In an actors-on-actors interview for Vogue's "Off the Cuff" with the stars of Jurassic World Rebirth, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, and Scarlett Johansson, Ali began unexpectedly quite tight-lipped when the topic turned to MCU films.
The two-time Oscar winner has been linked to portraying Blade, a vampire-hunting dhampir (a human-vampire hybrid), in a reboot of the non-MCU Wesley Snipes' Blade franchise. Ali's on-again, off-again connection to Blade started several years ago with Kevin Feige’s (President of Marvel Studios) announcement at Comic-Con in 2019.
In the "Off the Cuff" interview, Bailey was asked to name every MCU movie in which Scarlett and Mahershala had been in, and Mahershala suddenly took himself out of this "name that MCU film" inquiry by laughing and saying, “Leave me out of it. That’s just a Scarlett question.”
"Well, there's one that we're very excited about," Bailey immediately joked.
An understandable retort from Bailey, but to be fair to Ali, the Blade movie that Bailey is jokingly referring to has been on the MCU schedule since a November 2023 release date. However, Blade has ultimately been removed from the MCU schedule after several starts and stops, multiple directors and writers, and creative differences to the project since the 2019 Comic-Con announcement.
Ali's reluctance to play along with the interview question was reasonable, given the circumstances. Although the question could have continued with Ali’s MCU credits, as he has done a voice-only cameo in a post-credit scene in the Eternals – as Blade (addressing the Black Knight), and he’s also appeared in a non-MCU project as the villain Cottonmouth in season 1 of Marvel Television/Netflix’s Luke Cage. That could have been a quick recovery for the Rebirth stars; however, their cheeky banter was quite innocent yet telling.
Marvel's Midnight Suns released exactly one year ago today! Thank you to everyone for playing our game and supporting us through this amazing journey! 🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/lXDsw72BiW
— Marvel's Midnight Suns (@midnightsuns) December 2, 2023
According to The Direct and insider Daniel Richtman, Marvel may be planning to take Mahershala's Blade into a new direction by adapting a Midnight Suns movie. Midnight Suns is an amalgam of Marvel's most mystical, monstrous, and morally gray characters who thrive in the shadows.
Including Ali's post-credit voice-over cameo, there have been several Midnight Suns' characters that have already been introduced into the MCU, such as Moon Knight, Werewolf & Man-Thing, Doctor Strange, and Agatha Harkness. This could be an interesting way to introduce Blade into the MCU, as well as other mystical characters who could be introduced into the MCU via a Midnight Suns project, or some variant combination of new and existing monstrous MCU characters is certainly possible as well.
Whether Mahershala continues to dodge the Blade question he’s undoubtedly going to receive while on his press tour for Jurassic World Rebirth is up for debate. However, I suspect Marvel creators are paying close attention to the fans and reporters' interest in asking Mahershala about Blade - confirming their fascination and love for seeing this vampire-killing anti-hero again on the big screen!
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