Wesley Snipes’ debut as Blade in 1998 was integral to popularizing the superhero movie genre, and soon the time will come for Mahershala Ali to leave his stamp on the character. It was announced at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con that the Green Book actor will play the vampire hunter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While we’re still a ways off from seeing the Blade reboot, the project just got a cool tease thanks to Disney+’s Loki series.
I won’t spoil the big events of the latest Loki episode “The Nexus Event” here; you can look elsewhere on CinemaBlend for spoilers. However, during the episode, Owen Wilson’s Mobius said something intriguing during a conversation with Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15:
You know, we brought in Kree, Titans, vampires. Why is it the two orphan demigods are such a pain in the ass?
Well, well, it appears even vampires can cause problems for the Sacred Timeline. Now, to be fair, this technically isn’t the first time vampires have been mentioned in the MCU. In Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi’s Korg picked up a big wooden fork on Sakaar and said that it wasn’t really useful as a weapon “unless you’re fighting off three vampires that were huddled together.” However, that was more of a joke line, whereas Mobius’ statement is our first direct confirmation that vampires lurk within the MCU, and the Time Variance Authority has had dealings with them.
Now obviously not every Loki viewer is aware that a Blade reboot is coming, but at least Mobius’ statement tips them off about the existence of vampires in this franchise. As Marvel’s resident vampire hunter, Blade, a.k.a. Eric Brooks, has made it his life’s purpose to cut through these bloodsuckers, a task he’s uniquely suited for thanks to being half-vampire, hence why he’s been nicknamed the Daywalker. Whether the new Blade movie will be the first time we actually see vampires in the MCU or if they’ll appear in another project beforehand remains to be seen.
As far as Blade goes, outside of Mahershala Ali playing the titular role (which he scored after meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige following his Oscar win in early 2019), all we know is that Watchmen’s Stacy Osei-Kuffour is writing the script. This will be Ali’s fourth comic book-related role, having previously played Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in Luke Cage, The Prowler in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Titan in Invincible. Blade will reportedly begin filming in July 2022, but a release date hasn’t been set yet.
Once more Blade news trickles in, or if vampires are mentioned/seen elsewhere in the MCU, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the biggest updates for upcoming Marvel movies. New episodes of Loki premiere Wednesday on Disney+, so make sure you’re subscribed to the Mouse House’s streaming service to stay current.
