Marvel Studios Zeroes In On Director For 'Blade' Reboot

Marvel Studios made waves back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 when they announced that two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali (“Green Book,” “Moonlight“) would be taking on the role of Eric Brooks in their “Blade” reboot. A project didn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar at the time of the announcement (outlets were more focused on the “Shang-Chi” casting) as Ali had recently played Marvel Comics villain Cottonmouth on the Netflix series “Luke Cage.”

After hiring screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (“Hunters,” “Watchmen“), it looks like the studio is zeroing in on a director, as Deadline reports that “Mogul Mowgli“s Bassam Tariq is the studio’s top choice to helm the vampire hunter pic starring Ali. It’s certainly an interesting choice given the amount of action expected from a “Blade” movie, but Marvel’s action units are always there to help assist the vision of clear-eyed filmmakers.

Tariq is an American who lives in New York and was born in Pakistan. Before “Mogul Mowgli,” which has yet to come out in the U.S. properly, he co-directed and produced the Sundance-funded documentary “These Birds Walk” (2013) with Omar Mullick and was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2012. Tariq made waves in 2020 with the aforementioned “Mogul Mowgli,” a music drama starring Riz Ahmed. The film garnered acclaim at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, and Strand Releasing is finally releasing the film in the U.S. this September. We put the drama on our list of The 25 Best Films Of 2021 We’ve Already Seen.

Eric Brooks, aka Blade, is born half-human and half-vampire, making him immune to sunlight and other things that can kill vampires, such as silver. The films were R-rated high-octane martial arts action films mixed in horror elements along with world-building around The Vampire Nation, a secret group of vampires that directly influence human society, and humans not in their pocket or pets are essentially treated like cattle.

Mahershala Ali takes over from Wesley Snipes, who played the role in three studio films released by New Line Cinema and launched with the original’s release back in 1998, two years before “X-Men.” The first sequel, “Blade II,” was helmed by future Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, and franchise writer David S. Goyer took a shot at directing the disastrous “Blade Trinity.” Goyer teamed with comic book writer Geoff Johns for a short-lived television series starring rapper Sticky Fingaz as the Daywalker that aired on the early days of Spike TV.

“Blade” hasn’t been given an official release date from Marvel Studios, and it’s unclear if the reboot will be R-rated or PG-13. However, it’s unlikely; Disney has a commitment to PG-13 and, basically, does not make R-Rated movies under their main banner, including Marvel. Things like “Deadpool 3,” probably R-Rated, will likely fall under the 20th Century Studios banner and still be connected to the MCU as a workaround.