Marvel's Midnight Suns: Blade's Uncertain Future, Ghost Rider as Leader and Mephisto's Damnation Plot

Marvel Studios' Midnight Suns project is shaping up to be a very big part of Phase Seven of the MCU. The Blade movie is confirmed to not be happening, Blade might be recast, and reports suggest Wong will recruit a supernatural team led by Ghost Rider against Mephisto. Here is everything we know about it, including some plot details, some character details and some drama. I will also get into how the Damnation storyline from the comics ends, and whether I think the MCU will follow it.

The Blade movie is cancelled and Mahershala Ali is upset

I am starting with the drama, because you might have recently heard some of it. Mahershala Ali, who was supposed to play Blade, apparently is no longer playing the character. He criticised Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige pretty hard, but if you put yourself in his position, it kind of makes sense. We do not know the full details, but we do know what he recently said and what Kevin Feige recently said. The Blade movie is confirmed to not be happening, so if you were wondering what is going on with it, unfortunately it is cancelled.

Marvel announced Blade a long time ago, in 2019, and Mahershala Ali was there for it. Nothing ever happened after that. The project went through many different directors and many different writers. Kevin Feige said that not making Blade happen was the biggest failure of his career. In a recent interview, Mahershala Ali responded: "To this day, I don't know why it didn't happen." He pointed to Feige's comment about it being the biggest failure of his career and said he agreed, adding: "He should feel that way."

Those are big words, and you can see why he is understandably upset. He said he spent a year training, that he trained so hard he blew out his knee, and that he was learning sword work and training in just about every martial art. He uprooted his family and moved to Atlanta, waiting to go, while the project kept getting pushed back until it simply did not happen. In his words: "I'm saying no to things in that time because they own my schedule."

Blade might be recast, which changes what Midnight Suns was supposed to be

A lot of people have been saying that Blade can still appear in Midnight Suns, and it does seem like that is still the case. It might just not be Mahershala Ali. It does not seem like he wants to continue playing Blade in the MCU in a different project, so we are hearing that Blade might be recast.

That really changes the dynamic of what Midnight Suns was supposed to be. It is still going to be a supernatural team up film, but originally Blade was supposed to be the one recruiting characters like Moon Knight and Ghost Rider. He was supposed to be the Nick Fury of the supernatural Avengers. We saw the first step of that in the Eternals post credit scene with the Black Knight, where we heard Mahershala Ali's voice as Blade. He was supposed to show up and start recruiting these people. That is not going to happen anymore.

Wong is reportedly the recruiter and Ghost Rider the leader

According to recent reports, the recruiter is now going to be Wong, which I think makes a lot of sense. We do not know what is going to happen to Doctor Strange, and whether Benedict Cumberbatch's version will survive Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. In Secret Wars, he actually dies. When you create a new universe you can bring people back, so who really knows. But it seems like Wong does survive.

Wong is going to serve as the team's recruiter, but not as the leader. We have heard the leader will be Ghost Rider. The actor who will play Ghost Rider has been cast, and that is official. I believe it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con. He is supposed to lead the team, which I think makes sense given the story I will get into below. Wong will recruit people, probably including Ghost Rider, and then Ghost Rider will become the leader.

Think about the Avengers films. Nick Fury is not on the ground with the Avengers most of the time. He plays his part, like in the first Avengers movie where he deals with people trying to destroy New York, but he is not fighting in New York with the team. Think of Wong kind of like that. He will probably be dealing with something else, and I am sure he will fight a little, but as far as boots on the ground, Ghost Rider is going to be the leader. It is similar to the X-Men: it is Professor X's team, but Cyclops is the field leader.

Oscar Isaac confirmed Midnight Suns talks and Moon Knight is reportedly on the team

A lot of people are wondering what is going on with Moon Knight. Earlier this year, before Ghost Rider was cast, Oscar Isaac confirmed active talks about Midnight Suns in an interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. He said there was an interesting talk about the project and that tonally it is really important because they are playing with real stuff, expressing something real, challenging and difficult. He described it as taking things very seriously while also being a crazy story. When we get to the story, you will see it is going to be crazy.

