After confirming during the Disney Investor Day that the Mahershala Ali-led project would be a film, Marvel Studios has found the writer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade in the form of Watchmen story editor Stacy Osei-Kuffour, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
RELATED: Mahershala Ali-Starring Blade Officially Confirmed as Movie!
Sources report that the blockbuster studio has spent the last six months meeting with various writers in a diligent search to find the right scribe for the project, with the Emmy and Oscar-winning star also being directly involved with the search. The studio also were reportedly only looking at Black writers to take on the project in an effort to continue their focus on diversity and making representation a key factor in their work, especially after the original three films were written and one directed by David S. Goyer.
Not only does Osei-Kuffour’s hiring continue this effort from the studio, it also establishes her as the first Black female writer to pen a Marvel movie, a landmark that comes a few months after Candyman helmer Nia DaCosta became the first Black woman director at Marvel by signing on to helm Captain Marvel 2. In addition to Watchmen, on which she wrote an episode, Osei-Kuffour served as story editor on Amazon’s Hunters and executive story editor on HBO’s Run and wrote an episode of Hulu’s PEN15, for which she earned an Emmy nomination.
Wesley Snipes played the martial artist Daywalker three times, in 1998’s Blade (the first successful Marvel Comics film), 2002’s Blade II and 2004’s Blade Trinity. He was replaced by rapper Sticky Fingaz for Spike’s Blade TV series, which only lasted one season in 2006.
RELATED: Black Panther 2 Will Not Recast T’Challa
The Blade Trilogy from New Line Cinema helped shepherd comic books and superheroes to the big screen. Combined, the three films brought in over $400 million at the global box office. Blade was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan as a supporting character in the comic book “The Tomb of Dracula” #10 in July of 1973.
(Photo Credit: Leon Bennett/WireImage)
