Mahershala Ali‘s Blade made his debut much earlier than we initially expected. At the tail end of the Eternals, a voice can be heard talking to Dane Whitman as he tried to touch the Ebony Blade. Director Chloé Zhao confirmed that it was actually the Vampire Hunter actor, who provided the voice-over. After a bit of silence, Ali has opened up on tackling the role for the first time without being physically present.
It was scary. Because, you know, you’re talking before you’re filming it. I’m pretty particular about my choices, like most actors, and so having to make some choices – even with a line, vocally – this early on, it brought up some very real anxieties. And it made the job real. It’s like, ‘Okay, this is happening now’, you know, and that’s exciting.
Mahershala Ali
He was also asked about what it felt like to finally bring the character to life after the announcement all the way back in 2019’s San Diego Comic-Com. Even better, Ali teases that they might finally start work on the project very soon.
That Marvel world is obviously the biggest in film, and just to get my little introduction to that – starting with the Comic Con a couple years ago, and now the very early stages of stepping into the shoes of that character – it felt special and really cool. I’m excited to get going and do more. We’re getting there. We’re getting close.
Mahershala Ali
The last update we got on the project was when they added Mogul Mowgli‘s Bassam Tariq as the film’s director, but there’s been little on the project since. Still, his appearance in Eternals might offer a hint on where this take on the character is heading, especially with the film’s writers teasing a curious connection between vampires and the Ebony Blade. So, we might see him again ahead of his solo film outing.
Source: Empire
