Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige dropped a lot of bombs about the Phase Four slate during Saturday’s panel at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. Among the blasts was confirmation of the news that a fourth Thor with director Taika Waititi, Thor: Love and Thunder, was on the way. What’s more, Feige added that Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster would be donning the Thor mantle in the film, while Tessa Thompson confirmed that her character Valkyrie would be the MCU’s first openly LGBT hero. And then there’s the Blade reboot.
Yes, that’s right. Aside from brand new films like Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Disney+ streaming shows like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision, Marvel is also working on a brand new Blade film. What’s more, Green Book and Moonlight star Mahershala Ali will be donning a nice pair of new fangs for the title role.
Just announced in Hall H at #SDCC, Marvel Studios’ BLADE with Mahershala Ali. pic.twitter.com/mtrDBy5OV0
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) July 21, 2019
Neither Feige nor Ali, who took to the stage and donned a black cap with the film’s new logo on it, had much to say about the news during the panel. When the former briefly spoke with the press after the announcement, however, he explained that Ali had sought out a meeting with Marvel Studios soon after his Oscar win for Green Book. Why? Because he wanted to help them reboot Blade. “When Marhershala calls, you answer,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
This won’t be Ali’s first collaboration with one of the Marvel entertainment arms. The actor previously played the villainous Cottonmouth in the first season of Luke Cage on Netflix. Despite the show’s many problems, the actor’s performance was praised as one of the best things about it, though the character was sadly only featured in the first half of the inaugural season.
The original trilogy of Blade films starring Wesley Snipes, who has often spoken of his openness of returning to the role, came out between 1998 and 2004. They are considering the unofficial spark for the current superhero movies trend, as the first film predates Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Even so, with Ali leading the title, it’s unknown if Snipes will be involved in Marvel’s forthcoming reboot. For all we know, his last foray into the character may end up being his recent surprise cameo in the What We Do in the Shadows television series on FX.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)