MOVIE NEWS – Mahershala Ali will play Blade in the official Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot films. The star of the smash hit Blade films, Wesley Snipes is eagerly awaiting his turn.
Wesley Snipes isn’t stingy with the words of praise. Snipes’ Blade film trilogy is widely regarded as the start of the superhero movie boom that has swept Hollywood in a rush over the past two decades. The character’s new incarnation will be played by Mahershala Ali when, hopefully soon, Blade enters the Marvel Universe.
Wesley Snipes has just taken to Twitter to show his support for Ali in the role. He retweeted a post from a Blade fan, which read, “Best of luck to Mahershala Ali who’s gonna smash it I’m sure as Blade but he’s gonna have a hard time outdoing Wesley Snipes”. Snipes, for his part, showed that he was absolutely sure that Ali would be great in the role, as he had written it:
“He will do great”.
Wesley Snipes isn’t the only Blade actor who wishes Mahershala Ali every success in the role. Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones, who played the vampire slayer in Blade: The Vampire Slayer, also recently voiced his support for the two Oscar-winning actors.
Stephen Dorff, who played the villainous Deacon Frost in the original Blade, also has high hopes for Mahershala Ali. Although he was sceptical about whether the new writer-director would be creative enough with Blade’s story, Dorff knows Ali will be “great in the role” as he is “hell of an actor”. The praise was noteworthy because Dorff had been blowing his top on Marvel movies not long before but still felt that Ali would be excellent regardless. (Add to that the fact that Dorff and Ali had already starred together, for example, in the third season of the hit series True Detectives, so he got to see first-hand how talented an actor the well-respected Ali is.)
Bassam Tariq will direct the new Blade film. The director previously told Indiewire that the new Blade team couldn’t deny what Wesley Snipes did to help create this superhero phenomenon and is very excited to be working with Ali on the new film. Tariq said: “A Black man created the superhero world that we’re in, that’s just the truth. For me to now be working with somebody as talented and a juggernaut as Mahershala Ali, and the writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour, I’m just so – I’m so honored to be working with real Black juggernauts and Black talent. For me to just be with them in this room and listen and learn as I build this out, it’s really an honor”.
Now that Blade is officially a part of the MCU; there is much anticipation ahead of the character’s own film with Mahershala Ali. As Marvel projects stick to the multiverse concept, it’s also possible that we could even see a version of Wesley Snipes again at some point.
He will do great 🙏🏿 https://t.co/11PeFroKUY
— WS (@wesleysnipes) November 11, 2021
