Blade MCU Movie Updates: Cast, Story, Release Date

Marvel’s Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali is moving forward, and here’s everything we know about the MCU film’s release date, cast, and story.

Marvel Studios is developing a new Blade movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and here’s everything we know about the upcoming blockbuster. The popularity of the MCU has given Marvel Studios the freedom to introduce all types of heroes since the franchise began in 2008. In many cases, their appearances marked the big-screen debuts of the comic characters, despite years of Marvel movies preceding the MCU. That is starting to change, with a new version of Spider-Man and MCU reboots of X-Men and Fantastic Four coming eventually. Blade the Vampire Slayer is another set for an MCU makeover.

Wesley Snipes famously played Eric Brooks in three Blade movies starting in the late 1990s that helped prove an audience existed for R-rated comic book content. However, Marvel Studios never showed much interest in rebooting Blade as part of the MCU. That changed at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige made the surprise announcement that a solo film was in development. This came with the reveal that Mahershala Ali will play Marvel’s Daywalker. Development on Blade has progressed since then, with Watchmen‘s Stacy Osei-Kuffour writing the script and Mogul Mowgli‘s Bassam Tariq directing.

Related: Loki Teased Where Blade’s Vampires Come From In The MCU

Marvel’s new Blade movie is one of a handful of movies that will come in the next few years. As the project continues to move forward and Marvel experiments with more genres and ratings, the interest in Blade is only rising. Here’s everything we know about the MCU’s new Blade movie.

Blade Release Date

Marvel Studios has yet to give Blade an official release date, but since it is slated to start production in July, it could come out as early as the summer or fall of 2023. Marvel Studios’ movies typically release 12 to 18 months after filming starts, although that timeline grew a bit thanks to the pandemic. Whether the movie takes a year or longer to come out after production begins, Blade will likely secure a 2023 release date at some point and join Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. At the moment, Marvel has three 2023 slots for as-yet-unspecified movies, so it’s likely that Blade will take one of those.

The New Blade Movie Cast

The cast of the MCU’s new Blade movie will be helmed by its star Mahershala Ali. After Ali’s Oscar-winning roles in Moonlight and Green Book, as well as his stint in Luke Cage as Cornell Stokes/Cottonmouth, the actor approached Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige to express his interest in playing Eric Brooks in the MCU. Marvel didn’t have plans to make Blade at the time, but Ali’s talent and interest made it easy for Feige to change that. Ali won’t be alone in the movie, though, as Marvel will find another great collection of co-stars, potentially even including other MCU characters like Midnight Sons members Moon Knight or Doctor Strange (played by Oscar Isaac and Benedict Cumberbatch respectively). Apart from Ali, Blade’s cast includes Da 5 Bloods‘ Delroy Lindo and The Underground Railroad‘s Aaron Pierre in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

Blade Story Details

Story details for Blade have yet to be revealed or even teased. It will likely involve pieces of Blade’s origin and how he became a vampire slayer, but the majority of the movie will presumably follow Eric as an established and experienced hunter. This would allow the film to answer where Blade has been throughout the MCU’s history. Blade‘s actual story will likely depend on which of his many supernatural villains Marvel makes him fight in his first film.

Related: Dane Whitman’s Blade Connection Can Fix A Longstanding Black Knight Issue

Blade Already Made His MCU Debut In Eternals

The MCU’s new Blade movie was heavily teased when Mahershala Ali’s Eric Brooks warns Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman about using the Ebony Blade in Eternals‘ post-credits scene. Although Ali’s voice is only featured in the cameo, it is technically the first appearance for the Daywalker in an actual MCU movie. More importantly, this scene from Eternals provides clues about what could happen and who could show up in Blade. Also known in Marvel comics as the dark counterpart to the legendary Excalibur, the Ebony Blade confers godlike abilities at the cost of magnifying the wielder’s bloodlust, with both the sword and the wielder growing more powerful with each fresh kill. While the Ebony Blade is dangerous enough in the hands of Dane Whitman aka The Black Knight – whose Arthurian bloodline means that he is essentially immortal while holding the sword – the weapon could be even deadlier if it’s wielded alongside the Daywalker. Combined with the hype for the new movie, this has led to fan theories regarding why Blade wants Dane Whitman’s sword for himself, which could be what the post-credits scene of Eternals was setting up.

Blade’s solo movie could also be part of the setup for the MCU’s take on Midnight Sons, a team-up that in Marvel Comics also includes Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Moon Knight, Morbius, and Doctor Strange. In short, there are a number of ways for Blade to carve out a unique new niche in the MCU Phase 4’s ongoing storylines, with plenty of room for many other long-anticipated Marvel characters to make their MCU debut. Curiously, Eric Brooks’ interest in the Ebony Blade implies that the Daywalker may have a huge role not just in Midnight Sons, but potentially even in the next Avengers team-up. Apart from being able to slice through anything except the wielder, the Ebony Blade can open portals to other dimensions, similar to America Chavez’s powers in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This is only possible if the wielder of the Ebony Blade gives in to the bloodlust and allows the sword to take over their soul, which already sounds like the perfect way for Blade to start carving his way through vampires in the MCU.

More: What If Blade Were In Endgame? Could He Beat Thanos?

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