Marvel reportedly wants indie director Bassam Tariq to make Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot
The director of Mogul Mowgli with Riz Ahmed is Marvel's top choice to make a new Blade movie
Film News Blade
It’s relatively rare for Marvel Studios to walk back any of its big announcements, with even canned projects like the Inhumans movie getting repurposed into some other form, but it wouldn’t have been that surprising if Marvel eventually decided to quietly drop its plans for a new Blade movie starring Mahershala Ali as the eponymous Daywalker. After all, it’s been two years since that too-good-to-be-true casting was announced, and then there was this whole global pandemic that sidetracked every plan that anyone—even the all-powerful Marvel Studios—had made, so it would’ve been understandable for either Marvel or Ali to have second thoughts about something that could be very cool but would also put everyone involved under a whole lot of pressure to live up to the greatness of Blade and Blade 2.
But, apparently, someone out there really does believe that we deserve nice things, because the new Blade movie is still on and it might even be getting a buzzy, up-and-coming director. This comes from Deadline, which says indie filmmaker Bassam Tariq—who had only made shorts and documentaries before his feature breakout last year with the Riz Ahmed-starring Mogul Mowgli—is Marvel’s choice for taking on Blade. Deadline says there’s no deal in place yet, but apparently Marvel was really interested in whatever “vision” he pitched in some meetings this year with Ali and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige. Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who worked on Watchmen and PEN15, is writing the script.
The next question Marvel will have to answer is “What do you do about Wesley Snipes?” Blade was a comic book character long before he appeared in movies, but Snipes’ version of the character is up there with the most iconic takes of any character ever. He made it clear when Ali’s casting was announced that he was pretty cool with whatever happened, though he did share a clip on Twitter of his Blade saying that “some motherfuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill,” so it seemed like his magnanimousness was at least partially coming from the fact that he knows that Marvel knows that it will have to convince people that it’s doing right by Blade—and that one way of accomplishing that is by doing right by Wesley Snipes. Also: What are the odds anyone in this movie says “motherfucker?”
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Hopefully they stick with his original design from Tomb of Dracula #10.
Looks like Jefferson Twilight w/o the bald spot(I know Jefferson was based on Blade. But the only look for the character I’m familiar with is Wesley Snipes)
Yeah but does he get the blue balls in his blood eye?
Afros are sort of back in style, though I think Ali prefers a streamlined look, but I don’t think we are going back to green coats matched with purple knife sheaths (although the colors are complementary). And trading in the teak knives for silver ones was probably the smartest move the original Blade movies made. Gene Colan, however, did make the ensemble look cool.
You’re right about green and purple. My youngest daughter chose that option for her room when she was a kid. I thought it was weird, but she’s the family artist so we went with it. Once it was done it was actually pretty bad ass.
Unfortunately, he only kills blaculas.
Hey! Blacula was a bad ass! NOT an easy task, man.
I have that comic. If I remember correctly, he wasn’t originally half vampire. That was a retcon.
Mahershala Ali is great, but I highly doubt Marvel will ever make anything as cool as the first two Blades.
I hope they keep this one more minimal and down-to-earth than the sequels. I loved how lean and gritty the first film was, and 2 and 3 kinda lost me by bringing in all these other characters and the mythology stuff with the Reapers and Nightstalkers and all that. I preferred Blade as just this lone hero walking the earth taking out nests of vampires. Kind of dreading seeing how they try to incorporate him into the MCU.
I’ve never read comics so maybe there’s a take on Blade completely different from the movies, but the gore/murder that seems inherent to the concept doesn’t seem to mesh with the MCU. I mean, wtf are vampires in this universe? Do they kill people? Are they scary? Presumably, but I just have trouble seeing the MCU version of “horror”, even the softcore action horror of the Blade movies.
I haven’t read the comics either, so I have no perspective for comparison, but it would really surprise me if they were as explicit as the movies. I would guess that most of the stuff I didn’t care for in the sequels came from the comics. For me the worst case scenario would be if Marvel toned down the horror to more of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer level to make it compatible with the MCU. I dunno, I just can’t see Blade working if they have him, like, teaming up with Ant-Man or something.
