How Marvel Zombies introduced Blade into the MCU

Mahershala Ali took her first steps in the Marvel universe … in the form of a cartoon. While waiting for his film Live Action to end up seeing the light of day.

He was recruited by Marvel over 6 years ago …

Mahershala Ali has been waiting since July 2019 since July 2019 that the film Blade was born. But after multiple changes of directors and writers, the project was removed from the calendar. And in the process, Wesley Snipes returned to make an appearance, behind the Katanas, in a marking Cameo of Deadpool & Wolverine. Inevitably, all that does not bode well for the future of the character within Le Marvel Universe.

And yet, yesterday, on Disney Plus, Blade took her first steps in the MCU, in the Marvel Zombies series. Of course, this is a crazy animation series, taking place in a parallel world. But still, in this step aside, Mahershala Ali gave his features and his voice to the character. Like an affirmation to the world and to fans: yes, Blade, it’s him. Brad Winderbaum, producer at Marvel Studios, confirms at first:

“No doubt about it. Ali is our Blade, and it’s really cool that he makes his first appearance in our” little “series”.

Given the infinite behind -the -scenes negotiations around the character and his integration into the MCU, the introduction of Blade into Marvel Zombies – even before his solo film – is accompanied by a certain pressure for the director of the series, Bryan Andrews.

He explains to us that he has chosen an original approach, to get around the problem: “We made a kind of new Moon Knight, the armed wing of Khonshu”.

Indeed, in Marvel Zombies, the character of Blade is inhabited by the Egyptian God of the Moon, that which had met with Oscar Isaac in the series of 2022. A completely unprecedented variant (it is not in any Marvel comics), which allowed the authors to take no risk with Blade, while having fun:

“This option offered us real creative freedom. We did not try to stick to the Blade that they are preparing for the live-action film. We made it our version. We made it a friend of Mark Spector, a variant that we called Blade Knight. He is a totally badass character, who will surprise fans. Yes, it’s true, we introduce Blade in the McU … but with a twist!”

While waiting to see Mahershala Ali handle the saber for real, one day …