The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade reboot was announced at last summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, but in the year and a half since, the only thing we’ve had to go on is star Mahershala Ali teasing his Daywalker hairdo. The two-time Academy Award winner remains the sole talent attached to the project either in front of or behind the camera, but that’s all set to change in the near future.
Blade may have been one of just two of the 25 MCU movies and TV shows in development that wasn’t directly referenced at the recent Disney Investor Day alongside Deadpool 3, but Kevin Feige did promise that some big news was coming very soon. Which makes sense, as the Mouse House’s updated release schedule would seem to indicate that Blade will be arriving in mid-2022, after it was left undated but placed in between Black Panther II and Captain Marvel 2, the latter of which was shifted back to November.
That gives the vampiric superhero blockbuster a four-month window to hit the big screen, which means things should start ramping up in the not too distant future. For those who can’t wait that long to see Ali in action as Wesley Snipes’ replacement, though, the latest in a long line of disconcertingly convincing deepfakes has arrived to give people an indication of how he could fare as Eric Brooks.
The two Oscars in his trophy cabinet make it perfectly clear that Ali is no slouch when it comes to delivering powerhouse performances, but he’s hardly renowned for his forays into the action genre, and while he doesn’t stand a chance of matching up to Snipes in the martial arts department, he’s still poised to put his own stamp on Blade regardless.