The Blade of the comics is pretty different than the Blade of the movies. Not to mention, I wouldn’t call the Blade movies horror. They’re more action movies than anything else. Comic’s Blade is British and well versed in magic and demonology, as well as being a bad ass fighter. He also doesn’t have to drink blood or serum like the movie version. He’s teamed up a lot with Dr. Strange. Usually to fight Dracula. He was also heavily involved in the X-Men run when Jubilee was turned into a vampire and has teamed up with Deadpool as well.
Ah, thanks for that insight. I agree that the Blade films are more action than horror — especially the sequels — but I felt like the first one was right on the line, what with the blood showers and the sleazy, almost de Sade-esque tone of how the vampires were presented. At least by 1998 standards? I found a great deal of it creepy AF, with some genuinely shocking moments. From what you’re describing, it does sound like comics Blade is a lot more compatible with the MCU movies. I can see recalibrating my expectations to get on board with a Blade that’s more in line with a Dr. Strange type vibe, but I’d still prefer that it lean more towards the horror direction.
Blade wasn’t a particularly big character in the comics. He always appeared as a bit player in other characters’ comics for the most part. He never had his own comic outside of short 3-6 issue special runs. After the success of the movies they changed his appearance entirely and made him look like the movie version of Blade, made swords his weapons, and gave him superpowers equivalent to a vampire. Originally, his only superpower was that he couldn’t be turned into a vampire. Otherwise he was just a really good hand to hand combatant and master knife thrower. After the movie came out, they had Mobius bite him, which gave him powers similar to what he had in the movies. His personality was still more of a knowledgeable demon hunter than the more gruff and stoic Snipes’ version though.I’d love it to lean more into horror as well. I’m most curious though about how they are going to fit vampires into the MCU. Even the most “mystical” of the MCU projects to date haven’t delved into full-on demons and monsters existing.
Blade is an action/pulp horror hybrid, and the horror aspect is the major element that distinguishes him from other action heroes. He started in Tomb of Dracula, a horror comic.
We saw the MCU go gritty in the Netflix shows, and we saw it go dark with Loki. We probably won’t get 18-rated movies, but the universe can certainly support horror.
That’s true, I guess I’ve written off the Marvel Netflix shows as being consigned to Disney’s Island of Misfit Toys because…Disney? And while I personally liked the more grounded and gritty mood of the Netflix universe, it makes me wonder if Disney will shy away from anything too close to that style because of the Mouse’s strong sense of brand.
Then again, I haven’t seen Loki so maybe there’s more flexibility to the MCU house style than I’m giving them credit for! Either way with Ali starring I’ll check it out.
Am I the only one on earth who thinks Ali isn’t a good fit for the role?
I’m not familiar with the comic book version of Blade so maybe he fits that better, but I am having trouble aligning him with the Snipes/on screen version. Also will be hard just to imagine him in the Marvel Universe as anyone other than Cottonmouth, which was just an epic portrayal.Honestly though watching Ali just read the phone book would be worth the price of admission. I’m sure it’ll turn out more than fine.
“…watching Ali just read the phone book would be worth the price of admission.”Nailed it. Dude’s an awesome actor. I have no doubt he’ll find some wrinkle in the character he can exploit to totally make the role his own. We’ll all be asking “Wesley who?” when Ali’s done with it.
I’m sure he will be fine, too. Otherwise he never would have been cast. Marvel seems to know what they’re doing when picking actors, and he is undeniably a great actor. I just envision the character of Blade as being about 10 years younger and a lot beefier than Ali.
The thing is, Blade is a man of few words. But Snipes made that character unforgettable when he simply stood up and stretched himself. There can be no other, imo.
I mean, he has the ability to portray an ice cold badass demeanor and a gravelley voice, etc. I could see him being an awesome Blade, personally. He’s a fantastic actor.
Exactly. Ali’s a chameleon, and he’s had two years to study this. He’s going to come up with something that’s totally new and interesting with this.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. And I, for one, would actually like to hear your suggestions on other actors who you think are more suitable.That said, yes I think you are the only one on Earth who thinks Ali isn’t a good fit for the role.
No. There are actually only two of you who feel that way (judging by that one star of yours).
