SDCC 2019: Mahershala Ali will replace Wesley Snipes as Blade

Blade is coming to the MCU with Mahershala Ali taking on the role made famous by Wesley Snipes.

With Marvel buying back the rights to Blade in 2012, it was only a matter of time before news of a film reboot hit the web, and Marvel didn’t waste any time, nor did they disappoint.

The news of Blade joining the MCU came as no shock to anyone, but what surprised people was the name tapped to play the Daywalker. At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, Marvel broke the news that Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali will play Blade:

Ali replaces Wesley Snipes, who popularized the character from 1998-2004. The Blade Trilogy earned New Line Cinema $415 million in what was Marvel’s first R-rated movie. Blade developed a cult following, and fans can’t unsee Snipes as their favorite vampire hunter.

However, this isn’t the first time someone else will play the role of Blade. Onyx rapper, Sticky Fingaz played Blade in the short-lived 2006 Spike series. With that said, fans expected Snipes to bring Blade back for a fourth installment.

As a matter of fact, during Blade’s 20-year anniversary Snipes optimistically spoke about two projects he hoped would see the light of day:

"“There are a lot of conversations going around right now and we’re very blessed to have the enthusiasm and interest in something coming from that world again. We’ve created two projects that fit perfectly into this world.”"

Unfortunately, whatever Snipes had up his sleeve will have to be trashed or passed on to Ali. There’s a chance fans won’t see a drop-off. Ali is a fantastic actor in his own right. He’s won two Academy Awards for his role in Moonlight.

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Ali also went on to revive an anthology series thought to have lost its way, in HBO’s True Detective. Plus, he’s no stranger to the world of Marvel after playing Cottonmouth on the Netflix series Luke Cage.

According to THR, after winning the Oscar for Green Book, Ali met with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. In their meetingc Ali told him flat out that he wanted to play Blade. Needless to say, he made an impression on the film producer.

Now that we know Snipes isn’t returning, we have more questions. Will we get origin story? Or will this pick up in middle of Blade’s life — like Snipes’ version? Who will direct? And most importantly, will it be R-rated?

In the pages of Marvel comics, Blade debuted in 1973’s The Tomb of Dracula. He was born Eric Brooks to a human mother who was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant. Brooks grew up with all the vampires’ ability without their weaknesses, but he is just as blood thirsty.

There’s no word on when Blade will hit theaters, but we’ll keep a close eye as more news develops.