Mahershala Ali To Play ‘Blade’ In Reboot Of Marvel Franchise
Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali will return to the Marvel Universe, this time as a good guy. Sort of.
Mahershala Ali made his Marvel debut as the villain Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in the Netflix series Luke Cage in 2016. Today, at Marvel’s Comic-Con panel, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced that Ali would play Blade the Vampire Hunter in a reboot of the Blade franchise that will take place in the Marvel Universe.
The original Blade trilogy starred Wesley Snipes in the title role; Blade was released in 1998, Blade II in 2002 and Blade: Trinity in 2004. The films were one of Marvel’s first ventures into film and weren’t part of a connected universe.
No further announcements about the film were made.
Brian has been working in pop culture and media for about three decades: he’s worked at MTV, VH1, SiriusXM, CBS and Loudwire. Besides working as a writer and an editor-in-chief, he’s also appeared on air as a pundit, guested on radio shows and hosted podcasts. Over the years, he’s interviewed the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, the members of U2, Beyonce, Pink, Usher, Stevie Nicks, Lorde… and is grateful to have had the chance to interview Joe Strummer of the Clash and Tom Petty.