Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers #27
Marvel has just given Blade - and by extension all vampires - a weakness that is usually associated with Superman. Marvel's most famous vampire, Blade is the "Daywalker" - a half-human, half-vampire hybrid who possesses the ability to walk in the sun.
It isn't that Blade is immune to vampire weaknesses, of course; rather it's simply that he has a heightened resistance to them. Thus Blade would gradually find himself weakened if he lived in Alaska, for example, the fabled "Land of the Midnight Sun," where the sun doesn't set between May 10 until August 2. And Marvel Comics has just introduced a new weakness to the Daywalker as well, one that's typically associated with Superman.
This week's Avengers #27 reveals that Blade will be killed - just like a normal vampire - if he's exposed to radiation from a red sun. Jason Aaron's Avengers run has seen the Daywalker step up and join the Avengers, which means he's taking on very different enemies. In this case, the Avengers have been contacted by the alien Shi'ar Empire, whose regent Gladiator has disappeared during a prison break. Naturally, the Avengers are never able to resist a call for help, but things go seriously wrong from the get-go. It turns out the prison is close to multiple red suns, and that radiation is fatal even for a Daywalker.
According to vampire lore, the creatures of the night are repelled by anything that is holy. According to Genesis 1:3-4, light is the one specific thing blessed as "good" by God, and as such it is fatal to vampires. Marvel has traditionally applied a pseudoscientific explanation, suggesting it's actually ultra-violet radiation that is harmful to a vampire; thus Blade typically wields UV bombs, using them to devastating effect against his prey. But this new detail suggests that vampires are also vulnerable to radiation in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, notably the red wavelengths. It's difficult to guess at the degree of vulnerability, of course, given Blade has an unusual amount of resistance - but is also in space in Avengers #27, meaning the radiation hasn't been diffused by traveling through an atmosphere.
Of course, the real humor here is found in Marvel's giving Blade - and, by extension, all vampires - a weakness that's usually associated with Superman himself. In DC Comics, Superman loses his power when exposed to the radiation of a red sun. Amusingly, this also suggests another parallel - should garlic be considered "Vampire Kryptonite?"
Avengers #27 is on sale now in comic book stores.