Mahershala has shared with GQ that he has left his role as Blade for Marvel Studios behind. The action star, known for Cottonmouth in Marvel’s Luke Cage, has walked away from the role with a definitive declaration: “If they wanted to do it, they would have done it,” leaving fans who saw the film announced in 2019 at Comic Con’s Hall H disappointed and intrigued about the direction the character has taken.
Ali’s only contribution to the MCU outside of the iconic Cornell Stokes (Cottonmouth) was a single voice line with Kit Harrington’s Black Knight at the end of The Eternals. The MCU then turned it into a bit of a running joke featuring Wesley Snipes. The actor who originated the Blade role for film is quoted as saying: “There’s only been one Blade, there’s ever gonna only be one blade.” In Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine. In a nod to Marvel’s backlog of content, poking fun at how the studio has handed such a dearth of material, Deadpool stares directly into the camera.
The character’s importance to the MCU’s future can’t be overstated. While Marvel’s Phase 6 moves into mutants, the X-Men, and possibly resetting the main Avengers canon, the next logical progression is to head into the supernatural side of the MCU. They’ve briefly dipped their toes into the water with Wanda Maximoff and Agatha Harkness. With the addition of The Hood in Ryan Coogler’s Iron Heart, the obvious (and iconic) Moon Knight, and the beacon of horror – Michael Giacchino’s Werewolf by Night – Blade is the heart of the Midnight Sons team. The Midnight Sons have featured a rotating cast of Marvel’s horror characters.
While Marvel has a long history of horror, with the DCU about to launch Clay Face this October, comic fans are primed for a more mature look at the MCU. It’s possible to divide the more child-friendly fare (things like the MCU’s take on Spider-Man) and something more R-rated and mature for adult audiences. The wonderful thing about comic books is that they can appeal to everyone regardless of age.
As for Mahershala, he’s making the best of a bad situation. According to GQ, the two-time Oscar Winner has re-teamed with Blade’s original director Bassem Tariq. Tariq departed Blade in 2022 and turned both personal and professional feelings into his new project, Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother. Ali stars as a Muslim hitman who, while on a quest for breast milk for his baby, is thrust into a political and religious war.
Ali is taking the sword training he did for Blade and applying it to the film. Blade itself is a subject the actor is ready to move on from. Excited to tackle serious original projects, Ali says he wants to be known for “original work” more than remakes.
Not with me. The best way I can answer this question is, when I look at what is for me, it was either this or that—and I’ll take this—no offense to them. I’ve been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I’ve learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not. For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother feels very much in alignment with the type of work I want to be known for. I don’t really want to be known for remakes. I’d love to do original work that resonates with people and impacts them in unique ways.
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother seems to be that kind of work. It seems to operate in the lane of popular films like 2026’s Furious and films like Old Boy and Collateral, and it looks like it’s going to deliver plenty of hits and serious original filmmaking. Blade, for the moment, is in the rearview mirror for Marvel, and it’s gone for the original actor himself.
Are you sad to lose Mahershala Ali for Blade? Do you have any fancasts? Share them with us in the comments below!
