Despite the film being more than a year from release, fans may know who Blade‘s villain will be.
Mahershala Ali is set to play the MCU’s take on Marvel’s iconic vampire slayer when Blade hits theater screens next year.
While Ali has been attached to the project for almost four years, not much about the gothic action film is known. This likely has something to do with the various production issues the project has run into including complete rewrites which reportedly left the film’s star “very frustrated.”
However, amidst the hiccups, there has been news to latch onto, including X star Mia Goth joining the cast as the villainous Lillith; although, how much of a role Goth’s character will play has not been confirmed in any official capacity.
Blade’s Villain Reportedly Confirmed
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Mia Goth’s Lilith will reportedly be the main villain of Mahershala Ali’s upcoming Blade movie.
In a string of recent Patreon posts, Richtman wrote that Old‘s Aaron Pierre was “no longer part of the cast, and his character was removed from the current script:”
“My understanding is that Aaron Pierre is no longer part of the cast and his character was removed from the current script. Delroy Lindo is playing Deacon Frost. Mia Goth is playing Lilith (not sure which version of Lilith or maybe a combo of the two).”
The insider noted that in this new script, Hollywood veteran Delroy Lindo had joined the film as classic Blade villain Deacon Frost and Goth was still set to play Marvel’s Mother of Demons, Lilith.
Richtman added in a separate post that with Pierre’s character being written out of the film, Mia Goth as Lilith would serve as Blade’s primary villain.
He also revealed that Saul Williams had been cast in the movie as well as Blade’s mentor from the page, Jamal Afari.
Riding the Mia Goth Train With Blade
Given the momentum, Mia Goth’s career is seeing with breakout roles in Ti West’s Pearl and X, it would make a lot of sense for Marvel Studios to be reworking Blade to better feature the young actress as the film’s big bad.
Goth’s star is seemingly only going to rise further as Blade works its way into production (upon the close of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike). This would mean that by the time Mahershala Ali’s vampire-slaying epic hits theaters, the Mia Goth iron is hotter than it ever has been and the MCU can cash in on that positive momentum.
With all the turmoil Blade has seen thus far, better spotlighting a young star like Mia Goth should be taken as a win.
And even though it is still unknown which version of Lilith Goth will be playing, this move will very likely be celebrated.
There has not been a lot to get excited about from the Blade camp really since it was announced, so surely fans of both Goth and the Lilith Marvel character will latch onto this report and hold it as something to look forward to.
Right now, Blade is set to release in theaters on September 4, 2024, but given its production being delayed because of the ongoing WGA strike, it would not be all that surprising if that date slipped.
