There is still no date for the premiere but, since Mahershala Ali was introduced as the new Blade, there is much expectation to see the return of the popular marvel vampire. Bassam Tariq is the director chosen to carry out the reboot and in a recent interview he wanted to make it clear that he feels admiration for the work he did Wesley snipes and they will not ignore it.
Let’s remember that Snipes starred a trilogy based on the Marvel comics, being directed by Stephen Norrington in 1998, by Guillermo del Toro in 2002 and by David S. Goyer in 2004. This last installment was not the expected success (it seems that the attitude of its star did not help either) and Since then we have not seen Blade on the big screen.
Mahershala Ali, from ‘Luke Cage’ to ‘Blade’ with two Oscars
17 years later, Tariq counts on Ali (winner of two Oscars) to recover the bloody adventures of Blade. His words seem to reveal that he is just as excited about the project as fans of the vampire:
“The exciting thing about the movie we’re making is that there hasn’t been a canon on Blade, as we read in the comics and so forth. That he’s a daytime vampire is the only one that’s been established, and you know we can’t reject what he did. Wesley Snipes, who was basically the one who started this whole thing. A black man created the superhero world we’re in, that’s just the truth. “
“For me, working now with someone as talented and gigantic as Mahershala Ali and writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour … I feel very honored to work with real black giants and black talent. For me, just being with them in the room, listening to you and learning as I build this is truly an honor. “
It should be noted that the future version of ‘Blade’ is not the first project of Mahershala Ali in Marvel. The actor already gave life to the charismatic villain Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in ‘Luke Cage’, one of the Marvel series that were “abandoned” on Netflix. It is rumored that Marvel Studios could recover some actors from those adaptations (especially the acclaimed ‘Daredevil’) but most likely they will start from scratch.
In fact, there was talk of a possible ‘Blade 4’ but again the simplest thing is to leave the past behind and start a new stage. And who knows, maybe Wesley Snipes will have a hole in the reboot with a cameo … It is planned that the filming of the new ‘Blade’ starts in 2022.