Blade's Powers, Explained

For decades, Blade has hunted vampires across the Marvel Universe, and he's about to face his greatest challenge yet in BLOOD HUNT. When the world is plunged into darkness, Blade and his allies will face a legion of undead vampires in the upcoming epic crossover by Jed MacKay, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia. With vampires more united than they've been in thousands of years, Blade will have to push his powers and abilities to the limit to stop the world from drowning in blood.  

Before BLOOD HUNT kicks off, Blade must master some new abilities and take down the Anada, a powerful supernatural force he accidentally unleashed on the world. Now, let's take a closer look at Blade's abilities, just as shows off a new power in BLADE (2023) #7 by Bryan Edward Hill, Valentina Pinti, KJ Diaz, and VC's Cory Petit.

VAMPIRE PHYSIOLOGY

When Blade's mother was pregnant, a vampire named Deacon Frost bit her, which sent vampiric enzymes into Blade's bloodstream. Although his mother died, Blade was born as a human/vampire hybrid, which is also known as a Dhampir. 

Since his debut in TOMB OF DRACULA (1972) #10 by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Blade has been resistant to vampire bites. He also ages slowly and has a "sixth sense" that detects the presence of magic or supernatural power. In addition to those abilities, his masterful martial arts skills, and his endless arsenal of anti-vampire weapons, Blade gained several new powers and weaknesses after Morbius, a Living Vampire, bit him in PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN (1999) #8 by Howard Mackie and John Romita Jr. 

Although it remains unclear how much Morbius' bite affected him, Blade subsequently developed several powers traditionally associated with vampires, including super-strength, a superhuman sense of smell, and greatly enhanced vision. Blade also developed a need to consume blood to sustain himself, but he usually uses a nourishing serum to satisfy his bloodlust. 

Nevertheless, Blade did not gain a vampire's traditional weakness to sunlight. As a result, he became known as the Daywalker. While Blade is also not harmed by garlic or religious symbols, he is vulnerable to red sunlight, which can severely burn or kill him.

SUPER-STRENGTH AND AGILITY

While Blade may not have all the abilities of a typical vampire, he uses several vampire powers in his crusade against the undead. Blade is strong enough to lift 1,000 tons, which makes him a bit weaker than Captain America. In hand-to-hand combat, Blade can rip his vampire enemies apart limb by limb, which he has done on multiple occasions. 

Blade is strong enough to pierce the Hulk's skin with a sword and slice through Ghost Rider's enchanted motorcycle with his raw strength. His body also generates less lactic acid than an average human, which means he can also fight his enemies for hours without getting tired. 

Although Blade is not as fast as a full-blooded vampire, he also has superhuman agility and speed. The Daywalker is agile enough to dodge bullets fired at point-blank range and can move across short distances in the blink of an eye. He was even fast enough to keep pace with Spitfire, a speedster, in CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 (2008) #6 by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. When paired with his comprehensive fighting skills and weapons expertise, these abilities make Blade one of Marvel's most fearsome fighters.

HEALING FACTOR

While Wolverine might have the most famous healing capabilities in the Marvel Universe, Blade's unique physiology provides him with considerable healing abilities of his own. Although Blade was born almost a century ago in 1929, he still appears to be relatively young and in peak physical condition. 

Like regular vampires, Blade can recover from minor injuries quickly and heal from more severe injuries by consuming more blood or serum. Blade has survived crashing through buildings, falling from planes, taking a direct hit from Mjolnir, and even getting punched by a rampaging Hulk in IMMORTAL HULK (2018) #46 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett.      

Blade is impervious to vampire bites and can also recover quickly from exposure to poisons. Using a version of the microscopic pathogen that other vampires use to bring victims under their thrall, Blade can also absorb physical or supernatural infections by biting the infected, as he did with a demonically-possessed Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) in AVENGERS (2018) #16 by Jason Aaron and David Marquez. 

By reversing this process, he can also use his vampire bite to deliver cures, as he did to a group of Hulked-out security guards in AVENGERS (2018) #20 by Aaron and Ed McGuinness. Between his physical attributes and indomitable will, Blade is also unusually resistant to telepathic or psychic attacks and other forms of mind control.

POWER ABSORPTION

Although Blade is resistant to psychic attacks, he is not totally impervious. Tricked into reading a page from the Darkhold, Blade once grew corrupted by the book's dark magic and took on a demonic form known as Switchblade. 

While possessed by the Demogorge during the "Midnight Massacre" storyline, Blade began hunting down magic users and supernatural beings to absorb their powers. For example, he killed Modred the Mystic and used his magical powers to continue his hunt in DARKHOLD: PAGES FROM THE BOOK OF SINS (1992) #11 by Chris Cooper and Rurik Tyler.  

Ultimately, Blade was freed, causing him to lose all of the powers he had absorbed. But at the peak of his powers, Blade wielded the abilities of Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch, Hannibal King, Demogoblin, Morbius, Modred, Werewolf by Night, Victoria Montesi, and the clairvoyant Anne Toussant. However, the mystic Louise Hastings cast a spell from the Darkhold that resurrected Blade's victims, removed his new powers, and freed him from the Demogorge.

BONDED WITH BOY-THING

During Blade's recent stint with the Avengers, he bonded with Boy-Thing, a child created from clippings of the Man-Thing. During a battle with the Legion of the Unliving, Blade freed Boy-Thing from the Shadow Colonel, who was secretly Dracula's son Xarus, in AVENGERS (2018) #17 by Jason Aaron and David Marquez. Like Man-Thing, Boy-Thing burns anyone who feels fear and can drastically reshape his physical form. 

With Boy-Thing perched on his shoulder, Blade worked in tandem with the young supernatural powerhouse throughout the rest of their time together on the team. In fact, shortly after bonding with Blade, Boy-Thing produced a set of wooden blades for the Daywalker, which he used to behead Xarus. He also briefly gave Blade a set of wings.

They grew closer than ever when Blade was weakened by red sunlight in AVENGERS (2018) #29 by Aaron, Paco Medina, and Ed McGuinness. To help the ailing Blade, Boy-Thing transformed into armor that completely covered him to protect him from the alien world. With Boy-Thing's power working in conjunction with his abilities, the armored Blade was able to fend off the Silver Surfer and draw blood from the Gladiator, a powerful Shi'ar warrior. When Blade's time with the Avengers ended, Boy-Thing returned to Man-Thing's custody. 

SHAPESHIFTING

Unlike Dracula and most other vampires in the Marvel Universe, Blade has not historically possessed the ability to fully shapeshift. Despite their history of fighting each other, though, Dracula helped Blade unlock that ability in BLADE (2023) #6 by Bryan Edward Hill and Lee M. Ferguson. 

After forging a tenuous peace with Dracula while serving as the sheriff of the Vampire Nation, Blade approached the Lord of the Vampires for help after he accidentally unleashed the Adana, a powerful ancient being who released evil supernatural creatures all around the world. Blade's unsuccessful confrontation with the Adana led him to study with Dracula. 

By shapeshifting into other forms during their sparring session, Dracula tried to help Blade think beyond the limitations of his human form. Following that demonstration, he poured some of his blood into a cup and told Blade to drink it. Then, after an excruciating transformation process, Blade successfully dodged one of Dracula's attacks by transforming into mist. 

After leaving Dracula, Blade traveled to a small town, where he teamed up with the Hulk to stop a demonic attack. Blade transformed into a wolf for the first time and tricked the demons into facing the Hulk. But to stop the Adana and her forces, Blade must use all of his power while resisting the bloodthirsty monster inside himself.

Behold the Daywalker's new power in BLADE #7, on sale now!

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