The MCU Blade reboot star Mahershala Ali sidestepped a question about his Marvel appearances during a new interview. This came after the reboot became the only Phase 5 project of the franchise that was announced at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con but hasn’t since come out. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, slated to release on July 25, 2025, will be the first project of Phase 6 of the MCU.
Blade’s Mahershala Ali evades questions about Marvel appearances
Ali evaded questions about MCU appearances while interacting with his Jurassic World Rebirth co-stars Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey during the rapid-fire round in Vogue‘s Off the Cuff. Reading a card, Bailey asked if they could name every MCU movie Johansson and Ali had been part of. This prompted Ali to laugh and respond, “Leave me out of it. That’s a Scarlett question.”
The trio then proceeded to discuss Johansson’s extensive tenure in the MCU as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow. Johansson made her first MCU appearance in 2010’s Iron Man 2. The 2021 solo movie Black Widow was her final project in the franchise.
Notably, before Ali dodged the aforementioned question, Bailey said, “Well, there’s one that we’re very excited about,” likely referring to the Blade reboot. Further, it seemed that Johansson attempted to coax Ali to speak further about his MCU involvement, though the latter again shied away from answering and asked the former what her first film role was. Johansson eventually answered that it was the 1994 American comedy-drama adventure feature North.
Ali has yet to make an in-person appearance as Eric Brooks / Blade in an MCU project. The two-time Oscar winner made an uncredited voice cameo as the character in 2021’s Eternals. Previously, he played Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in the inaugural season of Luke Cage, which debuted on Netflix in 2016.
Last month, Ali said at the New York premiere of Jurassic World Rebirth that he was “ready” to play Blade.
