Seven years after it was first announced by Marvel Studios, the Blade reboot is still nowhere close to hitting the big screen, although not for a lack of trying. If studio president Kevin Feige wants to see Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he needs to realize that Mahershala Ali is no longer the right actor for the role.
Earlier this week, Feige sat down with Josh Horowitz of the Happy Sad Confused podcast for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Naturally, the conversation touched on some of Marvel Studios’ upcoming projects, including the long-gestating Blade reboot, which was first announced in 2019 with Ali attached.
“I’m feeling very excited that we got Wesley back for a time in Deadpool & Wolverine, and like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala,” Feige admitted, seemingly confirming that Blade is still stuck in development hell.
Ali is an amazing actor. He’s won two Best Supporting Actor Oscars. He wants to play Blade, and he’d be a great Blade. However, enough time has passed to realize that Marvel Studios needs to part ways with Ali, for more than one reason.
Why Marvel should recast Mahershala Ali as Blade
When Ali was first cast as Blade, he was 45 years old, which was already pretty old for an MCU superhero. For comparison, early MCU stars like Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Scarlett Johansson were all in their late 20s and early 30s when they were cast.
Evans, for instance, is now the same age Ali was seven years ago. However, unlike Ali, he’s already banked 11 appearances as Captain America, with Doomsday set to be his twelfth. Ali is now 52, and he’s only made an uncredited vocal cameo as Blade in Eternals.
Blade, like Captain America, is a physical role. Robert Downey Jr. could play Iron Man until his late 50s because any action scenes were with a CG Iron Man suit. Blade’s costume is a leather jacket and shades. You can use a stunt double, but Ali will still be doing some of the fight work.
At 52, Ali is getting pretty old to be playing a superhero, especially one that could become a major face of the MCU for the next decade or two. It’s always been a head-scratcher that Marvel would want to cast Blade with such an older actor. With how long it takes the studio to make sequels now, if Blade were released today, Ali would probably be in his mid-60s before the character’s trilogy was complete, and that’s not taking into consideration crossover projects like Midnight Sons.
Marvel Studios would be better off casting an actor in his thirties to be the MCU’s Blade. If Damson Idris isn’t going to be the new Black Panther, why not make him Blade? At 34, he can play Blade for 20 years easily, enough to be one of the major heroes of Marvel’s next two sagas.
Of course, Age isn’t the only reason Marvel would be better off parting ways with Ali, but it is the biggest one. Others include Ali having already played an MCU character, Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in Luke Cage, a series that is now very much canon, and reports indicating that he played a major part in Blade’s frequent delays due to being unhappy with the screenplay.
The only way Blade can work now is if Marvel writes a screenplay it wants to make and casts an actor who wants to star in that screenplay, instead of the other way around. Ali has already played in the MCU. It’s time to let a younger actor have his shot at slaying vampires.
