The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blade reboot, meant to star Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali as the new Daywalker, has been in development hell for years. Every update for the movie feels like further evidence that the project has been scrapped, and now a surprising connection to Ryan Coogler’s hit movie Sinners spells more bad news for Blade. With portents of doom already heavy in the air, the latest news has sent Marvel fans spiralling at the prospect that we’ll never get to see Ali’s Blade in action.
Speaking to ScreenCrush, Sinners producer Sev Ohanian revealed a “fun Marvel Easter egg,” saying Marvel Studios had sold all of the costumes originally made for the Blade reboot to the Sinners production team. Ohanian, also an executive producer for the latest MCU Disney+ series Ironheart, said that some of the costumes worn by extras in Coogler’s vampiric Southern Gothic film came from the Blade project:
“[Costume designer] Ruth Carter was working on the Blade movie that ended up not shooting, which I think they’re still gonna make. I’m not sure what the schedules [are] with that,” Ohanian said. “But at one point… that film was going to deal with the past, around the same era as Sinners. She happened to have a warehouse full of period-appropriate clothes, and it was like, ‘Yo, we gotta shoot this movie, like, tomorrow,’ and Marvel was generous enough and kind enough to let us basically purchase it at price. A lot of the background actors in our movie are wearing those clothes, so, special shout-out to Marvel for making that happen.”
The Blade reboot was reportedly intended to take place in the 1920s, and two-time Oscar-winning costume designer (Black Panther, Wakanda Forever) Carter was attached to the movie. “I was prepping Blade for Marvel, and it was a 1920s Blade story,” Carter said at the time. After the project fell into limbo, Carter was later approached by the Cooglers about Sinners.
“Having done a lot of research for this period piece about a vampire — Blade is a vampire story,” Carter said. “Ryan’s wife, Zinzi, who also was a producer on [Sinners], she gave me a call and said, ‘Ryan has a story he’s going to tell you about … It is a period piece about vampires.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, I have already been living in that space for quite a long time prepping Blade, and Blade‘s not going to happen, so let me hear it.’”
“I couldn’t believe he was not only doing a period piece, but he was doing a vampire film,” she continued. “If I were to guess what his next film after Black Panther [Wakanda Forever] would have been, I don’t know if I would have gone into that space.”
Somewhat inevitably, the news has sparked social media reactions focused on the possibility that Blade won’t happen at all. The MCU Subreddit’s top trending thread is currently dedicated to that very possibility. And as ever, the question of why it’s so difficult to make a Blade movie is ringing loud in the discussion.
Last month, Ali was asked about the Blade reboot during the premiere of Jurassic World Rebirth and made it clear he is still on board to take on the iconic role. “Call Marvel,” Ali told Variety. “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.” Ali appeared on stage at Marvel Studios’ 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel to help announce the project alongside Kevin Feige, which has apparently fallen on the back burner over the last six years.
In April, Sinners star Delroy Lindo confirmed that he was no longer involved with Blade. “When Marvel came to me, they seemed to be really interested in my input,” Lindo said. “And in the various conversations I had with producers, the writer, the director at the time, it was all leading into being very inclusive. It was really exciting conceptually, but it was also exciting in terms of the character that was going to form. And then, for whatever reason, it just went off the rails.”
Sinners is available to stream on HBO Max beginning Friday, July 4th. The original Blade trilogy starring Wesley Snipes is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
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