Marvel Studios Blade Mahershala Ali is Blade
 

The superhero movies today can be traced back to X-Men and Spider-Man. But there’s another film that exists in an odd middle-ground between campy superhero and something more gritty and realistic, which is 1998’s Blade. The story of a black half-human, half-vampire who hunts vamps and can survive daylight spawned a trilogy with 2002’s vastly superior Blade II and the pretty atrocious 2004 Blade: Trinity. Wesley Snipes starred in all three films, but when interest died off, Marvel relaunched the character on TV with Blade: The Series in 2006 starring Sticky Fingaz. That only lasted for one season. Then the rights eventually reverted back to Marvel Studios, and the character has been in limbo…until now.
true-detective-season-3-episode-7-mahershala-ali

Image via HBO

After a slew of other announcements at their Comic-Con panel in Hall H, Marvel had a brief coda by announcing a new Blade and bringing two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali onto the stage. So we’ve got a new “Daywalker” and it’s the immensely talented Ali in the role.

What’s so cool about Blade getting into the MCU is not only have we seen that you can do some fun stuff with the character and his action-horror world (although I doubt Marvel’s Blade will be rated-R like the previous films), but that the studio is showing they can have more than one black superhero. Rather than just resting on the Black Panther franchise and calling it a day, they’re bringing more black superheroes into the MCU to stand alongside T’Challa, Sam Wilson, Valkyrie, and more. It’s one thing to say you’re going to make a commitment to diversity, but Marvel is out here doing it.

The question now becomes what will they do with Blade and whom will they get to oversee it? Who’s the right director for the franchise? How do you relaunch this character and make him fit in the MCU? These are exciting questions, and I’m eager to find out the answers in a few years when Blade arrives.

For more from Comic-Con, click here.

http://collider.com/new-blade-movie-...twitter#images

Good news with a great lead cast. Hope the film's got teeth, though. The old one is very 2000's & has some crappy CGI, but otherwise holds up pretty good. Dark, violent, good action, & of course, Snipes. I'm hella down for this as long as it doesn't stray too far from the path.

But...Cottonmouth in Luke Cage?

Great casting choice. He was awesome in Luke Cage.

Agreed about him being an awesome choice, but what does this mean about the linkage between the Netflix series and the MCU Proper?

Probably the same thing that Alfre Woodard playing two different characters in Luke Cage and Civil War does.

Im disappointed they didnt bring Wesley Snipes back.

I'm fairly interested in this. Haven't seen the former Blade movies in a while now but I liked them when I saw them, might do a re-watch.

Declare the Netflix shows non-canon.

... What? Did you really think they would never do Daredevil, Kingpin or the Hand in the movies?

I wouldn't rule that out at all. A lot of things point to Snipes still being involved, this being only a soft reboot of Blade, and Blade becoming a legacy character.

Ali is a badass. Didn't care about Blade before, but I'm definitely interested now!

They should cast Wesley Snipes as Whistler.

there's essentially zero linkage between the MCU and the Netflix shows

With Disney going full steam into new shows on their service, I'm guessing the Netflix shows will be declared non-canon any day now.

Excited for this project. Don't know a lot about the character (still need to get around to seeing the trilogy) but I'm a big fan of Mahershala Ali.

What I wonder though, is this movie actually going to have excessive amounts of blood?

Of course it should, but it's probably gonna be PG13. Still, Endgame did have that one rather bloody scene where Clint killed some criminals. Could they somehow make it both PG13 and bloody enough to appease everyone?

I've read some theories that this could be a slightly separate branch of the MCU with a darker tone, hence why this was announced outside of the "phase 4" diagram. I doubt Disney would go that route, but I'd be glad to see something like that open the doors to different types of stories in the MCU. (ex. reboot Daredevil as a movie with the same cast)

It would be VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY hard to even touch Snipes charisma, but OK.
Let's see what newcomer will bring to the table.

Something that always struck me as a bit weird about Blade is how the adaptations always depict him as an American (or of unknown nationality but with an American accent). I would say it's because of Wesley Snipes but he even had an American accent in the 90's Spider-Man cartoon, in which his first episode aired two years before the movie even came out.

Netflix shows were never canon.

