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The entire runtime of Deadpool & Wolverine serves as a love letter to comic book film history, with all its many ups and downs. There are references to the good movies, the bad movies, and those that never even got made scattered throughout, but there are also numerous jabs at the recent souring of the MCU at the box office and the struggles of Marvel Studios to correct course. One, which gets delivered in the run-up to the second act’s climax, feels especially risky – even bordering on cruel at the expense of Marvel Studios’ struggles to bring Blade back to the big screen.

We’ve been pretty vague about what the joke is and who delivers it up to now, but that is gonna end now. Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine lie ahead.As Deadpool & Wolverine brings some of the forgotten souls from comic book movie history together, Wesley Snipes – back as Blade after 20 years – delivers a line that was aimed at Marvel Studios’ repeatedly delayed Blade reboot.

“There’s only been one Blade,” he says. “There’s only ever gonna be one Blade.”

Cue a knowing look at the camera from Deadpool and it is pretty clear who the joke is aimed at. Marvel has taken so long to incorporate Blade into the MCU that everyone involved has gotten increasingly frustrated with it. Five years in development without a single scene shot. Now they’re without a director (again) and looking at extensive script rewrites (again). It isn’t looking good for Mahershala Ali’s take on the character.

Honestly, we're surprised this specific joke made it into the final script. The way it is delivered, just weeks after the Blade reboot lost its second director, feels vaguely prophetic. There is a limit to how long Marvel can keep stars like Ali and Mia Goth in limbo without delivering something. Hopefully, this is one of those jokes that will age Deadpool & Wolverine in a few years. We’ll probably have to wait until sometime in 2026 to find out, though.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters