Mahershala Ali signals end of Marvel’s Blade reboot
Developed over time first seen 3 months ago
Mahershala Ali has said he is ready to stop answering questions about Marvel Studios’ abandoned Blade reboot, saying the film would have been made if the studio had wanted to proceed. His comments point to the effective end of a project announced in 2019 and suggest he no longer expects to play the vampire hunter.
Ali said he trained for Blade for more than a year before using those skills for Bassam Tariq’s forthcoming Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. The reboot faced repeated delays, the exits of directors Tariq and Yann Demange, and disruption from the 2023 WGA strike; Marvel president Kevin Feige has called its failure a major personal disappointment.
- Ali considers Marvel’s Blade reboot finished.
- The project was announced in 2019.
- He is focusing on original work instead.
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Blade is a Marvel character who first appeared in comic books in the 1970s. He is a vampire hunter with some vampire abilities, and was previously played on screen by Wesley Snipes in a trilogy of films released between 1998 and 2004.
Marvel Studios announced a new Blade film in 2019 with Mahershala Ali, an Oscar-winning actor known for Moonlight and Green Book, in the lead role. The project has been in development for several years, with different writers and directors attached at different stages.
Marvel Studios is the film and television division behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which links many of its superhero stories. Delays or cancellations can affect its wider release plans, while Blade has also been closely watched because it was expected to bring a well-known character back to cinemas with a new actor.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
When a major production suffers multiple director departures, sustained delays, and industry-wide disruption, accumulated setbacks often signal a project unlikely to succeed. Marvel's pragmatic decision to redirect resources represents sound business stewardship, particularly given that Kevin Feige, the initiative's strongest internal advocate, has publicly acknowledged it as a personal disappointment. Recognising when circumstances no longer support a production's viability and moving forward is frequently the most professionally prudent course.
The case against
Blade represents valuable intellectual property with established audience appeal that warrants persistence through production challenges. Director changes and scheduling delays are routinely navigated successfully across major studio filmmaking; the WGA strike affected all productions industry-wide, not uniquely this one. Abandoning the project after significant investment signals either insufficient commitment to the character or doubts about Marvel's capacity to execute ambitious Black-led films, which contradicts stated commitments to diverse storytelling.
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Originally published by Deadline as “Mahershala Ali Calls Out Marvel & Is “Ready To Move On” From ‘Blade’ Questions: “If They Wanted To Do The Movie, We Would’ve Done The Movie””.