Wesley Snipes’ legacy as Blade will clearly not be forgotten in Marvel Studios’ upcoming reboot, with Mahershala Ali, who is set to play the vampire hunter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, declaring that he will do his best to earn the honor of taking over. Clearly feeling the pressure somewhat, the Moonlight and Alita: Battle Angel star is nonetheless hugely excited to make an impression.
So well-regarded is Snipe’s performance as the Daywalker (just don’t mention Blade: Trinity), that many fans had hoped that Marvel would bring the actor back for more when introducing the character into the MCU fray. Of course, that has turned out not to be the case, with Oscar winner Mahershala Ali stepping into the role. Rather than being disappointed, Snipes has since endorsed Ali as Blade, taking to social media to say, “Best of luck to Mahershala Ali who’s gonna smash it I’m sure as blade but he’s gonna have a hard time outdoing Wesley Snipes,” before ending his message with, “He will do great.”
“You know, what I look forward to is earning it. I look forward to earning… you know, there’s an anticipation for it, there’s an excitement for it that he owns, that Mr. Snipes owns. And so in filling his shoes, I’m just working to earn my place in this and I’m excited to get going and do the work.”
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Details surrounding Marvel’s reboot of Blade are slowly coming to light, with an apparent synopsis seemingly confirming that the MCU’s take on the antihero will stick quite close to many of the elements that made Snipes’ tenure so successful. “Himself a half-human/half-vampire, “Daywalker” Eric Brooks (Ali) has honed his abilities to hunt down the undead who have long terrorized mankind,” the supposed leaked longline reads. “A human-vampire hybrid since his tragic birth, Blade has spent his long life seeking to rid the world of vampires like the one that killed his mother. Over the years, he has mastered his own style of fighting monsters of all kinds.”
While Snipes has zero concerns over Ali’s casting, the actor did recently offer his two cents over what he believes will have audiences applauding. “My question is not with him, it’s the people around him,” Snipes explained. “It takes something great and very special to make an iconic film. And you don’t even know if it’s gonna be iconic until it’s done. The people decide it. . . I want the same reaction we got with the versions we did. Audiences in the theater were yelling and clapping. I’m looking for that.”
Marvel’s version of Blade has now made his MCU debut thanks to the post-credits scenes of recent MCU release, Eternals, with Ali’s off-screen voice guiding Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman over whether he is really ready to wield the coveted Ebony Blade. Da 5 Bloods star Delroy Lindo was recently confirmed to star alongside Ali, with Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour tapped to pen the script and Mogul Mowgli director Bassam Tariq on board to helm the project. Blade does not yet have a release date, but the movie is slated to begin production at Trilith Studios in Atlanta in the late summer of 2022. This comes to us from Jake’s Takes.
