The MCU’s Blade movie has spent years in development hell, and Mahershala Ali’s latest comments on the project are far from encouraging. Speaking to Variety at the premiere of the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, Ali responded to a question regarding the Blade project’s status, stating “Call Marvel”, while adding “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready”. While Ali’s comment indicates that he remains committed to the role of Blade, it also seems to indicate that Blade is, at best, probably on the MCU’s backburner.
Marvel’s Blade movie was first announced at Marvel Studios’ panel at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con. Ali, who previously portrayed the villainous Cottonmouth on the Marvel-Netflix streaming series Luke Cage, appeared on stage alongside Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to announce his involvement as the MCU’s Daywalker. However, in the six years since, the Blade movie has failed to gain any real traction towards entering production. Additionally, in the time that Marvel Studios’ Blade movie has failed to materialize, OG Blade Wesley Snipes made a surprise return as the Daywalker in Marvel’s 2024 multiverse action-comedy Deadpool & Wolverine.
In Deadpool & Wolverine, Snipes’ Blade along with other past Marvel Comics movie alumni like Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Dafne Keen’s X-23, and even Channing Tatum’s never-realized Gambit are each pruned from their respective universes by the TVA and dropped into a wasteland known as the Void, joining forces with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to stop the sinister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Snipes’ Blade even ventured into Deadpool-style fourth-wall-breaking on the Blade project’s struggles, commenting that despite the many variants of other Marvel superheroes in the multiverse, “There’s only been one Blade, there’s only ever gonna be one Blade”.
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Prior to the first Snipes-led Blade movie, Blade was a largely unknown Marvel character to the general public, his only major appearance out of the comics being a guest-starring role on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That changed with the release of Blade in 1998, which launched the Daywalker to mainstream attention as Marvel’s sword-wielding vampire hunter with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses of vampires, save their thirst for human blood that Blade tries to suppress with a specially made serum.
Snipes reprised the role in 2002’s Blade II and 2004’s Blade: Trinity, with the latter’s infamous production troubles and box office downturn putting an end to the franchise. Since then, it seems that Snipes and Reynolds have buried the hatchet on their reported clashes during the production of Blade: Trinity, with Reynolds personally calling Snipes up to return for Deadpool & Wolverine, and Reynolds even calling for Marvel Studios to greenlight a Logan-style send-off for Snipes’ Blade.
In the six years since its announcement, it has been incredibly puzzling as to why Marvel Studios’ Blade movie with an Academy Award winner like Mahershala Ali has experienced so many roadblocks (even original Blade trilogy screenwriter David S. Goyer has expressed his confusion). While Ali stills seems enthusiastic about portraying the Daywalker in a more comprehensive manner than his voice cameo in Eternals – Ali’s only MCU performance as Blade to date – his words also paint the MCU Blade movie as losing any kind of priority status at Marvel Studios. In any case, with Ali continuing his career in Jurassic World Rebirth and other projects, Marvel Studios might need to buckle down on making the Blade project happen, or Reynolds’ proposed send-off movie for Snipes’ Blade might start to look like the more realistic option.
The Blade movies are all available to rent on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.
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