New Rumor States This Fan Favorite Marvel Character Will Debut In 'Moon Knight'
With the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has begun to reload their roster of heroes, drawing from a wide variety of comics and plugging some of the best talent in Hollywood into these character roles. The Eternals, while a departure from the likes of Steve Rodgers or Tony Stark, stayed close to the familiar extraterrestrial storytelling that MCU fans will recognize from films such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Captain Marvel. Now, upcoming projects are rumored to introduce a whole new type of character, with the expansion of the occult within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, possibly beginning with the highly anticipated 2022 Disney+ series, Moon Knight.
While Oscar Issac's portrayal of Moon Knight will undoubtedly be a great addition to the MCU, rumors are that an even more anticipated character will make their debut in the Moon Knight series. The MCU, like their comic inspiration, covers an absurdly wide range of characters, beings, and themes. We've seen time travel, aliens, gods, super soldiers, super spies, witches and now, finally, it seems we will be seeing vampires onscreen. The subreddit r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers, which has an excellent track record when it comes to rumors and leaks, recently posted a fresh batch of information from the sets of MCU projects. Included on that list was a rumor that Mahershala Ali will be appearing alongside Oscar Isaac in the Moon Knight series. Ali, who has already made an excellent career for himself, was recently announced to have been cast as the MCU's daywalking vampire hunter, Blade.
Superhero flicks are no stranger to reboots, with Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four being prime examples. The series of Blade movies, starring Wesley Snipes, were cult-classics in their time and helped pave the way for the comic book film franchises of today. While these films aren't considered canon in the MCU, vampires certainly are. Mobius M. Mobius even mentions in Loki that the TVA has apprehended several vampire variants. This being said, much of what we know about Blade as a comic book character can be seen in Snipes' depiction of the vampire, and will undoubtedly translate into the MCU version.
The character of Blade is a unique being in both Marvel comics and in vampire lore. A human/vampire hybrid, Blade has characteristics that are a blend of the two species. Often called a "daywalker", Blade is not susceptible to vampiric weaknesses such as sunlight, garlic, or religious iconography. He also doesn't benefit from the entirety of a vampires powers, however. Blade is not immortal, but he does age at a decelerated rate, and he is not as physically strong as a full vampire nor can he wield the magic possessed by some of the most powerful dark beings, such as Dracula.
While vampires may seem out of place in a universe that has primarily centered around the likes of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, the groundwork for their origin story has already been set down in WandaVision. The main antagonist of the show (besides crippling depression and PTSD) was the witch known as Agatha Harkness, from whom Wanda Maximoff took the Darkhold, "that's the book of the damned!" It was from the dark powers of this book that vampires were originally created, according to the comic book lore on the subject. With the Darkhold now in Wanda's possession, her role as the Scarlet Witch revealed, and vampires and multiversal madness on the horizon, there's no telling what dark dangers our heroes will face.
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