When Marvel Studios launched the Multiverse Saga, there was a lot to be excited about. The beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe was set to expand into the television realm with a multitude of Disney Plus shows, the franchise was set to try out a lot of different genres, and it was all going to lead to some exciting crossovers with classic Marvel movie characters that predated the MCU. But perhaps the most exciting element of it all was the announcement that Mahershala Ali had been cast has Blade and the confirmation that he would be leading his own solo movie.
The San Diego Comic-Con announcement took place in 2019 and, six years later, the Blade movie has yet to start production. It has gone through multiple variations (along with two directors) but it has never come to fruition. And then, after multiple delays, it was taken off the release calendar altogether. Through it all, fans have remained hopeful that the Daywalker would join the MCU.
Now, Blade fans have received a mostly hopeful update, as Marvel Studios has unveiled the first look at its own original Blade in an MCU project. It just comes with a teeny, tiny catch.
Marvel Zombies trailer offers up the first look at an MCU variant of Blade (but Mahershala Ali isn't playing the role)
Marvel has released the first trailer for animated series Marvel Zombies and it has very quickly generated a ton of discussion among the devoted MCU fans. But in the midst of the mess, chaos, and violence that the alternate version of the MCU offers up in this trailer, one element has stood out among the rest. And that is the first look at an MCU version of Blade in action.
As the series takes place in a parallel timeline where zombies have ravaged the Earth, this is clearly a variant of the main timeline's Blade, but you can clearly see that it is modelled after Mahershala Ali. Ali, however, does not provide the voice for the character, as Todd Williams is credited as the star bringing him to life here.
This Blade Knight incarnation imagines what would happen if Blade himself became the Fist of Khonshu, operating as Moon Knight in his world. He was first introduced via a brief still in the series finale of What If...?, with fans quickly voicing their desire to see him in action. How lucky is it that we will get that chance when Marvel Zombies premieres this September?
The trailer features Blade doing battle with a zombified version of Ghost. Although the two are pretty evenly matched in the beginning, the moment that Blade gets his chance, he goes to town on the undead nightmare before him, stabbing Ghost before slicing and dicing the zombie to pieces. And just as Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, and Ms. Marvel are, viewers are no doubt shocked by what they have seen. What an introduction to Blade that is.
Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come and it will serve as the first of many MCU appearances for Blade. Ali has yet to don the iconic shades and trenchcoat in live-action form, but he did make an uncredited voice cameo in the post-credits scene of Eternals back in 2021. As it seems that Marvel Studios has since distanced itself from that movie, it's understandable that fans have been concerned by the lack of Blade in the Multiverse Saga up to now. Well, the MCU's Blade, that is.
Wesley Snipes, who played the iconic role in the legendary Blade movie franchise, reprised his role in last year's Deadpool and Wolverine. It was a nod to his work as the beloved Daywalker in the movies that ultimately worked really well in this film (as he, Jennifer Garner's Elektra, Channing Tatum's Gambit, and Dafne Keen's X-23 helped the titular duo escape The Void). So, yes, that was technically the first appearance of a Blade in an MCU movie, but it's not the MCU's Blade - which we now know for sure will look like Mahershala Ali.
Mahershala Ali's likeness in Marvel Zombies is a good sign for Blade's MCU future
It goes without saying that it's a bit of a bummer that Mahershala Ali will not be voicing Blade in Marvel Zombies, but the use of his likeness to bring the character to life is actually a really promising sign for the future.
There had been reports in recent months that Marvel Studios had dropped the idea of making a new Blade movie due to how many rewrites it went through (and that would have presumably meant parting ways with Ali, who was set to play the titular role). The studio's own president Kevin Feige has since attempted to ease fans' worries by revealing that the movie is still in the works. And yet, there was still some concern that it might never make it to the screen.
Having Ali's likeness used in Marvel Zombies has confirmed that the studio still plans on having the Academy Award winner play the iconic vampire hunter. It doesn't matter that he isn't voicing the role, because we've gotten used to that in Marvel Animation projects. It's the same way that Robert Downey Jr.'s likeness is used for Tony Stark, Chris Evans' for Captain America, and Tom Holland's for Spider-Man, even though none of those stars actually voice the characters in What If...?. The likeness is what's important here as the variants featured in these shows are still designed to resemble the stars who play them in the MCU movies. And with that in mind, this likely means that when the live-action Blade movie does arrive on the silver screen eventually, Ali will be the one playing the role.
Blade has been a long time coming and, with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars set to bring about the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, it will likely be another while before the film comes to fruition. But if Kevin Feige's confirmation that the movie is still on the cards wasn't enough to put you at ease, perhaps the official in-action debut of a variant of Mahershala Ali's Blade is.
Marvel Zombies arrives on Disney Plus on September 24, 2025.