Marvel just announced a whole bunch of stuff including a goddamn BLADE reboot

There's a lot that they announced today as part of Phase 4 of the MCU including a new Thor movie with Natalie Portman (who I thought was done with the MCU but I guess working with Taika Waititi is a draw for anyone), but holy shit, a new BLADE movie is coming down the pipe.

Oh man, a new Blade movie! I was just talking with my ladyfriend about how she hasn't seen Blade Trinity, which is far from a "good" movie but kind of entertainingly watchable thanks to Ryan Reynold's dumb ass and Parker Posey literally vamping it up all over the place. Vampire chihuahua! Blade 2 is great as well, obviously, but hasn't aged spectacularly. Still, NEW BLADE. Was not at all expecting that.

Also the Picard trailer is really good, america's most-watched network

Well that's cool as hell.

Is anyone else sorta surprised on how much action was shown in Picard?

I've 100% soured on Picard now. It couldn't be more the opposite of what I expected or wanted. Old man Picard leading a rag tag team or firefly rejects and the Borg. whoopie /s

The Borg is one of the best villains in scifi. but my god they have run them into the ground.

I'm really excited to see what they will do with Natalia Portman being the new Thor. She is of quite small stature and I always read the hubub online that she doesn't do well with all the CGI stuff. Also curious if all future Thor movies will continue the extremely comical angle that Ragnarok introduced or if they will tone it down a little.

As for the other announcements, ehh I never really cared about Blade. It was probably the least interesting of all vampire themed movie properties I've seen. Even the not-so-great Evan Hawke film Daybreakers presented a much more interesting premise. Blade seems like a very mid 90's type of affair.

Picard I was like others surprised to see take on a seemingly action oriented approach. I personally think Discovery is horrendously bad, not just as a Star Trek property but as just a show overall, top to bottom from the writing to the acting. Picard gave off slight Discovery tones for me and thats very concerning.

Natalie Portman is hell of weird. I really liked her character's romance with Thor in that first movie, but in Thor 2 she was trying to get over him after he... never called her during all the off-screen time, I suppose? I think they reconnected there at the end, but it's been like a dozen Marvel movies since then, including one Thor movie made by this director, and none of them acknowledge her at all. It always just seemed like they were writing around an actress that didn't wanna be involved anymore, and it's pretty weird if they're gonna try to return to her again. After what Ragnarok and the latest Avengers movies did to Thor's cast and setting, I have no idea what another Thor movie would even be like. Or, I mean, I guess I know. It's just Thor and Valkyrie and the Fortnite aliens on another planet again.

They lost me with Alex Kurtzman ugh what a hack fraud.

I’m never going to catch up on Phases 1 to 3. Can I just jump in with Phase 4?

@redhotchilimist: Natalie Portman was in Endgame, briefly...though I think most of the free world was in that movie at some point...

Yeah, I didn't like that Picard trailer at all. It's only a brief look into what that show's gonna be, sure, but it already looks much more like a Discovery spinoff than a TNG sequel.

Thor and Strange are my favorite characters. I think they're screwing up Thor again. Thor (Hemsworth) has only had one good movie (Thor 3) and a lot of us were looking forward to seeing more of that. Endgame screwed him up, he'll be a sidekick in GOTG 3, and now he might not be the main character in his own franchise again, since Loki dominated the first two Thor movies, now Jane has Thor 4. Not to mention this feels forced since the hammer doesn't exist anymore in the MCU.

I'm looking forward to Doctor Strange, Blade, and Black Panther. Black Widow might be their first dud. Doing a prequel about a dead character is lame ASF to me (Han Solo). Plus the character wasn't that interesting.

Never heard of the Eternals or the Asian movie they're doing, but they sound okay. Eternals has a very good cast - they sound like a rip-off of DC's New Gods.

I think Picard looks great.

Blade II is one of the finest character action movies ever made and I'll not hear otherwise. I'm willing to admit it's probably more Guillermo Del Doper's film making that makes that movie so dear to me than my affection for Blade the character. It's sort of wild that despite being quite an old comic character that his aesthetic and tone feel very steeped in the late 90's early 2000's purely because of those movies. I think they need to tread lightly because vampires as a concept have lost a significant amount of luster in the world of modern cinema. I can't think of the last truly good vampire movie since Let Me In/Let the Right One In.

