See Will Smith Replace Mahershala Ali As Blade In The MCU
AI art shows what Will Smith would look like as Blade.
Would Will Smith make a good Blade? That’s the question posed by Fortress of Solitude, and judging by their pictures, the answer might be yes. The site used AI to turn Smith from the Fresh Prince into a vampire hunter for a series of pictures. The results are surprising.
For starters, the AI decided that Will Smith, as Blade, should wield an assault rifle instead of his signature sword, effectively changing the character’s name to Gun. It’s an interesting choice, to say the least, and highlights just how far AI has to go before it replaces human artists altogether. The pictures do get a few things right, however.
Will Smith is clad in the traditional Blade ensemble of a long black coat and matching sunglasses. The pics are set on what looks like a city street from the Walking Dead, complete with a couple of walkers in the background. Perhaps this Blade is a variant that carries a firearm and fights zombies instead of vampires?
Blade, born Eric Brooks, get’s his name from the katana he carries on his back. He’s a sort of quasi-vampire whose mother was bitten while pregnant. Like Morbius, he can go out in the sunlight but still has fangs.
Blade was a relatively obscure Marvel character until a movie of the same name was released in 1998. Wesley Snipes played the titular vampire hunter in what was arguably the first Marvel blockbuster, along with its two sequels. Meanwhile, in ’98, Will Smith was still “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and probably wouldn’t have done Blade Justice.
Ironically, the next person to play the character started out as a rapper, much like Smith. Actor Sticky Fingaz sunk his fangs into the Blade role in a short-lived TV series from 2006. The creatively named Blade: The Series only ran for 12 episodes before it was canceled. Maybe if the producers had cast a different rapper-turned-actor (Will Smith) as Blade, the series would have been more successful.
The next actor to inherit the trenchcoat and shades is Mahershala Ali. The Moonlight actor will be portraying Blade in the MCU. Marvel has been dabbling with horror elements for a while now with Werewolf By Night and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There’s no better time for Disney to finally introduce their Blade to the masses.
As far as Will Smith playing Blade, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. A sequel to Smith’s 2007 movie I Am Legend was recently announced, meaning the actor will soon be busy hunting zombies for Disney’s competition. Smith’s I Am Legend was the third movie to be based on Richard Matheson’s book I Am Legend but the first to get a sequel.
In a world of multiverses and mergers, it’s not impossible that Will Smith could show up as Blade in some capacity in the future. Were that to happen, the actor would be a good fit for the character. Between Suicide Squad and Hancock, the actor is no stranger to playing superheroes with a dark side.
And if, for whatever reason, Marvel took a cue from these pictures and denied Smith a sword, he could always slap the vampires to death.
