Blade Just Turned His Biggest Weakness Into His Greatest Strength

Warning: Spoilers for Blade #9!A major weakness that Blade has consistently demonstrated throughout his latest Marvel comic series is being turned into his biggest strength. There have been some recurring themes and problems in this series for the title character, but the Daywalker’s biggest flaw ultimately boils down to stubbornness. Being stubborn has cost Blade friendships and potentially the world in a span of eight issues.

In Blade #9, though, his stubbornness is back to help his life for once rather than disrupt it. Blade continues to hunt the Adana and trying to pull her out of hiding proves easier said than done. However, because Blade doesn’t seem to like being told no, he seeks an alternative solution. Blade purposely wants every evil thing on the planet to want to kill him.

As unorthodox (and, at its core, born out of stubbornness) as his approach is, it does end up getting Blade what he wants, which is a confrontation with the Adana. While stubbornness has been his Achilles’ heel for so long, it’s finally proving positively effective.

Blade’s Stubbornness Gets Him Exactly What He Wants (For Once)

Blade #9 by Bryan Edward Hill, Valentina Pinti, KJ Diax, and VC’s Cory Petit

The current Blade series has served in many ways as a character study that recontextualize Blade’s biggest flaws, most of which are rooted in stubbornness. The Adana, one of 2023’s biggest Marvel threats, is unleashed upon the world largely because Blade’s “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality compels him to accidentally kill the one warrior who could’ve stopped her. His stubborn attitude towards working with others is costing him his friendships with his loved ones, particularly with Dr. Strange and potentially with the Avengers.

Even worse, Blade being stubborn enough to leap into a fight with the Adana without a proper plan has put the world in an apocalyptic scenario, forcing the sword of Lucifer into her hands as he’s embarrassingly defeated off-panel. Rather than learning how to not be stubborn, Blade is learning how to make his stubbornness work for him rather than against him. With help from Satana, Blade seeks out the Archives of the Second World, blowing it up in the process. This forces the Adana to finally confront Blade to honor a pact made with the Second World.

Blade Adapts His Stubbornness to Suit Him

At the start of the issue, Blade is constantly told that picking a fight with the Adana is a bad idea, and picking a fight with every evil entity of the Second World might be even worse. He’s constantly urged to reconsider, especially when making himself a target of evil everywhere could make him too worn out from fighting other monsters to handle the Adana. Yet, he would rather be “a ‘cross that bridge when you come to it’ fella.”

One can argue that Blade is adapting to his stubbornness rather than learning how to stop being stubborn. He’s definitively become aware that his stubbornness is a problem, but Blade is learning how to turn it into a solution. He’s becoming strategic with his stubbornness. Gone are the days of running into a fight blind, but if he’s running into an unwise, mismatched fight, he’s going in with a plan. Blade‘sstubbornness has gotten him into trouble, but slowly, it’s turning into blind bravery and finally turns a recurring downside to his character into an upside.