Marvel Studios’ head, Kevin Feige, announced back in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con that Blade would be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also announced that the title role would be played by two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali. There haven’t been many developments on the production front since then besides a few rumors due to, of course, the pandemic that ravaged the world causing a few delays. However, in just a couple of days, we’ve not only gotten word about who would be writing the script for Blade, but also that the movie would be getting an official title change.
The news was broken by The Hollywood Reporter that Blade was being lengthened to Blade, The Vampire Slayer. The move is probably to help distance the new project from the previous trilogy of movies starring the character in which there is likely no connection. However, the title change now makes the movie reminiscent of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, to the point that I hope someone gets the approval of Joss Whedon before they start printing that on posters and t-shirts.
Despite being a major player in the Marvel Universe for fifty years, Blade is best known for the trilogy of movies produced by New Line Cinemas in the late 90s and early 2000s. The films, which starred Wesley Snipes in the title role, had Blade battling vampires on a variety of fronts, including going toe-to-toe with Dracula. All three films were written by David S. Goyer, and the second was most notably directed by cinematic powerhouse, Guillermo Del Toro.
Along with Snipes, the films drew massive attention for the star-power they bore. Snipes spent the later movies battling vampires alongside the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, and The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus. Even a few of Blade’s enemies were played by familiar faces, such as Ron Perlman, Dominic Purcell, and wrestling superstar Triple H.
Blade, The Vampire Slayer does not yet have a definite release date, but Disney has hinted that it could be released as early as 2022. Given how quickly the project is moving recently, that timeframe seems likely.
So…what do you think of the name change? Does the new title bring more gravitas to the character, or do you prefer the shorter, to-the-point title? Let us know in the comments down below, or shout us out over on Twitter!
