After years of fans calling for the Daywalker to make it into the MCU, Marvel finally granted our wishes yesterday. Right at the end of their monumentally-exciting panel about their Phase 4 plans, a new Blade movie was announced to be in development – with Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali cast as the vampire hunter.
Naturally, folks are going wild with excitement over the idea of Ali appearing in just a few years as the cult hero. Wesley Snipes, of course, played Blade in a trilogy back in the late-90s/early-00s and will be hard to replace, but everyone agrees that the Green Book star is the perfect choice to fill the role in the MCU.
MAHERSHALA ALI AS MARVEL'S BLADE?!?!?!?! ARE WE KIDDING?!?!?!
IT'S THE PERFECT CASTING!!! I am so excited!!! I love him! ??? #BladeMCU #MarvelStudios #Phase4 #MahershalaAli pic.twitter.com/zor8AZ0h4f
— Maya | Stream #AllNight | (@cmr1397) July 21, 2019
Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Taika Waititi is all of us when we found out about this news.
We were all Taika when Mahershala put that BLADE hat on… pic.twitter.com/gjS4GK5vob
— Joshua Hull (@joshuathehull) July 21, 2019
Think nobody else can play Blade but Snipes? Ali has something to say about that…
Everybody: “Nobody can play Blade except Wesley Snipes”
Mahershala Ali: pic.twitter.com/jU4cFbMkOp
— The Official Prince Eric (@MIKEYjaySTARKS) July 21, 2019
Yeah, remember that Ali was in Luke Cage season 1 as Cottonmouth? The villain was probably the most popular LC big bad, so fans are thrilled to have him back in the franchise.
Cottonmouth died so that BLADE could rise! ?? pic.twitter.com/VBQd2LCjw1
— Thank You Stan Lee (@ForAllNerds) July 21, 2019
But hey, Cottonmouth isn’t Ali’s only previous Marvel character. He was also the voice of Prowler in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Now he’s Blade. A literal Marvel legend.
Cottonmouth, Uncle Aaron and now Blade #mahershalaali #marvel pic.twitter.com/m6jktIzjzW
— arabella ✧༺♥༻✧ (@CitadelBells) July 21, 2019
The new Blade is at least four years away, but folks are already planning to see it an unhealthy amount of times in the theater.
yes I will be rewatching the new Blade with Mahershala Ali at least 387 times in theaters pic.twitter.com/Rr7K7uewRZ
— nickntv on twitch ♡ ?️? (@NickNMedia) July 21, 2019
Along with the likes of Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Shang-Chi, Phase 4’s going to make some huge steps towards better representation in the MCU and we can’t wait to see all these movies.
captain america is black? thor is a woman? bisexual valkyrie is confirmed? rachel weisz is playing a bisexual villain in black widow? an asian superhero is getting their own movie? a deaf superhero is in the eternals? a muslim actor is playing blade? PHASE 4 LETS GOOO pic.twitter.com/15dysDb2Gi
— sam ⚢ (@stvnbcky) July 21, 2019
Kevin Feige has revealed that this project came about when Ali asked him for a meeting and made it clear that he’d love to play Blade. And judging by the reactions up above, it seems the entire internet can’t wait to see him tackle the character, either.
