Editor's note: The below article contains major spoilers for the ending of Eternals.
Writer and director Chloé Zhao has revealed a fan-favorite Marvel hero made his first MCU appearance in the last post-credit scene of Eternals — which, as it happens, turned out to be the second cameo for a character brand-new to the Marvel universe. While the mid-credits scene unveiled one newcomer to the Eternals themselves as they met up in space, the second post-credits scene taking place back on Earth only gave us the sound of a voice to go on, and now thanks to Zhao, we know whose voice that was.
In the post-credit scene, we see Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) admiring the Ebony Blade, a powerful weapon that belonged to the original Black Knight, King Arthur's most powerful warrior. While Dane contemplates the sword and wonders about using its powers to become the next Black Knight, a mysterious voice asks him from outside the frame: “Sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?”
As revealed in an interview for Fandom, the mysterious voice belongs to none other than Mahershala Ali, who’s set to play vampire hunter Blade in an upcoming solo film. In Zhao's words, “That was the voice of one of my favorite superheroes, Mr. Blade himself. Blade, Blade, Blade, yeah!” So, it’s official; the Daywalker is officially part of the MCU. Let the vampire hunting begin!
Helmed by Mogul Mowgli's director Bassam Tariq, Blade will give Ali the part of Marvel’s vampire hunter, made famous by a trilogy of films with Wesley Snipes in the lead role. There’s still no news on the project’s plot, casting, and filming, but an official Marvel Twitter account set the movie release for October 2022, which might be either an unintentional leak or a mistake. However, now that Blade has shown up in Eternals, we sure hope to see him in all his vampire-hunting glory sooner than later, especially if Harington’s Black Knight is somehow involved with the events on Blade.
According to Harington, he didn't even know the significance of the scene itself during filming:
“It’s really cool. [Chloé] texted me about that a couple of weeks ago and it sort of blew my mind. I didn’t know that that would be the case, so it’s pretty exciting for me.”
Eternals stars 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 Giglamesh, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena. Eternals will explain why the Eternals stood down when Thanos wiped out half the universe, and reveal the story behind the creation of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe while presenting a new team of powerful superheroes.
Early reviews of Eternals have been mixed, pointing out how the epic scope of the movie sometimes gets in the way of a narrative focused on human relations. In his review of the movie, our very own Matt Goldberg said: “Eternals is a far more interesting film trapped in the body of a superhero movie, and those limitations neuter what could have been a heady, thrilling experience if not for what the film has to do both in its genre and as part of the MCU.”
Eternals is now available exclusively in theaters.