Eric Cross Brooks, also known as Blade, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan, his first appearance was in the comic book The Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973) as a supporting character, but later went on to star in his own storylines. Devoting his life to ridding the world of all vampires, Blade utilizes his unique physiology to become the perfect vampire hunter; while originally depicted as a human immune to vampire bites, Blade was retroactively established to be a dhampir following his adaptation as such in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Blade film series.[2] He is the father of Brielle Brooks. The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including films, television series, and video games. Blade was portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the films Blade, Blade II and Blade: Trinity, and by Sticky Fingaz in the television series Blade: The Series, with J.D. Hall voicing the character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and Terry Crews voicing him in Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. Mahershala Ali has been cast as the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, debuting with an uncredited vocal cameo in the film Eternals (2021) ahead of his upcoming standalone film (2024).