Mahershala Ali has been cast as Blade in the big screen return of Marvel‘s blood thirsty assassin.
Announced last night (July 20) at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, the reboot will see the Oscar winner follow in the footsteps of Wesley Snipes, who starred as Blade in the original trilogy of vampire hunter movies between 1998 and 2004. The movies also starred Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Dorff, Sanaa Lathan, Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds.
The Blade reboot was revealed during Marvel’s Hall H presentation at Comic-Con. Ali received huge applause as he took the stage and put on a Blade baseball cap.
Created by writer Marv Wolfman, Blade’s first appearance in Marvel comics came in 1973 in ‘The Tomb of Dracula #10’. Travelling the world killing vampires as a way of avenging his mother, who was killed by a vampire as she gave birth to him, Blade’s character is half-mortal, half-immortal.
Providing no further details, the studio is yet to announce a release date.
Just announced in Hall H at #SDCC, Marvel Studios’ BLADE with Mahershala Ali. pic.twitter.com/JPcrSqSerW
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 21, 2019
Ali recently starred in the third season of HBO’s True Detective. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Moonlight in 2017, and again earlier this year for Green Book, which also took home the award for Best Picture.
Ali, who has received praise for his roles in movies Moonlight and Hidden Figures, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, revealing that he once auditioned for the part of Xaro Xhoan Daxos in the HBO show.