In “She-Hulk” episode 7, a (fake?) vampire named Saracen (Terrence Clowe) appears who has a blood-hungry father. Is this possibly a reference to Blade (Mahershala Ali)? It’s not quite as simple as that – we’ll clear it up.
Marvel and vampires – with this topic the way to the vampire hunter and daywalker Blade is not far. Even if the long-announced “Blade” film still has to overcome one or two hurdles, it is all too understandable that Marvel fans are pricking up their ears when a (supposed) vampire named Saracen (Terrence Clowe) appears in “She-Hulk” episode 7. Especially since it doesn’t just stop at this brief appearance.
BLADE AND SARACEN
In addition, we learn that Saracen has a father who is also very interested in blood and thus possibly also a vampire. So if Saracen is clearly not Blade: Is this father then perhaps the Daywalker?
Of course, a certain caution applies here: just because Saracen and Blade have something to do with blood and vampires in the broadest sense does not necessarily mean that they are related to each other.
In principle, however, this cannot be ruled out: After all, in the comics Blade was born in the 1920s and rumour has it that the “Blade” film is also set in this decade. So the MCU Blade could actually have an adult son: Saracen.
I enjoyed episodes 5 and 6 of She-Hulk, but episode 7 really tapped back into that gonzo Donny Blaze/Madisynn anything goes energy that made me fall hard for the show in the first place. pic.twitter.com/KozCMhqYwD
– Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHewitt) September 30, 2022
SARACEN IS AN OBSCURE COMIC CHARACTER
More likely, however, he is another variant, as there is also a character named Saracen (or actually two) in Marvel comics. The comic Saracen is actually a vampire, and one of the first ever to live on Earth for centuries, and one of Blade’s adversaries.
So presumably the MCU Saracen is simply based on that character without actually having the exact same backstory – much like Man-Bull (Nathan Hurd), El Aguila (Joseph Castillo-Midyett) and Porcupine (Jordan Aaron Ford) and numerous other MCU characters.
IS THE MCU-SARACEN REALLY A VAMPIRE?
For all the justifiable speculation and theories, one must also remember that Saracen only “thinks he’s a vampire” in “She-Hulk” episode 7. This is how Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) introduces him in his first scene.
That Saracen can’t actually be a real vampire is also hinted at in a later scene in which he waits for Jen (Tatiana Maslany) together with the others in daylight (!) outside the sweat lodge – although the bloodsuckers in Marvel are actually just as sensitive to sunlight as in most other vampire stories.
