As a last-minute stinger to an explosive panel at Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con 2019 today, Marvel announced a reboot of the vampire-hunting Blade. After 10 other movie and show confirmations, a Blade logo wrapped up the evening with the added bonus of two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, True Detective) playing the character.
Based on the nature of the announcement, Blade looks to be a feature-length film in the MCU canon, not another addition to Marvel’s lineup of Disney+ shows. That said, Marvel has yet to officially confirm any further details about the project.
For those unfamiliar, Blade is Marvel’s vampire-hunting hero who first made an appearance in 1973. From Dracula to Morbius, he has fought plenty of iconic vampire villains.
The last time Blade made an appearance on the big screen was in 2004 with Wesley Snipes’ portrayal of the character in Blade: Trinity. However, the hero also saw a short television outing in 2006 with Sticky Fingaz taking up the Blade mantle.
Marvel fans will note that Mahershala Ali previously played the role of Cottonmouth in season one of Netflix’s Luke Cage. Now with the Netflix shows wrapped up, Ali’s presence in the MCU can carry on without any hang-ups.
Also announced at the panel was an update on Marvel’s Eternals film and its star-studded cast.
The Escapist’s Bob Chipman gave his predictions for tonight’s event a few days back, so make sure to see what he managed to guess right.
No release date or even a window was revealed for this Blade revamp, so keep an eye on Escapist for any updates.