I'm in for Blade, Dr. Strange, and Thor. If Portman is back, the script must be pretty good. Wasn't thrilled with Thor's direction in Endgame so hopefully this rerails both characters. I'll watch anything Taika Waititi puts out.

@mezmero: plz don’t say ”character action movie”

You’re gonna inspire someone to say “tactical espionage action movie” and “survival horror movie” and we don’t want that do we?

Also, What We Do In the Shadows says hello.

@liquiddragon: What you don't remember all the sick S-rank combos done in that movie? lol Okay fair enough.

@htr10: If you see Infinity War and Endgame, then you'll be caught up for the most part. You could also just check out recap videos of the stuff you haven't seen and that would be good for the most part.

Blade 2 was great, it's honestly my favourite Marvel movie, it's dumb in all the right ways yet surpringly well put together. (aside from some poorly aged CG) A lot of that as you said is probably Del Toro's doing but I think some of it is also due to the fight choreography. (which I think Donnie Yen did, who is also in the movie) My problem with a lot of superhero movies is the action tends to suck, which is a pretty big problem in a damn action movie.

I'm not very hopefull for a new Blade movie, I feel like whoever ends up directing it will either try and make it too hip or go full grimdark with it. What I enjoyed about Blade 2 is it was one of those post Matrix movies that was very earnestly trying to be cool, but it wasnt too cheesy.

Anyway, i'm all for another Thor (4!) Ragnarok was far better than it had any right to be. Picard looks like they're trying to turn Star Trek into Star Wars again but I didnt hate Discovery and this actually has characters I like so it could be good.

Donnie Yen was criminally underused in Blade II which is one of the most disappointing things about it (but then it's not really on the same level of bringing the Raid dudes into Force Awakens only to have them killed off immediately). His little point at the vampire in Blade II is SO COOL but then he just...dies.

With the casting of Ali as Blade, who also played Cottonmouth in Luke Cage, it gives me hope Jon Bernthal may at least be considered for MCU Wolverine. Do it, Kev.

@standby2standby: Knowing who is making Picard? No. No I'm not surprised at all.

Also, a new Blade is... fucking weird. I'm assuming that the vampire world is going to be fairly different from what it is in the Wesley Snipes run (I am not familiar with the comic) and there will be less world-controlling undead cabal stuff. Since that would be an odd fit for the MCU as it stands.

A lot of this new chunk of the MCU sounds very...off kilter. Not necessarily in a bad way, of course (they definitely had success going down unexpected roads with the Guardians of the Galaxy), but they came here with Blade, Natalie Portman coming out of MCU retirement to play Thor, and supposedly their first horror movie with Doctor Strange 2.

Now, I quite like how odd this stuff sounds. My biggest problem with the MCU is its lack of tonal variety, which means this goes one of two ways: (1) these movies are just wild enough to set a precedent for new perspectives and genres in future MCU content, or (2) these movies get cold feet and gesture towards weird, new ideas rather than fully embrace them.

Got a bad feeling the second reality is probably more likely, but if even one of these things is able to push the boundaries and make money in the process, it'd make me a lot more optimistic about their future.

@boozak: Good point bringing up the choreography as it really does push it over the edge in terms of entertainment value. Credit where credit is due for Donnie Yen's involvement in spite of his thankless supporting role.

I don't have any problem with a female Thor but I'm kind of annoyed that they didn't ask me.

Jane-Thor is something I want to be down with, but we'll have to see. Jane-Thor is a full on transformation and I am not sure if Portman can really pull off comic book fights. Plus, I think there is a LOT of legwork to get her the hammer (616 involved Thor becoming The Unworthy due to some weird shit with folding in Ultimate Universe or whatever)

Blade is... okay, cool. I think I am more interested with them finally marking Netflix non-canon* by recasting Cottonmouth. And I positively loved Ali's performance, so I am down for more of him.

Just about everything else: Meh. I don't have TV and won't get Disney Plus. Kate Bishop should trigger every single fanboy circuit in me, but I've never liked Renner's Hawkeye and really don't think he earned any of the aspects of Clint that you need for Kate to work. You need that father figure who is such an irresponsible piece of shit that he would rather watch her screw up than acknowledge he is a father figure. But you also need that hero who will do anything he can to make sure that she only gets a few scrapes from her mistakes. And you need the friend who will trust her to have her shit together when it matters. Renner hasn't demonstrated an ability to do... any of that.

