Marvel’s ‘Blade’ removed from Disney release schedule
It was during San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 that Marvel announced two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali would play the superhero Blade in a new Marvel film set to arrive in theaters potentially as soon as late 2021 or early 2022.
Now five years later, Ali’s stab at Blade remains unmade. On Tuesday, Disney quietly announced that it had pulled the Marvel film from its scheduled release date of November 7, 2025. No new date has been publicly announced.
Progress on “Blade” has been slow and unsteady. Since the announcement in 2019, the project has cycled through two directors – Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange – and several writers. Ali was originally supposed to star alongside Aaron Pierre and Delroy Lindo in the film but both actors have since departed the project. Mia Goth was still attached, however, when she was doing press for “Maxxxine” this past summer.
“They really care, they do. They want to make a great movie. That’s the sense that I get from them and that feels good,” Goth said to Deadline about Marvel and the potential project.
Ali has similarly expressed optimism in the past, telling Entertainment Weekly in late 2023 that “Blade” development was moving apace. “We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you,” the actor said. “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon.”
In place of “Blade,” Disney scheduled “Predator: Badlands” for release. The film is a follow-up to “Prey,” the Hulu-only revamp of the Predator franchise directed by Dan Trachtenberg. The filmmaker is back behind the camera for this installment as well.
Disney also placed three other untitled Marvel movies on the calendar for February 18, 2028, May 5, 2028, and November 10, 2028
Ali, an Oscar winner for “Moonlight” and “Green Book,” has sort of played Blade already for Marvel. His voice was heard in the post-credits scene for “Eternals,” Chloe Zhao’s infamous MCU attempt. (There are no plans for another entry in the “Eternals” franchise.) But while Ali hasn’t gotten to embody the vampire hunter onscreen for Marvel in the last five years, the character has been a part of the franchise thanks to Wesley Snipes. The original Blade actor, who appeared in three Blade films from the late ‘90s to mid-’00s, was part of this summer’s blockbuster hit ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Snipes reprised his role in the film with a meta-wink at his past association with the character and the future to come. “There’s only been one Blade. There’s only ever gonna be one Blade,” Snipes-as-Blade said in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Maybe he’s right.