Blade Lands Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer

Marvel Studios has been busy retooling their upcoming Blade reboot that will star Mahershala Ali as the titular character after Director Bassam Tariq exited the project. Blade was initially set to begin filming last fall until the studio and Tariq came across those pesky creative differences. Yann Demage went on to replace Tariq as the director of Blade and now things are progressing fairly quickly. The film is rumored to begin production at the end of May and has finally added a cinematographer to the crew. According to The Cosmic Circus, Oscar nominated Cinematographer Matthew Libatique (The Whale, Iron Man) has boarded Blade team.

What is the Blade reboot going to be about?

Mahershala Ali's fan-favorite half-vampire appeared in the post-credits scene to Eternals in voice only, teasing a crossover with Kit Harington's Dane Whitman/Black Knight. 

"[Blade] was [part of the scene] for reasons hopefully that would become apparent as you see more things, but [Mahershal Ali] wasn't there on the day," Eternals producer Nate Moore previously told us. "And we talked about two versions of that, one where we would cut to him and one where we wouldn't. 'How textual do you want it to be?' And again, it was more just for the fun of it, to tease it a little bit, to hear the voice and not see the man. He was game to do it. Because the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that's an interesting kind of thing to play with. So, we kind of knew that was on the table."

What is the Most Recently Marvel Studios Film to Hit Theaters? 

The most recent Marvel Studios project to be released will be Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania. Empire Magazine recently had a chat with director Peyton Reed about how the stakes have risen going into Quantumania. "People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie," Reed told the outlet. "For this third one, I said, 'I don't want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.'"

"I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers," Reed continued. "Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror. In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we're doing Kang the Conqueror." 

"In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he's a time traveler. His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won't spoil for you, but he's someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn't exist that way," the director smirked. "It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people's minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse."

The studio describes the film as follows: "In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang."

Blade is set for release on September 6, 2024.

What do you think about the addition? Are you excited for Blade? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!