As Marvel Studios' Blade reboot heads into production, one significant change has reportedly been made to the movie’s plot: Kit Harington's Black Knight might not be as important as initially planned.
Blade was first introduced as a character in 1973 as a witty, highly-skilled vampire hunter immune to the effects of vampire bites. This aspect of his character changed in the 1999 comic Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8, in which Blade is bitten by Morbius, Marvel's other infamous vampire character. The Wesley Snipes-led movie released in 1998 brought the character into the public eye and was followed by two sequels and a television show. Despite the character’s relative popularity, his presence has been missing from the MCU until recently.
The newest Blade movie has spent a long time in pre-production. Marvel Studios announced the Blade reboot in 2019 - since then, the film has faced delays and director changes. Additionally, the script has gone through many rewrites, and according to Jeff Sneider, some were requested by Mahershala Ali. Although Sneider didn't have details on what Ali's rewrites entailed, he mentioned during an episode of The Hot Mic podcast that most rewrites have come down to keeping the script lean. Unfortunately, this has allegedly resulted in Kit Harington's Black Knight being cut out of the movie. "Someone reached out to say that with Blade, things have gotten a little bit better. Things have shaped up, the script is leaner and meaner and they cut out the fat, but the script I heard about was like 87 pages like there wasn't enough and they'd shaved it to the bone...What they'd cut out I heard is that Blade was gonna tie in with Eternals and Kit Harington's Black Knight," Sneider said. "Black Knight's not really involved in the Blade thing anymore."
Fans might remember the Eternals' post-credits scene that teased Harington's future involvement in the MCU. The scene showed Harington's character Dane Whitman - who appeared throughout the movie as Sersi's boyfriend - opening a case containing the Ebony Blade. As he stares at the blade, a voice identified as Ali's Blade asks Whitman if he’s ready for the weapon. At the time, this moment was seen as evidence that Harington would be a part of the new Blade movie, and while that did appear to be the intent, it seems that Black Knight fans may be facing disappointment if there’s any truth to Sneider's words.
This revelation leaves Black Knight's future uncertain. While no official announcements have been made regarding the character’s absence from Blade, there’s been no talk of Black Knight appearing in any other piece of Marvel Studios media. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Black Knight is gone from the MCU for good - his connection to The Avengers and The Eternals in Marvel Comics makes him an easy character to work into multiple storylines. For now, Black Knight fans will have to wait and see how Marvel Studios decides to use him in their upcoming phases.
Blade is scheduled to be released in theaters on September 6th, 2024.
Source: The Hot Mic (via The Direct)