So... how do you reboot Blade?
It was one of the big surprises of the weekend — and will have huge ramifications for the MCU IT WAS THE moment that nobody saw coming. Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige had just one more thing, Columbo-style, to reveal: Blade, the vampire-killing daywalker, was coming back to the fold.
But how? Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali picked up the phone and offered himself up for the role. And Feige agreed.
It seems like perfect casting, and the kind that even the original Blade, Wesley Snipes, seemed to approve of, calling Ali “a beautiful and talented artist”. The problem now is: how do they introduce Eric ‘Blade’ Brooks into the MCU?
Blade’s world is a vampiric one, teeming with pointy-teethed goons. This announcement instantly changes the MCU, retconning to a place where vampires are everywhere. Blade himself is a half-vampire or ‘dhampir’, after his mother was bitten while pregnant, meaning there would have been vampires for at least as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. has been operational. Why haven’t we heard about vampires until now? Have they just been hiding in the shadows all this time? Is this a question with a multiverse-based answer?
Tougher still is how Marvel will juggle the expectations of MCU fans with die-hard daywalkers. The vampire-killing world is violent, R-rated. The MCU has never gone above PG-13. Does Blade promise a different kind of MCU movie? Could it even live alongside other potential R-rated movies like a new Deadpool entry? Or will he join the new-look Avengers? In the comics, he’s first recruited to the team by Black Panther. The full Blade reboot won’t arrive until Phase Five — but don’t rule out an early Wakanda cameo.