The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had the superhero film genre in a headlock for over the past decade.
And with the announcing of their upcoming Phase 4 projects at Comic-con 2019, the MCU is playing for keeps over the next few years. Questions of who will be rounding out the casts of previously revealed projects were answered.
Atlanta, Chucky, and Morehouse Man, actor Brian Tyree Henry will make his MCU debut as a member of the Eternals family. The North Carolina native has been on a roll, jumping from TV, Broadway, and movies with ease, and now Paper Boi will be trading dialogue with Angelina Jolie. Bless.
We can now say Sima Liu will become Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the MCU’s first film with an Asian lead. Also starring comedian, rapper Awkwafina, Marvel made sure not to drop the ball when it came to authentic casting (ie no white person can play Shang-Chi. We see you, Doctor Strange.) to reflect the source material.
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An interesting wrinkle and welcomed addition to Phase 4 is how animated projects are now fair game. We can thank Peter Ramsey’s Into The Spiderverse’s insanely lucrative success for the confidence to bring Marvel Comics’ trademark What If series to the Disney Plus service.
Snagging the A-list talent Jeffrey Wright to give the narrator aka the voice of The Watcher, makes this project a TSL priority.
Any MCU fan could’ve left Marvel’s Comic-con Phase 4 panel happy, but nope. Marvel’s in the business of disrespecting your expectations.
Well shit. Cottonmouth died, so that Blade could fly.
Not only is the Black vampire warrior hybrid Blade returning to film, but the Academy Award-winning Mahershala Ali will be wearing his trademark shades for the reboot.
Not enough details are out there yet, and we don’t know if O.G. Blade, Wesley Snipes will be attached to it, but having Ali on board means the project will be in good hands.
While the 2000’s X-Men gets credit for jumpstarting the Super Hero film craze, real ones know that 1998’s Blade was the true catalyst.
The fight scenes? Brutal. The language? Not safe for work. And with special effects catching up with Marvel’s characters and power sets, Blade created an action movie first, that had fans who were skeptical of heroes on the big screen, buy-in.
Reinserting Blade, and his cult following into MCU proves that Marvel fanboy and fangirl service hasn’t gone unheard. Because of his own origin story, Blade in the MCU could be the perfect opportunity to explore the supernatural and horror side of the history of Marvel.
Plus, in the current comic run of the Avengers, *whispers* Blade becomes an Avenger. The possibilities are endless, and we’re looking forward to seeing what Marvel Films can do with the man in Black.
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