Who did Eka Darville play in the Marvel Universe? Character explored as actor's son passes away after tragic illness

Australian actor Eka Darville lost his ten-year-old son Mana who was diagnosed with aggressive glioneuronal brain cancer in January 2023, according to Unilad. Mana's grandmother, Malaika, posted a video on October 30, 2023, where she announced that the ten-year-old had passed away over the weekend.

Unilad reported that the actor had put his career on hold after they got the diagnosis. After doctors in Australia told Eka and his wife Lila that there wasn't much they could do about their son's diagnosis, they moved to the US for further treatment.

Metro reported that Eka portrayed the role of Malcolm Ducasse in Marvel's Jessica Jones and The Defenders. He joined the cast in February 2015 appearing in 8 episodes and 39 episodes of the shows respectively. It is worth noting that Eka Darville met his wife Lila Darville in 2011 and apart from Mana, they have two other children, Zion, and Axé.

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Details about Marvel star Eka Darville's character Malcolm Ducasse

Eka Darville is known for his roles as Scott Truman in Power Rangers RPM, Pip in Mr. Pip, Malcolm Ducasse in Jessica Jones, and Diego in The Originals.

The 34-year-old actor played Malcolm Ducasse, Jones' neighbor who struggles with drug addiction, resulting in his journey intertwining with hers. Eka Darville joined the cast in February 2015.

During a Comic Book Resources interview in 2015, Eka revealed that Malcolm was a new character for the series. He noted that the character was inspired by "seed characters" from the comics. The actor added that playing the character with the drug addiction "was pretty intense and dark."

"Malcolm's relationship with Jessica Jessica is like a flip-flop between victim and savior... much more [sibling-like] than anything else," Eka said.

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Eka Darville's son had undergone three surgeries since the diagnosis

As mentioned earlier, Eka Darville's son Mana passed away due to cancer at the age of 10. Unilad reported the actor saying that his son had undergone "three grueling surgeries and countless therapies."

However, Mana's tumor was reportedly growing "faster than ever", and in an October 2023 update, he asked fans to keep Mana in their prayers.

As mentioned earlier, Mana's grandmother Malaika posted a video on October 30, 2023, on the Let's Go Mana Instagram page where she broke the news of his death. Let's Go Mana, was a GoFundMe page and an Instagram account created by Eka Darville and his family as a way for the community to help Mana.

"I still wanted to come together in this prayer because he's still always gonna be with us and he's still with us. You can imagine the amount of sadness and grief of Eka, Lila and Lila's parents, his grandparents, myself, and his little brothers [are feeling]," she wrote.

Malaika continued:

"But at the same time, there's a lot of joy. There's a lot of peace. There's a lot of stillness in the house after such a long struggle for 463 days since the whole ordeal began. And now he's free. Now he's dancing in the light."

Malaika stated that her grandson had passed away over the weekend, and added,

"We all see it, we feel it and I know that many of you, like myself, loved Mana eternally."

She described her grandson as a child like no other and who "managed to touch more hearts than most do in a whole lifetime."

"And he will continue to touch hearts with his story, courage and strength and wisdom coming in to the highest frequencies of the ascended masters, the angelic realms, the angels, the light help guide man to pour our love into his soul," she concluded.

Eka and Lila Darville have not released an official statement.