It’s been a long, frustrating wait for Mahershala Ali’s Blade to officially sink its teeth into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And while the live-action reboot continues to spiral deeper into development limbo, a new piece of art might be the coolest version of the character we’ve seen… just not in the way fans expected.
Marvel concept artist Justin Kim, a character designer for What If…?, took to Instagram to share some of his designs for Season 3. Among them was a fusion of the two fan-favorite characters, Blade and Moon Knight. The face is unmistakably Mahershala Ali.
Kim wrote in the Instagram post: “For my final What If…? post, I had the privilege of designing Blade as Moon Knight. My goal was to utilize the wrappings of Moon Knight to create sharp shapes and make it seem like he could pull a blade from anywhere on his body. I also figured both characters alluded to being a sort of ninja, so I pushed that archetype.”
Blade is also reportedly making a full animated appearance this fall in the upcoming Marvel Zombies series, which might be the closest we get to seeing Ali’s version of Blade.
The Blade movie was pulled from Marvel’s release schedule last year, following director departures, rewrites, and the chaos caused by the 2023 Hollywood strikes. Despite the setbacks, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige offered some reassurance:
“We are committed to Blade. We love the character, we love Mahershala’s take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. You’re all up to date on what’s happening,” he explained in an interview last year.
Ali technically already made his MCU debut off-screen voicing Blade in a cryptic post-credit scene in Eternals back in 2021.
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