Marvel to make new Blade film starring Mahershala Ali

Marvel surprised fans at San Diego Comic-Con by revealing it was to reboot the Blade franchise with Mahershala Ali in the lead role.

The news was announced as part of the star-studded panel that saw Marvel Studios reveal every new film it will release up until 2020, including a solo outing for Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, and a Thor sequel that will promote Natalie Portman from the god of thunder's romantic interest to a female version of the superhero.

While the solo outing for Blade is yet to be dated, it was named alongside Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Captain Marvel 2 and a new version of Fantastic Four as films that were currently in production.

Ali, who won Oscars for Moonlight and Green Book, will play the half human-half vampire and it;ll be the first time he's been on the big screen since Wesley Snipes film Blade: Trinity in 2004.

This isn't the first time Ali has starred in a Marvel project. He played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in Netflix series Luke Cage, which was recently axed, and provided the voice work for Miles Morales' uncle in animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Other projects announced by Marvel include The Eternals, starring Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden, Shang-Chi and a sequel for Doctor Strange that'll also star Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch.

You can find the full list here.