Josh Horowitz brought up the idea of the actor now cast as Ghost Rider playing the role, and Isaac said he was fully in love with it: "Yeah, make it happen, fellas. I mean, it's a no-brainer." Clearly Marvel thought the same, because he is now playing Ghost Rider.

The insider report said the project is happening. Midnight Suns and Blade were actually supposed to be shot back to back, with a little overlap, basically at the same time. Clearly that is not happening, because we do not have Blade anymore. But one of the new reports says we will be getting a new Blade, and that Moon Knight will be part of this team, which I am sure a lot of people are really excited about.

Black Knight, Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing are said to join

As for other characters, Kit Harington's Black Knight from Eternals is said to be in the movie, as well as characters from Werewolf by Night, including Elsa Bloodstone. That is going to be really cool to see. They set that up in Werewolf by Night, which I actually did not think I was going to enjoy, but really did. It is crazy to think it was such a long time ago, but it was very well written and shot.

So the lineup looks like Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, Black Knight, possibly a recast Blade, Ghost Rider and Moon Knight, plus Wong and maybe Doctor Strange. That is already a pretty cool team.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Mephisto and the Damnation storyline

Then there is the villain. Mephisto has a certain place in the fandom because of WandaVision, but Ironheart truly brought him into the MCU. Sacha Baron Cohen is playing him, and to me it is perfect casting. I think a lot of people thought that as well, and for me he was definitely the best part of Ironheart. The plot is going to take from the Damnation storyline in Marvel Comics, with Mephisto as the main villain.

Damnation is so interesting that at one point Mephisto takes some of the Avengers, turns them into Ghost Riders, and uses them to fight Wong and the Midnight Suns. Wong is the recruiter in the comics too. The story follows the destruction of Las Vegas at the hands of Hydra. Doctor Strange attempts to revert the damage, but since Las Vegas is the city of sin, it went to hell and Mephisto claimed it. When Strange brings it back to Earth, he brings a part of hell with it, and Mephisto comes to Earth saying it is his.

Doctor Strange fights Mephisto and fails. Wong puts together a team, and they fight against Mephisto and the Avengers who have become Ghost Riders, since Ghost Rider gets his powers via Mephisto. That is why the Ghost Rider film is going to set up Mephisto, since he is a big part of how Ghost Rider comes to be. Marvel has been building him up: I do not want to say WandaVision, but it really did seem like they were setting it up there, then Ironheart, then Ghost Rider, and then the big team up with Midnight Suns, which will be awesome.

Ghost Rider takes the throne of hell in the comics, but I doubt the MCU goes there

In the comics, the Ghost Rider of the story dies, ends up in hell and takes the throne, and that is kind of how they defeat Mephisto, which is really cool. That is just the quickest summary. I do not think that is going to happen here, but it would be a kind of crazy twist if the MCU's Ghost Rider died, went to the hell dimension and came back. That would be pretty cool.

What is interesting is that the comics lineup is pretty similar: Blade, Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone and Man-Thing, but also Doctor Voodoo and Iron Fist. It is basically a hell on earth story with Mephisto taking over Las Vegas. Eventually they defeat him and lock him with magic at the very top of Hotel Inferno, the hotel Mephisto takes over, and Wong stays behind to make sure Mephisto never really gets out. If Marvel adapts that, obviously not page for page, since it never does that, but inspired by it, it is going to be pretty crazy with a really cool team.

Deadpool, Punisher and Daredevil could fit around it

It does not seem like Deadpool is going to be part of the main storylines in the MCU; he will probably just do his own thing, though there is always the option. Then there are Punisher and Daredevil. Daredevil: Born Again season 3 is confirmed to be the last season, and I know a lot of people are disappointed about that. I think Marvel might actually be moving those characters to movies now, which I think would be really cool. At least I hope that is the case, because I have really enjoyed Daredevil: Born Again and all the Punisher material.

There is a lot Marvel could do with Midnight Suns, and it already sounds like it is going to be crazy cool. Would you want the MCU's Ghost Rider to follow the comics, die and take the throne of hell to defeat Mephisto?