Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Reboot Will Be Penned By ‘Watchmen’ Writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour
Marvel is finally revealing some movement on theirBladereboot set to starMahershala Alias the human-vampire hybrid originally made famous on the big screen by Wesley Snipes.Stacy Osei-Kuffour, who wrote episodes of HBO’sWatchmenseries and served as the show’s story editor, has been announced as theBladereboot screenwriter, with a report revealing that Marvel has spent the last six months working with Ali to find the right writer for the project.
News of Stacy Osei-Kuffour landing theBladereboot writer gig comes fromThe Hollywood Reporter, which reveals that Marvel and star Mahershala Ali have been working hard for the last few months to find the right scribe for the project. The report also adds that “only Black writers were seriously considered, a reflection of Marvel’s focus on diversity and making representation a key factor.” As a result, Osei-Kuffour is now the first Black female writer to tackle a Marvel film.
Osei-Kuffour is a writer and actress. She wrote and appeared on an episode of the Hulu seriesPEN15, and her other writing credits include HBO’s excellentWatchmenseries, Amazon’sHunters, and the HBO seriesRun, which was canceled after one season (even though I thought it was pretty damn good and deserved time to find an audience).
Bladewas created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan and made his first appearance in the pages of the comicThe Tomb of Draculain 1973. Traditionally, Blade is a half-human/half-vampire who hunts other vampires. Because of his human blood, he’s able to move about during the day, thus earning him the monicker Daywalker.
The character was first brought to the screen in the 1998 movieBlade, starring Wesley Snipes. Snipes appeared as the character in two more films –Blade IIandBlade: Trinity. By all accounts,Blade: Trinitywas a troubled production, and its low box office returns effectively killed the franchise. Since then, there has been talk of Snipes possibly returning to the role, but those talks never went anywhere. There was also a live-action TV series based on the films starring Sticky Fingaz as the title character. It only lasted one season.
In July 2019, Marvel unexpectedly announced aBladereboot at the very end of their 2019 San Diego Comic-Con presentation. Just as the presentation was wrapping up, actor Mahershala Ali came out on stage and put on aBladehat. Since then we haven’t really heard much about theBlademovie, or where it might fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the news that Marvel has found a writer indicates the project is beginning to pick up steam.
