Remember when Marvel announced they were making a Blade movie within the MCU? And that they had also signed Mahershala Ali to play the role of Blade the Daywalker and slayer of the evil creatures of they night? Yeah it’s been awhile since that announcement at SDCC 2019. But hey last year was a rough time but we’re moving forward as Deadline is reporting Bassam Tariq (These Birds Walk, Bleid) may be directing the project.
Bassam doesn’t have a lot of work under his belt with three feature film credits to his name, but the MCU has followed a formula of quality not quantity. He is a immigrant from Pakistan and studied at the University of Texas at Austin where he began his filmmaking career. He also did a vlogging project called “30 Mosques in 30 Days” which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also recommend checking out some of his interviews and TED talks. I hope for big thing in his future.
Set to premiere sometime in 2023 the film has script writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour working on the story since last February. Filming was supposed to have begun already but plans changed and there has not been an announcement when it would begin. The original Blade movie was released in 1998 and starred Wesley Snipes in the titular role. The movie was well received and still stands up to this day and was financially successful enough to produce two more sequels and a television series.. Marvel regained the rights in 2011 with no announcement till 2019 that they would revisit the character.
Mahershala Ali is a great actor and I have no doubts he would absolutely slay in the role. See what I did there? Hell, I almost think he’s too good for the role so I’m glad to have him on the project. Keep your eyes here for a release date and news as it happens.
Jason The X
“Considering how much I loved the original movie they have to knock this one out of the park.” Follow me @JasonTheX”