Luke Cage villain Mahershala Ali to join James Cameron's Alita: Battle Angel

Highly-anticipated Marvel Netflix series ‘Luke Cage’ was only made available last Friday and already one of its stars is being signed up for a major movie deal.

Mahershala Ali, who plays villain Cottonmouth on the show, is in talks to join the cast of manga adaptation 'Alita: Battle Angel’, which already includes Christoph Walts and Ed Skrein.

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The Hollywood Reporter broke the story, the latest in a string of casting announcements as the project that’s been struggling to be made for over a decade finally looks like it’ll take off.

James Cameron, who was originally meant to direct but now has sixteen (or something like that) 'Avatar’ sequels to make, is a producer with Robert Rodriguez now set to helm.

The story, based on a 90s Japanese manga series, focuses on a cyborg called Alita who is found in a 26th century scrapyard with her memories wiped. Still retaining her martial arts training, she becomes a bounty hunter and attempts to find out more about her mysterious past.

Alita will be played by Rosa Salazar, best known for her role in 'The Scorch Trials’. Waltz will play Dr Dyson Ido, the scientist who finds and repairs Alita, Skrein will play a villainous cyborg called Zapan and Ali has joined to play Vector, another of the film’s villains.

Shooting begins later this month in Texas.

Ali will be filming during the busiest time of his career. 'Luke Cage’ is out the door, but soon he’ll appear in awards season contenders 'Moonlight’ and true-to-life Nasa tale 'Hidden Figures’.

Picture Credit: Netflix / Shueisha