Ghanaian becomes first Black woman to write a Marvel movie

A female movie writer with Ghanaian roots, Stacy Osei-Kuffuor has landed a role that is set to make her the first Black female scribe to write a Marvel movie.

Having been asked to write Marvel Studios’ Blade, the Vampire Slayer, Stacy follows the path of Nia Dacosta who worked on Captain Marvel 2 and becomes Marvel's first Black woman director to set her own record.

Stacey Osei-Kuffuor before landing this feat was a playwright who acted as story editor and writer on HBO's acclaimed limited series Watchmen.

Attached to star as the horror hero in the new movie is Mahershala Ali, who won an Oscar for his performance in Green Book.

The movie is planned to incarnate the character played by Wesley Snipes in a string of movies in the early 2000s and was revealed during Marvel’s senses-shattering presentation at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Marvel Studios is said to have spent the last six months meeting with writers in what was described as a meticulous search, with the star actor Mahershala Ali directly involved.

Marvel deliberately as part of a reflection of its focus and diversity majorly considered Black writers for the role.

Created as a supporting character by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Blade first appeared in Tomb of Dracula No. 10 in 1973, becoming a cult favorite. He is a human-vampire hybrid thanks to his mother being bitten and killed by a blood-sucker during childbirth.

Even though she earned an Emmy-nomination for outstanding writing in a comedy series for her work on Hulu's Pen15, it was her work in Watchmen, HBO’s heady spin on the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons comic, hat got Stacey Osei-Kuffuor noticed, as well as a WGA Award win for best new series.

Stacey worked on Hunters, Amazon’s blood-soaked limited series that saw Al Pacino and Logan Lerman as Nazi hunters in 1970s America, and HBO crime thriller Run, starring Domhnall Gleeson.

Despite her seemingly rapid ascent in Hollywood, the Chicago-born Osei-Kuffour spent years writing plays and poetry. she has a Master’s degree in the former from Hunter College in New York — but struggled to find work as a writer. Her jump from story editor to now a Marvel movie, and breaking down a barrier while doing so, makes for quite a Cinderella story.