Way back at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Marvel Studios announced it would be making a brand-new film featuring Mahershala Ali as the vampire hunter, Blade. 

However, over the last five years, this project has experienced many issues during its development, including the pandemic and last summer’s writer/actor strikes.

Back in 2021, Bassam Tariq was hired to be the director for the film but stepped away from the project and was replaced by Yann Demange in 2022.  However, Deadline has now revealed that Yann Demange has now also left the “Blade” project.

Over the years, many writers have worked on the film, including Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Green, and Eric Pearson.

While we’ve not seen “Blade” appear on screen within the MCU yet, the character did appear during the post-credit scene of “Eternals”, when Mahershala Ali made his MCU debut in an uncredited voice-over scene.

Filming on “Blade” was slated to begin later this year, but I can’t help but feel like this film is going to get delayed again.

Currently, “Blade” is scheduled to be released in cinemas on November 7th, 2025, though the film has already gone through a number of release dates, as it was originally supposed to be released in November 2023.

With Disney’s new plan to release only two or three Marvel films a year, as part of its quality over quantity approach, Marvel already has three films planned for 2025, including “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts,” both of which have been filmed, and “Fantastic Four,” which is due to begin filming soon. However, I could also see this one bumped back from the summer if “Blade” moves again.

Roger’s Take: Marvel really can’t catch a break with “Blade”. Personally, I think it’s time Marvel just popped this project on the shelf and come back to it with some fresh eyes after the Multiverse Saga is over. Also with Mahershala Ali now being over fifty years old, is he just too old to be just starting? By the time this film is made and released, if we ever see him again in a sequel, he’ll be in his sixties!

What do you think Marvel should do with “Blade”? Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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