Also: I now kind of really want to rewatch the Blade Trilogy (including Trinity...). I think that was the definition of "This is really good... compared to that movie where Hasselhoff was Nick Fury.

Still: I think I might be mostly done with Marvel movies. Endgame was a good sendoff and Far From Home a decent epilogue. But in terms of comics I just don't read Marvel anymore (and haven't in the better part of a decade) and in terms of comic book movies it is pretty clear that I push Spider-Verse, Big Hero 6, and Defendor as the best (not sure how well Defendor aged...). The giant over-arching universe is great, but not when it ruins the story beats to shoe-horn in a tie-in.

*: Just finished watching Jessica Jones season 3. A great send off for the MNU and an example of where they were at their strongest. Luke Cage and Daredevil were fun comic book shows. Punisher alternated between "That is an interesting take" and "... did I just watch a hate crime get dedicated to Stan Lee?". But Jessica Jones was mostly about character work and the idea of what being a cape does to the people. Season 2 was mostly weak, but 1 is one of the better seasosn of TV I have ever seen (and never want to watch again) and Season 3 carried those themes home and gave the MNU, and Jessica, the ending she needed, if not deserved.

Do you reckon Blade will have a nod to the soundtracks of the past?

He was also Prowler in Spiderverse

Depends what they take from the comics in Blade as it can be rather up its own butt as well as a bit stupid and silly as well. I could see Blade somewhat rather serious tone working against some of the MCU characters as he is a bit of a loner, but I know better then to doubt the writers here as they have accomplished the impossible in the past.

Well... nothing in that slate is making me want actually spend money on Disney+.

Picard looks like it has potential, but after the trash fire of nonsense that Discovery turned into I'll reserve judgment on new Star Trek until they manage to get through a coherent season.

I feel the same way about Eternals and Shang Chi that I did about Guardians of the Galaxy, before that came out. I had no investment in them and barely knew anything about them. I actually read the Gaiman/Romita Jr reboot of Eternals from 2006, and I remember nothing from it. I'm hoping that what comes out makes me care about these characters, and they don't just feel like filler before Marvel finally reboots F4/Xmen.

I think there is something to be said about the pacing of their releases here too. Not just in terms of placement for good flavor breaks but also between what's a movie/tv. They seem to recognize the possibility of fatigue as much as you can when announcing so much content for the span of the next 3 years. The Blade stuff is obviously fantastic though, I think I"m basically holding out hope that the What If? animated series is bold enough to do things like Marvel Zombies or other goofy off shoots. I think there was a lot of smaller announcements that probably wind up carrying early subscriber sales similar to how Doom Patrol and Discovery currently are.

As for the rest of it, I think Black Widow is smart and has the potential to be good. I think Portman is capable of pulling of the Thor twist and I do think they will wind up making good on that. TW won me over with Ragnarok enough that I pretty much trust whatever direction he wants to go in at this point. Dr Strange probably interests me the most otherwise just because the director said he was committed to making an actual horror, which keeps in line with the smart genre swapping they have been doing with their movies of late.

Also @rorie I've always kinda thought Blade 3 was pretty watchable for a bad movie as well. Dominic Purcell camping it up as Dracula with that weird pseudo modern gothic techno vibe with Triple H doing his best...Triple H. It was a mess in so many unironic ways that you couldn't help but see it through. It almost had a bad Buffy/Angel episode vibe tbh.

@htr10: No. Just watch the others.

There is a zero-percent chance the MCU Blade will have anything as consistently rewatchable as that opening bloodbath rave scene from the first Wesley Snipes movie.

I have never been that impressed with Natalie Portman as an actor. I kinda wish that got somebody else for Thor.

@wardcleaver: She was good in Leon :P.

I hope she's able to hold a hammer better than a blaster rifle. *adjusts glasses*

Lucas should've been like "cup that shit, yo."

I think out of the new slate of movies I'm most interesting in Dr. Strange 2. This may be the first "horror" movie I can actually take my wife to. I'm also interested to see what they do with Scarlet Witch.