Delroy Lindo Joins Mahershala Ali in Marvel Studios’ ‘Blade’

Marvel Studios’ “Blade,” has added “The Harder They Fall,” star Delroy Lindo to its cast, which already has Mahershala Ali as the titular character.

Lindo is likely to play Jamal Afari, the man who raised and taught vampire hunter Blade (Eric Brooks) everything about vampire slaying. Afari, a vampire hunter in his childhood, grew up as a young black man on Harlem's harsh streets, living an ordinary life. During that period, he came across vampires and began teaching himself how to fight and kill them in order to defend himself and the people he cared about. He fought and killed a lot of vampires.

On a chilly December night, Afari was ambushed by a swarm of vampires who had followed him and intended to exact vengeance on him for the deaths of their fellow vampires. When he appeared to be dying, he got unexpected assistance from a young orphan called Eric Brooks (who would grow up to be Blade), who was just nine years old at the time. Afari ended up being the closest thing Eric had ever known to a father, although this phase would end in misery.

Jamal Afari is a vampire with all of the supernatural abilities that are generally associated with vampires. Afari was a competent vampire hunter who self-taught Blade what he knew.

Lindo is coming off Netflix’s “Da 5 Bloods” and Western epic “The Harder They Fall.” The actor is currently shooting for Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys” series at Amazon, and he is also set to make his directorial debut with the feature “Jabari’s People.”

Blade, directed by Bassam Tariq from a script by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, follows a half-vampire, half-mortal man who becomes a protector of the mortal race while slaying evil vampires. Mahershala Ali has already made his MCU debut by his voice appearance as Blade in Eternals post-credit scenes.