Mahershala Ali surprised attendees of San Diego Comic-Con when it was announced that he will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the vampire hunter Blade. It was only much later that Variety reporter Justin Kroll tweeted a fun fact that Ali was actually originally in contention for the role of Commissioner James Gordon in The Batman.
The news came after it was announced that Jeffrey Wright is in talks to play the Commissioner in The Batman movie alongside Robert Pattinson. According to Kroll, Ali was in talks for both the role of Blade and Commissioner Gordon but ultimately decided to sign on with Marvel after talks with Marvel head Kevin Feige went well.
We guess between Commissioner Gordon and the Blade, we can’t fault Mahershala Ali for picking the latter. The Commissioner is definitely an important supporting character in the Batman universe but the role of Blade will allow Ali to be front and centre in his very own movie.
A release date has yet to be set for Ali’s first Blade movie but it will presumably be part of Marvel’s Phase Five slate of movies. It will also be interesting to see if Marvel will finally be willing to make the jump and have Blade be its first R-rated entry, or if they will somehow turn what is one of their gorier properties into a PG-13 movie.
Aside from Wright, other casting reports for The Batman includes Jonah Hill who is reportedly in talks to play a villain in the movie. It is not confirmed exactly which villain he will be playing but it is likely either the Riddler or the Penguin.
The Batman will be hitting theatres on June 25, 2021, and we still eagerly await a release date for Mahershala Ali’s Blade.
Germaine is a fun-sized introvert who loves nothing better than sleeping in on rainy days. She can be found reading fanfiction and manga while still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It’ll come eventually.
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