How hard can it be to make a Blade movie? Score a director with some horror and action experience, invest in long leather coats, put a bunch of stuntpeople in vampire costumes, stick on some pumping music, and *bam* box office gold.
But, sadly, it seems even the relatively well-oiled production pipeline that is Marvel Studios can’t make this simple proposition work. In 2019 Mahershala Ali was unveiled as the MCU’s Daywalker to great fanfare but (save for a tiny voiceover cameo in an Eternals credits scene) that’s it.
Since then Blade has been trapped in development hell, losing its original director Bassam Tariq, having its production start date repeatedly pushed back, several total script rewrites, and was severely affected by the Hollywood strikes. On top of all that we recently learned that a draft of the Blade script relegated the character to “the fourth lead” in “a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons.”
Just show me a badass in sunglasses staking eurotrash vampires to dance music — how is this so difficult?!
As such, many fans have given up on the movie, particularly as it’ll now arrive in early 2025 (unless there are more delays, which, let’s face it, there almost certainly will be).
Fortunately, there’s a silver lining to this cloud in the form of Marvel’s Blade, a new game from Dishonored and Deathloop developers Arkane Lyon. This was unveiled at The Game Awards in early Dec. 2023 and, though the trailer merely showcased the aesthetic rather than the gameplay, it’s looking like the full-blooded Blade adventure Marvel Studios has failed to deliver.
The game itself is clearly still some way away, but the game’s Artist and Co-Creative Director Sebastien Mitton has just given us a little taste of what else to expect courtesy of some killer concept art. Check it out:
This confirms the Parisian setting shown in the trailer and appears to show Blade staking out (sorry) a vampire nightclub, then battling through the Paris Metro. The fan reaction is, as you’d expect, that this “looks sick.”
Any seasoned Blade fan will know that the high point of all material involving the character to date is the iconic “blood rave” scene that opens the 1997’s Blade. To the sound of Pump Panel’s 1990s rave hit “Confusion” the Daywalker strolls into an abbatoir turned nightclub and cleans house.
The simple fact that Arkane Lyon has gone out of their way to confirm a nightclub scene is an indication they’re taking a leaf from the Wesley Snipes movies. Here’s hoping those three movies are being picked over with a fine toothcomb for fun moments to translate into the game.
And as for the beleaguered Marvel Studios Blade? Well, as of Nov. 2023 it was headed back to the script stage for a full rewrite, doesn’t have a date scheduled to begin production, and its star Mahershala Ali will be in his fifties by the time it begins. Perhaps it’s time for Kevin Feige to cut his losses and jam a stake through the heart of this cursed production.
We’d be sad at never seeing Ali play the role, but this badass-looking video game looks like it’s set to fully satisfy all of our Blade-related cravings for the foreseeable future. Here’s hoping we see more of it very soon.