Am I the only one on earth who thinks Ali isn’t a good fit for the role?
Earth is an awfully big place.Ali is not the only person who could play Blade (Aldis Hodge, Omari Hardwick and Yahya Abdul Mateen also come to mind), but he is definitely one of the best choices imo. Even when he was playing a villain in Alita, his character reminded me of Blade’s cool, intimidating persona. He is not as young as Snipes was when he portrayed the character, but his background as an athlete and prior action roles suggests that he is up to the physical demands of the part. He’s like Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr.Strange: I can think of other actors that might be a surprising, intriguing choice, but no one is more ideal than Ali.
Aldis Hodge would be a great choice. He didn’t come to mind immediately because he plays a lot of laid-back characters, but he has the physique and can bring a quiet menace to the role.Nice call!
Not about performance, but I am concerned about age. Ali is currently 47 and apparently they haven’t even gotten this movie off the ground yet. This would essentially mean he is in his 50’s when he starts his Marvel service.
I know vampires are supposed to be ageless immortals, but the nature of this genre is that its leads are always portrayed as youthful-ish. And doubly concerned since Blade is a hero who is stunt/martial arts heavy (can’t hide him inside a CGI suit like Iron-man or Spider) and Wesley Snipes made it a point of pride that he did much of his own action work.
I like his work but don’t see him as a good fit either. But that is probably down to picturing Snipes when I think of Blade. I’m sure when the movie is released I’ll wonder why I ever doubted Ali’s ability to pull it off.
He’d have been the last person I would have considered. He’s 47 and Snipes is 58, and I do think it matters if there will be more sequels. A younger, fresher talent makes more sense. All the same, Snipes still looks hot af and – personally – I’m not giving this Blade any attention or money because Snipes is irreplaceable.
What was the point in the first paragraph?Also, what was the point in the third paragraph?
The first paragraph is pointing out that it’s kind of amazing that a project announced two years when things were different is not only still going ahead, but with its original star. That’s fairly rare.The third paragraph points out (correctly, IMO) that given that 2/3 of the previous Blade movies are beloved, as is the man portraying him, Marvel’s likely to throw him some kind of bone (executive producer title, cameo role, etc.) in order to ensure a smooth launch.
In regards to your former point, I don’t think anyone was expecting Disney to cancel Marvel movies that got held up by the pandemic, especially seeing GOTG3 still in the pipeline after all Gunn’s drama.In regards to your latter point, the same was true of the Sam Raimi Spider-man trilogy, but nobody was asking “what do we do about Tobey Maguire” when Homecoming was in the works.
In regards to your first point, sure, which is why I also pointed out that their chosen lead was still attached. That’s what makes it rare.As to your second point, I don’t think Tobey Maguire was anywhere as ‘beloved’ as Spider-Man as Snipes was as Blade. YMMV, of course.
It’s best to just read the headline and skip straight to the comments.
Marvel’s tendency to hire low-budget indie directors to helm their new movies offers an easy person to push around and make comply to the company formula so that any actual creative voice ends up buried a platform for new and exciting voices in cinema.That said, I love Marvel in spite of everything, so could still be interesting.
the only reason they bother to credit anyone as the “director” of a marvel movie is to generate posts like these
This is the first I’ve heard of Ali being involved in a Blade reboot. And I like it. I like it a lot.I really liked Snipes in the role, but let’s face it, he’s too old and has way too much baggage to do another Blade movie unless it direct-to-video garbage. And now that Disney owns the MCU that’s never going to happen.I can think of maybe a half-dozen actors I’d like for the role. Unfortunately, all but one of them are currently playing or have played other roles in the MCU—and the one played Black Panther and passed away far too soon.Ali taking on the role is kind of like having a walk-on player stroll onto the field and run a sub-10-second 100 yard dash in his tryout. I never thought of him in that role, but damn, when you think about it he’s a perfect fit.
“Unfortunately, all but one of them are currently playing or have played other roles in the MCU”So did Mahershala Ali, he was in Luke Cage.
