Blade II was released in the United States on March 22, 2002, and was a box office success, grossing $155 million.
In Prague, Blade searches for his mentor Abraham Whistler, who was thought dead after being attacked by Deacon Frost,[a] but was instead turned into a vampire and held prisoner by them for two years.
The original carrier of the Reaper strain and cause of the pandemic is Jared Nomak, who bears hatred toward the vampire race.
To combat the Reapers, vampire overlord Eli Damaskinos sends his trusted servant Asad and his daughter, Nyssa, to strike a truce with Blade.
He teams up with the Bloodpack, an elite group of vampires originally assembled to kill him, consisting of Asad, Nyssa, Reinhardt, Chupa, Snowman, Priest, Verlaine, and her lover, Lighthammer.
As Reinhardt openly challenges him to fight, Blade, in response, attaches an explosive to the back of his skull to keep him in line.
Scud and Whistler issue new UV weapons for the team and a UV-emitting bomb to take out the entire nest.
It is revealed that the Reapers exist due to Damaskinos's efforts to engineer a stronger breed of vampires devoid of their natural weaknesses.
Damaskinos plans to harvest Blade's blood to develop an immunity to sunlight and create a new, invincible breed of vampires.
Following the success of the original film, New Line Cinema and Marvel Enterprises made plans for a sequel in 1999.
[citation needed] Goyer and Frankfurt both admired director Guillermo del Toro and believed his dark sensibilities to be ideal for Blade II.
Stepping back into Blade's shoes was a challenge Wesley Snipes relished: "I love playing this role.
Del Toro said that "Wesley knows Blade better than David Goyer, better than me, better than anyone else involved in the franchise.
[11] The New Line Platinum Series DVD contains several deleted scenes, including a flashback sequence showing Blade's first meeting with Whistler, and a music video for "Child of the Wild West", performed by West Coast hip-hop group Cypress Hill and featuring drum and bass performer Roni Size in the DVD special features on disc 2, VHS Capture, and the theatrical trailer.
This was during a period of the year (months March and April) considered to be a bad time for sequels to be released.
The site's consensus reads: "Though Blade II offers more of what worked in the original, its plot and character development appear to have been left on the cutting room floor.
[18] Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, stating: "Blade II is a really rather brilliant vomitorium of viscera, a comic book with dreams of becoming a textbook for mad surgeons".
[19] James Berardinelli gave the film two and a half out of four stars: "Blade II is for those undiscriminating movie-goers who want nothing more from a trip to the multiplex than loud, raucous, mindless entertainment".