It was nearly seven years ago that Kevin Feige went on stage at Comic-Con, during Marvel Studios’ post-Endgame victory lap. The big surprise at the end of that panel was when Feige brought Oscar-winning Mahershala Ali out on stage, to announce that he would be the MCU’s vampire hunter Blade in a new solo movie. But all these years later, that movie never materialized. And it might be the biggest ‘wtf’ of the MCU, as it’s a movie that shouldn’t be that hard to crack. And while promoting Spider-Man: Brand New Day on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, (via Variety) Feige finally was blunt about when asked about how he feels about not bringing Ali’s Blade to the screen
I am feeling very excited that we got Wesley back for Deadpool & Wolverine. And I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.
Well, at least Feige didn’t mince words and lay the blame on anyone else. The buck stops with him, as head of Marvel Studios, which we can admire. We noticed Feige mentioned Mahershala Ali’s involvement in the past tense, suggesting he’s lost hope of Ali portraying the Daywalker. Which is a huge bummer if you ask us. Bassam Tariq then signed on to direct another version of Blade, but he exited in September 2022, a mere two months before shooting. And that was just the start of the problems.
A metric ton of screenwriters later took a stab at Blade, including ousted X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo. But nothing panned out. Yann Demange came on board as director after Tariq’s exit, but by late 2024, he dropped out too. Sets and costumes made for Blade, which was going to be a period piece set in the 1920s at one point, were made. Funnily enough, they ended up in a different vampire movie from a Marvel director, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. After all that back and forth, Marvel Studios officially took Blade off the schedule last year. Although Feige said last year it would still happen. We think eventually, it will. But it seems the version with Mahershala Ali is a ship that has sailed.