So they're apparently only now are they looking for writers. Black writers.

https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/mar...tar-1845486291

Hmmmm.

I'll freely admit I've never read a Blade comic in my entire life, but the original movies didn't seem to focus on Blade as anything more than a dude who killed vampires because he was part vampire.

For producing a show like Luke Cage, which was deeply embedded in the experience of being a black man, I think that "only black writers / producers" made a ton of sense.

But is that really something that is needed for Blade? I'm not threatened or offended if it is; I'm just curious what the thinking is.

It's absolutely imperative that the market support more diversity, both on screen and behind the screen, but at the same time (as I've already personally experienced) that eventually comes at the cost of marginalizing straight white dudes who would also like to work in that market.

I never cared about Blade much at all, but I absolutely cannot stand the recent "Only _________ need apply to work on _______" trend. It's racist nonsense and people shouldn't support it.

Also, it flies in the face of a writer trying to write outside their comfort zone.

One of the hallmarks of being a good writer is being able to write convincingly outside their own experience and identity.

I know there's this weird aspect to Blade's character where tends to talk like an African American stereotype... Even though the character isn't actually an American, which is rather strange.

This is idiocy.
The true diversity is achieved, when you don't make a big deal out of character being anything special.

Modern SJW crap made so much harm for the ideas of diversity and inclusion. Their whole modus operandi: we won't be treated like everyone else, but SPECIAL!!
**** that ****. Really.

You are either pretend to be above everyone or not at all. You can't have it both ways.

I'm not familiar with the comics, like where does the character usually reside? Like if he grew up or spent a lot of his childhood in the states, he might have gotten used to talking like that?

And also not to offend anyone.... but I mean... there kinda isn't an 'African American stereotype' when it comes to talking. Personal experience and whatnot, just replace the dated slang with modern slang (cause you know all slang in TV and movies is always a few years behind) and that is pretty much how the average black dude talks, unless they're more 'educated'. And hey, I'm Hispanic, and it's the same, the less 'educated' ones do speak a lot like tv stereotypes do, just with a few extra 'ese' and 'papi' thrown in.

I had a friend who just threw me off with how she talked. Like at work, she was professional as could be, even in the break room and smoking areas where people usually kinda mellow out and cuss a bit cause it's outside work property and whatnot. One time she gave me a ride home and I swear all the 'ghetto' came out. Like I nodded and smiled and whatnot but I never heard the n-word thrown out so many times than the last time I heard a legit rap song. It just impressed me how she could turn it on and off between work and personal.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who worked on HBO's Watchmen, is writing the script

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...ribe-exclusive

To be rated PG-13.

https://movieweb.com/blade-deadpool-3-ratings/

Because some mother buggers always try to iceskate uphill.

Technically, they're allowed one use of the "f-word"

How would you have them use it?

Well by liberal logic then they better get a white writer to write the lines for Whistler and black writers to write the lines for people of conflict....errr... I mean people of color. :roll:

Better yet, to have writer of each race writing character of their own race, independently from others.
After all, they want a total equality, right?

Hammer meet nail.

Loses its director:

https://www.darkhorizons.com/marvels...-its-director/

MCU slowly turns into a shitshow, like DCCU?

I mean, it's always had problems. Iron Man 2, Thor 2, Ant-Man 1 all famously had troubled times with the directors. But this, I dunno. I just don't see how a PG-13 Blade improves or adds anything to the MCU.

But they were far and few in-between, if my memory serves me well, and overall quality of the MCU movies were good, up until the end of Phase 3.
Now, both their movies and series are lacking, from what I can understand, and they have trouble with directors and constant rewrites, it seems we are in for a different period of the MCU history and I am not sure, if I like it.

Not that I am big fan of MCU, but compared to the DC output...whatever there is.

Apparently the actor either wants out or is already out because the script is horrible and apparently there will be only be 2 (crappy) fight scenes during the entire movie?

Kinda reeks like 80% of the movie is gonna go the 'how tough it is to live as a black man in America' and then... oh yeah... it's a super hero movie, have to squeeze in a fight scene somewhere in there.

And if the rumors are true about at least part of it being set in the 1920s... guess what they'll be unable to resist? The Tulsa massacre.