note. While the Adana is defeated, she reiterates that she can never truly be defeated permanently, especially when she’s done so much irreversible damage to the world. As a reader, it’s hard to celebrate the antagonist’s loss with that in mind and readers aren’t really sure how to take it. However, the Adana’s words hold more weight after reading Blood Hunt #1.

The Adana tells Blade repeatedly she has already destroyed him. In lieu of Blood Hunt #1, she’s right. She has destroyed who Blade used to be. He sacrifices his morals and himself to gain just a slight victory against her. She leaves this realm (temporarily) with a smile on her face knowing she’s won. She’s created a monster and that same monster is now destroying the world on his own accord, something the old Blade would never have done. As a series, Blade not only elevates Blood Hunt, but Blood Hunt elevates the ending of Blade, instantly one of the character’s best and most essential stories.