It has become common practice for Marvel to introduce new characters before their solo outings, and Moon Knight is the perfect place for the MCU to set up Mahershala Ali’s portrayal of Blade ahead of Phase 5. The Moon Knight series is set to appear on Disney+ sometime in 2022. Marc Spector is a lesser-known character from Marvel and potentially a big risk for the MCU, but he has an important connection to Blade.

While Moon Knight might only be familiar to devoted comic book fans, a lot of older Marvel fans are familiar with Blade from the Blade trilogy that was fronted by Wesley Snipes, even if they weren’t fully aware that the character was a Marvel property. The Daywalker is a part-vampire who was born after his mother was bitten by a vampire while she was giving birth. His precise powers vary between different points in the comics and different adaptations of the character, but he is always a skilled fighter who hates and hunts vampires.

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While neither a release date nor a plot has been announced for Blade, the first appearance of Mahershala Ali’s Blade in Moon Knight could easily set up a future for both the characters, as well as opening the door for other characters to team up with them. Blade first appeared in the comic “The Tomb of Dracula” issue #10 in 1973, but in 1993 he joined a super team called Midnight Sons. In the “Damnation” comic series that ran in 2018, Moon Knight (Oscar Isaac) was also added to the Midnight Sons and Marc Spector and Blade served on the team together. This already makes for a neat way for the MCU to introduce the Midnight Sons and bring Blade into Marc Spector’s story.

How the MCU can introduce Blade mahershala ali

However, the MCU also has a convenient way to make an introduction between Blade and Moon Knight happen naturally. One of the notable names that appeared in the Midnight Sons over the years was Doctor Strange. Strange could serve as a recruiter for the team in their introduction to the MCU in a similar way to Nick Fury for the Avengers. There are also some plot devices introduced already that could help to establish Blade within the MCU inside the Midnight Sons. One Midnight Sons storyline, “Midnight Massacre” revolves around Blade being affected by one of the pages of the Darkhold, the spell tome that Wanda acquires in WandaVision.

The introduction of the Midnight Sons would also make a lot of sense for the apparent larger plans for the MCU. The Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene showed Venom being transported into the MCU timeline and the trailer for Morbius suggests that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe will be seeing a complete crossover with the MCU as Michael Keaton’s Vulture makes an appearance. Morbius was another central figure in the Midnight Sons from their first inception, so using Moon Knight to set up Blade would also facilitate further developing the Sony-Marvel crossover project.

The list of characters that have appeared on the roster for the Midnight Sons is truly extensive and would open a lot of potential for the MCU to reintroduce or reboot past characters that have been de-canonized prior to the multiverse being opened. Johnny Blaze’s Ghost Rider is a founding member of the Midnight Sons meaning that Marvel could reboot the Nic Cage Ghost Rider films which Sony currently holds the rights to. Similarly, they could reintroduce Punisher and Iron Fist as well, all using the Midnight Sons connection to Blade and Moon Knight as their vehicle.

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