Damn! I forgot he was Cottonmouth!Still, it was only for a half-dozen episodes. I don’t think there’s much of a chance for a crossover.I mean, Chris Evans was the Human Torch before he was Captain America…
This is going to need a trilogy of three-hour movies just to get modern audiences to remember that vampires are bad
* Marvel knows that it will have to convince people that it’s doing right by Blade—and that one way of accomplishing that is by doing right by Wesley Snipes.
Except for his past notoriety, its a no brainer to include Snipes in Blade. Beyond the fact that he is an iconic actor who created an iconic version of this character, Snipes is a versatile performer who is still very effective in action roles. The main question is what role would he play, new incarnations of nemesis Hannibal King or father figure/Alfred & Q surrogate Abraham Whistler, or an entirely original creation?* Teaming director Tariq with actor Ali suggests that their version of Blade may have a Muslim background. Not simply because they are both Muslim: Muslim identity and positive portrayals have been a major theme in Tariq’s work. As far as I remember, that’s not part of Blade’s heritage in comics or film, so this incarnation would be a unique take. It could also be a unique take on (Western) vampire lore, which tends to focus on its conflict with Christianity. Race, race supremacy and class war have been an allegorical subtext for the Blade films, it will be interesting to see how this (speculative) element is treated.* Does the Marvel version of Dracula exist in the MCU? I assume that the studio would be reluctant to include that character since it is public domain and Universal is working on a new Dracula film. Marvel has other vampire characters, like King and Baron Blood, can fill in as major adversaries.* Will Ali keep the samurai sword motif and fighting style.?
In the comics Blade is from London, his mother was a prostitute, and he was raised in a brothel. Movie Blade is from Detroit and, if I remember correctly, they removed all the prostitution stuff. Their origins are basically the same: Deacon Frost kills his mother while she’s pregnant with Blade. There’s no reason they couldn’t make Blade be Muslim though, while still keeping his origin basically the same. The MCU certainly has no issue with tweaking their characters’ backgrounds from the comics. Somewhat surprisingly, there is no vampire lore in the mid-east, even pre-dating Islam, so if they wanted to tie his heritage into it they’d have to be inventing something. Blade, in the comics, is more of an all around demon hunter, even if the focus is usually vampires, so there’s room to change things up. Theoretically they could use jinn as some kind of stand in but I don’t think they’d ever touch anything related to actual traditional Muslim beliefs.I would be absolutely shocked if they introduced Dracula into the MCU, even though he’s in the comics and is Blade’s longest running adversary. Not just because of the public domain thing, but just the baggage the name comes with. I mean, I’m having a hard time seeing how they are going to work vampires into the MCU at all, but they won’t use Dracula. Deacon Frost being a Dracula stand-in seems natural. I expect they will keep the sword fighting style. Originally in the comics he was more about stakes and throwing knives but after the success of the movies they actually made him look more like the film version and he started using katanas.
I don’t think being Muslim would conflict with canonic history or core qualities, just curious what impact it might have on the character if Marvel did go in that direction. Especially given the MCU’s penchant for exploring Identity. And, as I noted above, Marvel has chosen a director who often explores Muslim identity in his work, leading me to speculate that this is one the reasons Marvel sought him out.Imo its also possible that the MCU wants to avoid associating vampires with Christianity, just as they replaced real life WWII Nazis with Hydra, as a work around for real world issues.I am sure you correct about Blades sword being a katana, but i would claim a lot of the character’s ethos, rituals and style emanate from samurai culture. While I like these elements of the cinematic Blade, I wouldn’t mind if the character adopted a different fighting style unique to this version of Blade either. Silat, an art that has Muslim roots, exotic weapons and most importantly popularity from the Raid films might be an option.
