Kevin Feige and Mahershala Ali have been taking their time in piecing together the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade reboot, with the producer and star working closely to ensure that they find the best people for the job of bringing the Daywalker back to the big screen as the star of a PG-13 superhero blockbuster that’s set to double down on the vampires recently made official canon by Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius in Loki.
Watchmen scribe Stacy Osei-Kuffour was hired to write the screenplay over five months ago, but at long last the production has settled on a director. Relative unknown Bassam Tariq helmed acclaimed documentary These Birds Walk back in 2013, and his feature debut Mogul Mowgli starring Riz Ahmed has also been drawing rave reviews since releasing internationally last October, although it isn’t coming to domestic theaters until September.
It’s been a long time coming, so fans have naturally been flooding social media to react to the news, and you can check out some of the responses below.
Based on how heavily he’s been involved in the creation and development of the project, two-time Academy Award winner Ali has clearly been a huge driving force behind Blade since the outset, two summers after Feige confirmed it was the actor who brought the idea of reinventing the character to him, and not the other way around.
Ali and Feige have spent months meeting dozens of potential candidates to take the reins of the supernatural comic book blockbuster, and after whittling down their list of contenders, Tariq ultimately won the duo over with his pitch, presentation and vision for the film.
Blade is one of three Phase Four efforts that doesn’t have an official release date yet alongside Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four and Deadpool 3, but with a director now in place and production penciled in to begin next year, things are finally gathering serious momentum.