Marvel Studios' Blade may still be quite some time away, but the seeds for the blood-sucking blockbuster are being planted now. Marvel's vampire hunter will be portrayed by Mahershala Ali, but other than that, there is not much known about the project at this point. Despite his movie being years out, Ali has actually already made his MCU debut as the character.
As was revealed back in October, Blade was present in the post-credit stinger of Eternals where he gave the Ebony Blade to Kit Harington's Dane Whitman, despite not showing his face to the audience. This means Ali and his Marvel character are fair play right now and could show up at any time.
As for the Blade movie proper, a director has been chosen and casting is actively happening as preproduction rolls on.
A Meeting of the Minds on Blade
A recent pair of Instagram Stories revealed some of the names behind the upcoming MCU Blade film.
The Stories were posted by a writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour and feature screenshots of a Blade-focused Marvel Studios Zoom meeting.
The meetings were attended by Osei-Kuffour, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, producer Eric Hausserman Carroll, producer Louis D'Esposito, Blade director Bassam Tariq, and star of the film Mahershala Ali.
It is unknown when these meetings took place, but one indication could come from Kevin Feige's hat. Feige seems to be wearing a Shang-Chi hat, so that could mean this meeting took place back in August or September while Marvel Studios was on the promotion cycle for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Feige, and Ali, and Tariq. Oh My!
While these small glimpses into these virtual meetings of the minds do not point to anything substantial regarding the Blade reboot, it does mean that rubber is finally meeting the road on the project.
Marvel Studios has slowly been working away in the background on Blade, without much to offer in terms of news. However, it's a drip-feed of stories like this that keep fans confident that Marvel's vampire hunter has not been forgotten about.
As far as how far along Blade seems to be, it still feels quite early. The team has been assembled, but shooting still seems like a long way off. That assumption could be wrong, but this whole thing still feels rather early.
That is not to say Mahersala Ali will not appear in anything MCU-related before his character's debut movie. With talk of a Marvel Studios Halloween Special and the upcoming Moon Knight Disney+ series, Blade could show up anywhere.
After his hidden introduction in Eternals, it only feels like a matter of time before Ali's hero will be seen on-screen amongst the biggest names of the MCU.
