Eternals producer Nate Moore reveals how Mahershala Ali’s after-credits cameo as Blade came to be and how it links to Black Knight’s Ebony Blade.
One of the biggest surprises in Eternals was how small of a role Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman had in the film. The writers have since addressed this but it was arguably made by the film’s after-credits sequence. In it, Dane Whitman opens up a case containing a sword with his family’s crest on it.
He eventually moves to touch the sword as a black living tar seems to move around it saying “I’m sorry, I have to try.” An off-screen voice, eventually revealed to be Mahershala Ali’s Blade then says “Sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?” While nothing has been confirmed, this cameo seemed to indicate that a crossover between Kit Harrington’s Black Knight and Mahershala Ali’s Blade could be somewhere on the horizon.
While speaking ComicBook.com via Phase Zero podcast, Eternals producer Nate Moore spoke at length about Blade’s appearance in the film, how it came to be, and the thought process behind it:
“[Blade] was [part of the scene] for reasons hopefully that would become apparent as you see more things, but [Mahershal Ali] wasn’t there on the day. And we talked about two versions of that, one where we would cut to him and one where we wouldn’t. ‘How textual do you want it to be?’ And again, it was more just for the fun of it, to tease it a little bit, to hear the voice and not see the man. He was game to do it. Because the Ebony Blade, the characteristics of the Ebony Blade are not dissimilar to some degree to vampirism and we think that’s an interesting kind of thing to play with. So, we kind of knew that was on the table.”
Here is the synopsis for Eternals:
“The story takes place across two time periods. One storyline is set in the past when they operated as a formidable team and a close family unit. The second storyline is in the present, when the group has fractured and split apart, content to live among humans, hiding in plain sight. The prevailing threat of the Deviants, which once again threatens the existence of mankind, means the Eternals need to put their differences aside and regroup.”
Chloe Zhao directed Eternals from a script she co-wrote with Patrick Burleigh, Kaz Firpo, and Ryan Firpo. The cast of the Marvel Studios project includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena.
Eternals is now in theaters. Stay tuned for all the latest news on Mahershala Ali’s role as Blade and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content!
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