Long-Awaited Hero Finally Coming To The MCU, But Is It Too Late?

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 7 seconds ago

Younger fans won’t remember this, but there was a time when the most successful Marvel movies had nothing to do with superheroes. In the late ‘90s, for example, the first Men in Black kicked off an ultra-successful, buddy space cop franchise starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Believe it or not, this was based on a comic franchise that Marvel obtained the rights to back in 1994. However, the late ‘90s also saw the cinematic introduction of another successful and much more recognizable Marvel hero: Blade! Thanks to a jaw-dropping performance from Wesley Snipes, Blade was stylishly hacking his way through theaters years before the X-Men or Spider-Man were.

Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe got off the ground, fans eagerly awaited the introduction of Blade. However, that wait is ongoing: despite obtaining the rights, developing multiple scripts, and casting Oscar-winning Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire, this character hasn’t seen the light of day in the MCU except for a voice recording in Eternals. Now, a trusted superhero scooper is claiming that we’ll finally see Ali’s Blade make his proper onscreen debut in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, between the actor’s age and the ongoing problem of superhero fatigue, it may be too late to finally bring Blade into the MCU.

Marvel Is Always Trying To Iceskate Uphill

Marvel Studios obtained the relevant rights to Blade way back in 2011. Why, then, haven’t we seen the character in the MCU yet? One reason is that it took a long time to figure out who should play the character. Wesley Snipes was very interested in reprising his role, but nothing happened after years of talks until he got to appear much later in Deadpool & Wolverine. Meanwhile, Luke Cage star Mahershala Ali was interested in the role, and after he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Green Book, he pitched a Black Panther-style Blade movie to Marvel. He got hired, but his proposed movie has spent over half a decade in development hell.

In those years, there have been multiple Blade writers (including Stacy Osei-Kuffour and controversial X-Men ‘97 head writer Beau DeMayo) and multiple directors (including Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange). Several actors have been hired, but only Ali and Mia Goth remain nominally attached to the project. Early this years, reliable scooper Jeff Sneider reported that Marvel had canceled plans for a solo Blade movie altogether. But that doesn’t mean we’ll never see a proper MCU incarnation of the character. On Sneider’s The Hot Mic podcast, he recently reported that Ali’s Blade would appear in the upcoming ensemble blockbusters Avengers: Secret Wars.

The Sharpest Blade

It makes sense that Mahershala Ali’s Blade would pop up in Avengers: Secret Wars. Like the most recent comic of the same name, this movie is strongly rumored to reboot the MCU, which would allow for recasting key roles (like Captain America and Iron Man, both of which Kevin Feige has said would eventually be played by other actors). Perhaps more importantly, the reboot will allow major changes to this cinematic universe, like explaining why X-Men and other mutants are now a major force. The reboot might also properly introduce vampires into the MCU, which would pave the way for the introduction of Blade, the vampire who hunts his own kind. 

As a huge fan of the original Blade movies, I can’t help but think that Ali’s Blade popping up in Avengers: Secret Wars is too little, too late. For one thing, it’s a serious downgrade: fans have been hoping for a solo MCU Blade film for nearly two decades, and after fleshing out ideas for at least three movies, the best Marvel can do is give him a cameo in an already overcrowded film? Like, it was disappointing enough that all we got from Blade in Eternals was a voice message. Now, we’ll finally see him onscreen, but it will likely be a small cameo sandwiched somewhere between two dozen other, more established characters.

It’s All Falling Apart (Again)

Another problem is that this is set up for a payoff we’ll probably never get. Last year, Variety reported that Marvel execs had no sense of urgency to make a Blade movie because superhero fatigue had started eating into the studio’s bottom line. Obviously, Kevin Feige is hoping that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will make superhero fatigue a thing of the past. But what if that doesn’t pan out? They’ll be left with the same problem, introducing a new character whose eventual solo film may not be able to generate the kinds of box office Marvel is expecting.

Finally, the elephant in the room is Mahershala Ali’s age. He is 52, and if Jeff Sneider is correct about his upcoming Marvel appearance, the actor will be 54 by the time Secret Wars comes out. When Wesley Snipes first played Blade, he was 37; Ali is much older, and may have trouble pulling off the complex fight choreography the character is known for. Plus, Marvel famously likes to make its biggest actors sign 10-year contracts to appear in various sequels and spinoffs. So even if Ali is great in the role in a couple of years, it will get pretty awkward seeing him doing kung-fu vampire-slaying moves into his ‘60s.

But hey, I could be wrong about this. Audiences loved seeing the 55-year-old Hugh Jackman slash his way through Deadpool & Wolverine and are eager for him to return. Plus, when it comes to a character as cool as Blade, Marvel could do much worse than Ali, an Oscar-winning actor who always gives 110 percent to his performances. Maybe the stars will align, and I’ll finally get to see him headline his own Blade film. With any luck, that will happen before both of us are rocking AARP memberships!