Well, it’s happened. Over five years since it was first announced and three months on from Deadpool & Wolvverine slyly predicting its failure, Marvel’s Blade reboot has officially been pulled from the MCU’s upcoming slate.
Disney has updated its upcoming Marvel Studios schedule, and this includes removing the long-suffering Mahershala Ali-starring movie from the face of Earth-616. Through multiple creative overhauls — two directors have come and gone and a total of six writers have worked on the script — Blade has clung onto its intended release date of Nov. 7, 2025, but now that promise has turned to ash, like a freshly staked vampire. It is currently unclear what other project in the works, if any, Disney plans to shift around in order to fill this slot.
It’s fair to say on the scale of shocking Marvel developments, there is Robert Downey Jr. coming back as Doctor Doom on one side and this all the way over on the other. Many a fan reaction is the “pretend to be shocked” meme in action.
Some are more interested in how Blade being removed could cause the rest of Marvel’s 2025 slate to fall like a house of cards. Don’t forget, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled for next July, despite the fact that it’s currently filming. It’s not all that far-fetched that this fellow reboot could get pushed back and take over Blade‘s spot.
Someone who is disappointed by the news is Beau DeMayo, the fired X-Men ’97 showrunner who was one of those aforementioned half a dozen writers to work on Blade‘s screenplay at one stage.
Yet again, we are left to wonder why this project is proving so dang hard to make. It’s not like Marvel needs to reinvent the wheel on this one. There’s three whole movies already in existence that they can use as a guide (you can stream them all on Max). As one fan aptly put it, “He hunts vampires what is so hard.”
You know things are bad when Marvel itself calls the downfall of the Blade reboot before it becomes official. “There’s only ever gonna be one Blade,” Wesley Snipes’ Daywalker declared in Deadpool & Wolverine, earning a loaded look to the camera from Ryan Reynolds. The longer we wait for a positive update on the Ali film, the more accurate Snipes’ prediction proves to be.
As things currently stand, Blade has Thunderbolts* scribe Eric Pearson working on the script. The director’s chair remains empty, but Ali at least has one co-star still attached as Mia Goth remains on board to play the villain. Delroy Lindo, however, was supposed to appear, but he ducked out in the most ironic of moves — instead he’s making another vampire movie, alongside Marvel’s own Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan.
With no release date or director attached, there’s every chance that Blade will remain in its coffin for the rest of time and never see the light of day. It’s not the first MCU movie to stumble on its way to screens — R.I.P. Vin Diesel’s Inhumans — but it is the first one the MCU has directly lampooned in another of its own productions. The Snipes jab could’ve acted as a galvanizing force for Marvel to prove Deadpool wrong, but as it happens it was the final nail in said coffin.
