Marvel Studios' 'Blade' coming to Cleveland

Marvel Studios Blade is about to take a bite out of Cleveland.

Featuring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali in the title role, the film will be the fourth Marvel project and third Marvel Studios movie to shoot in Cleveland. Ali previously played Cottonmouth Stokes in Marvel's Luke Cage Netflix series.

Previous films include Sony's Spider-Man 3, Marvel Studios' The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Marvel almost shot exteriors for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness in Cleveland, but changed plans when the coronavirus pandemic struck.

While Marvel has made no official announcement about the film’s Cleveland connection, the Greater Cleveland Film Commission announced via an Aug. 18 newsletter that the film Perfect Imprints was accepting applications for local crew, providing an @mcustudios.com email contact. Perfect Imprints is Blade’s alleged working title, first reported in April.

The GCFC couldn’t comment on whether Perfect Imprints was, indeed, Blade, but did encourage local filmmakers to apply. Filming will take place this fall, according to the newsletter.

Who is Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The short version? Blade is half-human, half-vampire and has dedicated his nearly eternal life to hunting bloodsuckers.

Born in 1929 as Eric Cross Brooks, Blade's mother was killed during childbirth by a vampire posing as a doctor. As a blessing (or a curse), Brooks was born with certain vampiric traits, most notably an immunity to vampire bites, superhuman strength and senses, a healing factor and a dramatically slowed aging process.

Blade becomes a vampire hunter because of his mother's murder. His nickname derives from his status as a master swordsman and the two katana blades he often wields. Blade's rogues gallery includes Dracula, his big bad and chief rival.

Will Wesley Snipes be in the new Blade?

Wesley Snipes portrayed Blade in a trilogy of films that first debuted in 1998. The films were produced by Marvel Enterprises, a predecessor to Marvel Studios, and released by New Line Cinemas.

Rumors suggest Snipes could have a cameo in the film, though nothing is confirmed. The previous trilogy is not considered canonical to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though Marvel's recent embrace of the Multiverse means we could potentially see Snipes as a Blade variant someday.

Snipes will join the MCU in the near future, however. He is listed as a voice actor in the Disney+ animated series Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

Comments

James_B said…

Alright, Cleveland! Let's do the MCU proud again!

August 30, 2022 at 2:09 PM

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