The Director of Marvel's BLADE Says the Original Film "Created the Superhero World That We're In"
Marvel Studios is currently working with director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) on developing the new Blade film with Mahershala Ali set to take on the lead role. I’m really excited to see how this next Blade movie turns out, especially with Kevin Feige steering the ship as the executive producer. With the creative team that he’s brought on, this is sure to be a unique vision of the character.
Tariq recently did an interview with CinemaBlend, and he talked about his take on Blade. Obviously, he isn’t going to say much about the story, but he did talk about shaping the character and how the first film got the whole ball rolling on the superhero/comic book films. In fact, he says that Wesley Snipes “created the superhero world that we’re in.” Here’s his full quote:
"What's exciting about the film that we're making is [there] hasn't been a canon for Blade, as we're reading through the comics and everything. Him being a daywalker is the one thing that's been established, and you know we can't deny what Wesley Snipes did, which was he basically got this whole ball rolling. A Black man created the superhero world that we're in, that's just the truth. For me to now be working with somebody as talented and a juggernaut as Mahershala Ali, and the writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour, I'm just so — I'm so honored to be working with real Black juggernauts and Black talent. For me to just be with them in this room and listen and learn as I build this out, it's really an honor."
I sure did love that first Blade movie. It was so good and so cool. It was Marvel’s first big blockbuster hit! When previously discussing the film, Tariq shared his excitement, saying:
"What I will say it's like, it's not that I felt it was, I didn't think that this was gonna happen. You know what I mean? Just to be very honest, I'm honored, and it's a privilege. I'm here in service of Staci Osei-Kuffour, who is the incredible writer that's writing the film. She wrote on Watchmen, she wrote also Pen15 and Power and The Morning Show, she's just a phenomenal presence and a juggernaut in her own right, and Mahershala. For me, it's really working in their service, and I think that's how I'm trying to take it day by day because, to think of anything more is tough."
Tariq went on to talk about how Marvel takes "big swings for a big studio," and goes on to say, “I can't say anything about it, but I'm so excited about what we're doing, like I'm so excited ... and I can't wait." The filmmaker went on to talk about the Blade character, saying:
"What I can tease about it is that we care about character, it's very important for me, and character is something that ... I don't think of genre, I think of character, and where our character has to go is gonna be really important."
He then talked about how there’s no real Blade canon that he feels he needs to follow, saying:
"What's so great is it's not as boxed in as I think people imagine it to be, which I thought it was. But it's quite exciting. And I think the reality is there’s no Blade canon. If you ever read the comics, they're always changing. "Oh it's this story, it's this story.' What's the canon? It's not like Peter Parker. His name is Peter Parker. In some comics, his name is Fred H. Blade, you know, instead of Eric Brooks. So it's an interesting thing. Unfortunately, the runs never lasted that long, and there have been some interesting and exciting waves. But I can say it's character first."
I’m just excited to see what story they tell with Blade and how exactly they end up fitting him and vampires into the MCU. Things are definitely going to get interesting with the arrival of Blade.