A surprise announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019 was Blade. The character was created in 1973 for Marvel Comics by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Blade is a vampire hunter called Erik Brooks, who himself is also a half vampire. The character has previously been portrayed on screen by Wesley Snipes in the Blade film franchise from 1998 to 2004. Another version of the character was portrayed by actor Sticky Fingaz in a television series that aired in 2006. This series was in continuation with the Blade film trilogy. The film franchise was distributed by New Line Cinema. In August 2012, Marvel Studios had acquired back the rights to the character and news of a Blade film in the MCU had been flying ever since.
Cast of Blade
Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019 that Mahershala Ali will be portraying the character in the new Marvel Studios’ Blade. On his casting in the film, Feige said that it was actually Ali who had called him to set up a meeting to pitch the idea of a Blade movie starring himself, and not the other way around.
“When Mahershala calls, you answer.”
Mahershala Ali has prior experience with the superhero genre. He has previously portrayed the role of Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in the Netflix series Luke Cage, a character which also belongs to Marvel, although not the MCU. He has also voiced the character of Aaron Davis/Prowler in the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
The film is believed to be in the pre-production stage, and no other cast members have been announced as of now.
Release Date of Blade
There has been no official announcement of a release date for the movie so far. We can expect the film to release sometime after Phase Four of the MCU ends, and that would be 2023.