Blade: How Marvel Fumbled Mahershala Ali's Unmade Marvel Movie
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is having a big year, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day the second-highest-grossing movie ever and Avengers: Doomsday poised to be another big hit. The MCU has grown so much since it started in 2008 with Iron Man. It’s expanded into the multiverse and, in 2028, will officially have its own X-Men and Ghost Rider. While not every movie has been a hit, overall the MCU has been mostly consistent in getting movies out, doing well at the box office, and satisfying audiences. Most of the movies they announce usually get made, even if it takes a while. Still, Marvel fumbled on one significant movie that shouldn’t have been that hard to make: Mahershala Ali’s Blade.
Back in the summer of 2019, after the release of Avengers: Endgame, Marvel made big announcements at San Diego Comic-Con to show that they weren’t slowing down after the end of an era in the MCU. One of the movies announced was Blade, starring Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali. Ali was coming off winning Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for 2016’s Moonlight and 2018’s The Green Book. Shortly after winning his second Academy Award in early 2019, Ali reached out to Kevin Feige and pitched a Blade movie. Unlike most other projects confirmed at Comic-Con, like Thor: Love and Thunder and WandaVision, Blade didn't have a release date, with Feige saying it would be part of a future phase rather than Phase Four, suggesting the other projects were being prioritized. Still, Marvel was determined to get to work on Blade due to Ali’s interest.
2020 saw the COVID-19 pandemic take place and, with it, numerous movie and show delays. Marvel delayed Phase Four, which was supposed to start in May 2020 with Black Widow, to 2021, and WandaVision would officially start it in January 2021. Blade didn’t have a release date, though, because other projects were getting delayed. At the time, this wasn’t a big deal, as all the movie studios were delaying movies, not just Disney and Marvel. Marvel was actively looking for a writer and director during this time so they could get right back to work once shutdowns ended and production on movies and shows could begin. Marvel was prioritizing hiring Black writers and a majority Black cast and crew, inspired by Black Panther and its success. Mahershala Ali was also saying Blade would have a darker tone than the other MCU movies. This made sense since the original Blade movies starring Wesley Snipes were R-rated, although it wasn’t confirmed if Blade would be R-rated. Feige didn’t seem open at the time to make Blade R-rated, indicating that only future Ryan Reynolds Deadpool movies would have that rating. Marvel was also announcing and beginning work on other Marvel movies announced after the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. By the end of 2020, Fantastic Four was announced as well.
In February 2021, Stacy Osei-Kuffour was hired to write Blade’s screenplay. It looked as if filming could start as early as September of that year, but with the script still needing work by May 2021, filming would be delayed to the summer of 2022. From March to June 2021, Marvel was looking for a director until they settled on Bassam Tariq, who was known for directing the 2020 well-acclaimed movie Mogul Mowgli. Later in the year, during the post-credit scene of Eternals, Mahershala Ali had an uncredited voice role talking with Kit Harington’s character, Dane Whitman. Not too long after Eternals was released, Delroy Lindo was cast in Blade. A few months later, in February 2022, Aaron Pierre joined the cast. A few months later, Beau DeMayo, writer of X-Men ‘97, was brought in to rewrite the movie, intending to make Blade into a period piece.
It seemed like Blade was on track for a 2023 release date. Pre-production was starting in the summer of 2022 with the intention to wrap up filming by early 2023. The movie’s film team was being put together, and Mahershala Ali had been training to perform his stunts for over a year. At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Blade was announced to have a November 2023 release date. It seemed like things were going well. Unfortunately, this would not last long.
In September 2022, Beau DeMayo was removed from Blade. While he was infamously fired from X-Men ‘97 in 2024, he later revealed he was removed from Blade because he brought up toxic workplace culture and in response was dismissed. Bassam Tariq was gone as director due to creative differences and too many production delays. He would, however, remain as an executive producer. Despite this, Mahershala Ali was optimistic the movie would happen and was involved in picking a new director and writer. Yann Demange was brought in as director, and Michael Starrbury was hired to rewrite the script, intending to make Blade darker than most MCU movies. Mia Goth was cast in April 2023 as Lilith. The plan was to have Blade take place in the 1920s, with the plot being Lilith going after Blade’s daughter.
Blade was supposed to start filming in May 2023 and be ready for a September 6, 2024 release date. This would be impossible as the script was not completed before the Writers’ Strike of 2023, meaning production would be delayed until after the strike. In June 2023, Blade was once again delayed, this time to February 14, 2025. Ruth E. Carter originally worked on the costumes before the movie’s setting was changed to a modern setting. Carter would instead use the costumes for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners with Kevin Feige’s permission.
Reports were growing that Mahershala Ali was getting upset and could leave. Michael Green was brought in November 2023 to write a new script, and Blade got another delay, this time to November 7, 2025. Blade was also given an R-rating, intending to be the second R-rated MCU movie after Deadpool & Wolverine. A month later, Ali said he was encouraged by the movie’s direction. By this point, though, Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre were no longer attached to Blade. In 2024, Blade hit another setback. Yann Demange left in mid-March, but it wasn’t revealed until a few months later. He had grown frustrated with how long it was taking to develop Blade. Frustration and uncertainty were growing as Demange’s departure right before filming meant Blade would not meet its November 2025 release date. Eric Pearson was brought in to rewrite Blade for a modern-day setting. That same summer, Wesley Snipes returned as Blade from the original Blade trilogy in Deadpool & Wolverine, giving a hilarious meta line about there being one Blade and always will be.
It seemed Blade was in a state of limbo. By October 2024, Blade was removed from Marvel and Disney’s schedule. Feige intended to make the movie, but they had several rewrites and struggled to find a director after the first 2 directors left. There were even rumors that Blade could appear in another movie before his own solo movie. By 2026, Blade was basically cancelled. In July 2026, Feige said he felt like a failure for not making Blade. Not too long afterward, Mahershala Ali said he moved on from Blade. This confirmed Blade was cancelled. Ali would later appear in Bassam Tariq’s movie Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a movie Ali said was made because he and Tariq never made Blade.
Blade never being made is one of the few failures for Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios was able to get Shang-Chi, the Fantastic Four, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s variants of Spider-Man, and other characters into the MCU, but not Blade. Soon, they will have a new X-Men and Ghost Rider. Now, Blade could very well appear in the MCU later on, but it won’t be Mahershala Ali. Marvel should have done more to get Blade made. Yes, certain things like COVID-19 and the 2023 Strikes were out of the control of Marvel Studios and the team working on Blade, but it didn’t stop other movies from being made in the MCU. Many movies confirmed after 2019 came out without any problems or with a few problems. This is a reminder that no studio or franchise is perfect.
Are you disappointed that Mahershala Ali’s Blade will never happen? Let us know in the comments below.
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