Blade Reboot Set With Mahershala Ali, Marvel Announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019

Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali is the new Blade. At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige pulled a “one-more-thing” at the end of his 90-minute presentation as he announced Ali — best known for Green Book and True Detective — would take on the character of Eric Brooks / Blade, played by Wesley Snipes in three films between 1998 and 2004. Feige didn't provide any details on the Blade reboot, except a logo (below). Ali appeared at Comic-Con, wearing a hat that just read “Blade”.

This is the second Marvel Cinematic Universe character for Ali, who played Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes on the first season of the Netflix series Luke Cage. With the Netflix-Marvel partnership now dead, Ali is free to take on the Blade role on the big screen. Ali will be the second African-American actor to lead a MCU movie, after Chadwick Boseman made history as Black Panther. No release date, director, or writer was announced for Blade, with Feige clearly hinting that the film is still in the early stages.

The official logo for the MCU reboot of Blade
Photo Credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

The Blade reboot was teased at the end of Marvel's Comic-Con 2019 panel that confirmed a host of films for Phase Four of the MCU, including Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder. Feige also teased future MCU films involving the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, aside from sequels to Black Panther and Captain Marvel. But he said there was no time to talk about them at Comic-Con.

Blade will likely be part of Marvel's Phase 4.