They didn’t really replace WWII Nazi’s with Hydra. In the first Captain America he’s fighting Nazi’s. They say the word Nazi multiple times and Cap punches a fake Hitler as part of the fundraising shows he’s forced to do. Hydra is even referred to as a Nazi splinter group. Obviously Hydra continues on after the Nazis are defeated in WWII but the Nazis of WWII exist in the MCU. I do agree they will likely avoid any explicitly religious connotations in regards to vampires. In the comics the first vampire, Varnae, was made by a sort of cult that worshipped the Darkhold hundreds of thousands of years ago: the book they just introduced in WandaVision. So they have a connection already introduced if they want to use it. Vampires in Marvel comics do have an aversion to holy symbols but it’s not restricted to to just Christian holy symbols. There’s some weird restrictions though. The person wielding the symbol must believe in that particular religion. The vampire in question must have been made when that religion existed. So the truly ancient vampires aren’t effected by the holy symbols of any current religions. If the vampire was a believer in a particular religion when he was made only holy symbols of that religion will effect them. If the actual god the vampire believed in when it was made confronts them they will burst into flame if they touch said god. This actually happened in some old Thor comics when Varnae turned an Icelandic colony into vampires. That said, vampires aren’t all that common in Marvel comics storylines, so a lot of these “rules” were made up to serve that particular story and sometimes contradicted in later stories. Vampires kind of come and go until Marvel is like, hey, we haven’t used vampires for an event in a while. As to the fighting style they may use? I expect a lot of swords/knives. It’s easier for a fight choreographer to make an actor, who is going to be around 50 when filming, look convincing in a sword fight than it is in hand to hand combat. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of stunt doubling either way, but Marvel Studios has always reserved their hand to hand combat choreography, that doesn’t use CGI, for actors that are younger than Ali will be by the time this is filmed. Jiu-Jitsu techniques are by far the most common style taught to actors for fight scenes, which has a lot of commonality with Silat when weapons aren’t involved. Silat has a strong focus on weapons though, which would fit Blade well. Silat also pre-dates Islam by centuries so it’s not particularly Muslim aside from the Indonesian archipelago is now predominantly Muslim. It’s also not a place a where a Black man would want to be. Anti-Black, and anti-darker skinned indigenous people, racism is wildly flagrant in Indonesia and the surrounding countries. Although, that could even open some story telling doors to explore.
I hate Kinja: I can’t find your comment about Nazis. You are correct that CA: FA did introduce the Nazis as the antagonists. But over the course of the film that focus shifts to Hydra and Red Skull himself separates that fictional evil organization from the real one. That’s a frequent Marvel strategy: they want the patina of the real world and its problems, but represented by proxies so they can be selective about how much reality they incorporate in their narratives.
This place is a waste now. Kinja is useless. What used to be, even back when it was Disqus, a place for conversation is now impossible. I have two notifications from you, amongst a bunch of other people, but I can’t even find what’s even being replied to so I could possibly reply back.
I believe that Blade’s sword is more in the style of katana than Samurai.
I believe you are correct about the katana, and Blade’s swordplay is not strictly samurai or even japanese, but a blend of martial styles. But Snipes himself acknowledged he borrowed elements from samurai culture.
Ignore this. Replied to the wrong person.
A katana is a samurai sword.
Wesley Snipes as Whistler would be great, actually.
I can see that. In fact, I’m pretty pissed at myself for not thinking of it first.
Oh how quick people forget the TV show with Sticky Fingaz.
“It’s rare for Marvel to do [thing]… which they have continued not doing.”What?
I’m really, really, curious how they are going to introduce friggin’ vampires into the MCU. All the mystical stuff so far has still had a sort of sci-fi, magic is just science you don’t understand vibe. Vampires, in the comics, are just outright movie style undead vampires, which seems like a tough fit for the MCU. Now that the Darkhold has been introduced in WandaVision there is some connection to the comics, because in the comics the first vampire was created by the Darkholders cult. Though that happened before Atlantis was destroyed, so hundreds of thousands of years ago in the comics.
I’m really, really, curious how they are going to introduce friggin’
vampires into the MCU. All the mystical stuff so far has still had a
sort of sci-fi, magic is just science you don’t understand vibe.Something multiverse something branching timelines?
Yes!I don’t know the people mentioned. I just need a new Blade movie to wash the stank of Blade III from my mouth. The first two were amazing… and I’ve been trying to convince myself they stopped there.They’ve made some inspired choices for choosing directors that seem like long shots, and I hope their luck holds. Taika made such a fun movie after two moderately entertaining kicks at the can, so I’m optimistic.
wonder if they’re gonna do a ‘marvel knights’ spinoff universe for these more r rated affairs.
Pour one out for Sticky Fingaz and his performances as Blade.