Blade has been one of the most controversial movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it hasn’t even been released. The vehicle for Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali was originally scheduled to release on November 3rd, 2023, with numerous delays being announced. At present, no release date has been confirmed for the vampire-slayer by Disney, leaving many Marvel fans to wonder whether we’ll ever see Blade return to a starring role. Luckily, while the half-vampire, half-human might not get his due in the MCU, there’s a superhero team that would welcome Blade with open arms, which could work for the universe.
To get a better idea of what makes the Midnight Sons work as a superhero team, even with their bizarre line-up, we need to look at the group’s origins and the comics and how they’ve manifested already in the MCU. To start, the team first appeared in the early 1990s during the Ghost Rider, Morbius, Nightstalkers crossover event dubbed “Rise of the Midnight Sons.” In this preliminary meeting of supernatural worlds, the likes of Danny Ketch, Michael Morbius, Blade, Hannibal King, Frank Drake, and the Darkhold Redeemers joined forces to fight against the supernatural queen Lillith. Returning to the physical plane with her “children” known as the Lillin, the supernatural team assembled to fight the forces of darkness.
Ironically, this preliminary line-up became one of the hottest-selling superhero groups for Marvel in the ’90s, often managing to even surpass the X-Men in the overall sales department. While the designs of these characters were all visually interesting, the internal and external drama that they faced was worth reading. While teams like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four worked well with one another, the Midnight Sons most certainly did not. The Nightstalkers (which consisted of Hannibal King, Frank Drake, and Blade) had a mission to eliminate all supernatural beings from the face of the Earth, including their teammates within the Sons. This made for the interesting dynamic of heroes like Ghost Rider and Morbius routinely needing to watch their backs in a fight from their own allies. While popular in its original form, the Midnight Sons would go on to create many new interpretations as years passed and new heroes joined.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Midnight
Marvel Comics
Not every member of the Midnight Sons has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of yet to forge this supernatural team, but from what we’ve seen, there are enough players to make this work so far. Blade made an off-screen appearance in The Eternals’ post-credits scene while also playing a heavy role in the recent animated series, Marvel Zombies. In the latter, we were able to witness the vampire hunter in the role of Konshu’s servant, becoming that world’s Moon Knight. While we doubt that Mahershala Ali will hit the scene wearing a white costume, the show did give us a good idea of how Blade would work within a team dynamic. Luckily, there are other “Sons” that have appeared to forge the supernatural crew.
Dr. Strange has been an on-again, off-again member of the team, and while he is currently an Avenger, that shouldn’t stop him from balancing his memberships, especially since he hasn’t been a part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for some time in the MCU. Two of the biggest monsters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who have also been a part of the Midnight Sons in the comics. While the pair weren’t founding members of the team, Jack Russell and Man-Thing made an appearance in the Disney+ television special, Werewolf By Night. Of course, two other members are shoe-ins for the eventual line-up.
Mahershala Ali’s Blade might work well as a part of the team book before arriving with his own film, with Ghost Rider potentially being a similar case. Establishing a team would work as a good way to push these supernatural heroes, especially considering Blade and Ghost Rider already have several movies of their own for fans to work with. Thanks to Wesley Snipes and Nicolas Cage, many movie-goers already have a good idea of who these supernatural heroes are, and their arrival into the MCU could work in terms of pushing more of the new “supernatural kids.” The Midnight Sons as a team are something that the MCU has yet to introduce, a supernatural superhero team, and if it is true that Blade will appear via this team, it’s a good way to kick off the vampire hunter’s Marvel movie career.
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