Director Bassam Tariq is taking Blade in a new direction in the MCU

One of the most anticipated Marvel movies that has yet to even get a release date is Blade, starring Mahershala Ali as the vampire-hunting vampire. Back when the film was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, there was barely any space for the movie in the MCU’s already packed line-up. Phase 4 is now well underway, with films like Shang-Chi and Eternals kicking it off and movies like Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on the far horizon. We may not see Blade until we get to Phase 5.

That, at least, gives the creators plenty of time to shape this new take on the character. Appearing on The Playlist Podcast, director Bassam Tariq hinted that this version of the character may not be what we’re used to:

"Character is very important for me. I don’t think of genre, I think of character. It’s not so boxed in as people imagine it to be [working with Marvel Studios]. It’s quite exciting. And I think the reality is there is no Blade canon, you know? If you ever read the comics, they’re always changing…Unfortunately, the [comic book series] never lasted that long."

Creating Blade for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Tariq’s comment about there being no “canon” for Blade is interesting. There are so many things that change about comic book characters on a series-to-series basis. And when you have a character that has been around since the ’70s like Blade, you’re bound to see a lot of changes through the decades.

By the time the new film comes out, the character will have been around for at least 50 years. And as Tariq noted, it was only within the last 20 years or so that he was transformed to be more like the version played by Wesley Snipes in the Blade movies of the late ’90s/early ’00s.

As SyFy Wire explains, Tariq clarified his statement about the canon, saying that while people have a pretty firm grasp on what they expect Peter Parker to be like, for example, the same can’t be said for Blade.

I would argue against that, though. Blade may not be as popular as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but Wesley Snipes’ influence over the character was huge. Mahershala Ali is taking over the role, but Wesley Snipes’ shadow will loom large in the same way that fans might think of Tobey MaGuire’s performance as Spider-Man when watching the newer Tom Holland movies.

But if Tariq is referring to Blade’s backstory, then yes, I agree. His origin story isn’t as widely known as some of the other superheroes, so he and writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour will have a lot of room to play. Marvel has done an awesome job so far when it comes to integrating both classic and new elements of their characters’ stories, and I’m really hoping that Blade will knock it out of the park yet again.

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