Unbelievable: 5 Years After Signing, This Actor Still Hasn’t Started Filming Highly Anticipated Marvel Film

Blade to the wad

Blade is a bit of what we call an Arlesienne: a project that we've heard about for ages, but which still hasn't come to fruition. In the past, it was Wesley Snipes who played this vampire hunter who was also a half-bloodsucker: for years – 5 years precisely – Marvel has wanted to reboot the character by entrusting him to Mahershala Ali, including him in the process in its MCU.

But then, how is it possible that a feature film announced five years ago, and which should have been released for a long time, has still not arrived on our screens? When we know Marvel's ease in releasing random projects, this seems like an anomaly. A bug in the system that even impresses Shelby Weiser, Mahershala Ali's lawyerwho spoke briefly during a report by The Hollywood Reporter on lawyers in the entertainment industry.

That deal happened in 2019 and they still haven't closed it, which is probably the craziest thing in my career.

An unofficial concept art of Blade played by Mahershala Ali

Good things come to those who wait for

It must be said that Blade's journey has been strewn with pitfalls. Announced in 2019 during San Diego Comic-Conthe project has already had to face a major problem: the COVID-19 crisis, which simply paused the industry for a while. We will have to wait until February 2021 for Stacy Osei-Kuffour, screenwriter of Watchmen (a very nice achievement which only promised good things) to start writing the film.

In September 2021, we learned that Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) was given the position of director. The problem is that there have been an impressive number of changes within the production: turnovers as you name it and a lot of creative dissonance too. Enough to push Tariq to take off and Marvel to completely reorganize its vision of the site.

Marvel's Blade, video game developed by Arkane Lyon and published by Bethesda

So, again: in November 2022, Yann Demange was appointed director and Michael Starrbury also started working on a new script for Blade… until another duo, that of Nic Pizzolatto and Michael Green , will also start writing in April and November 2023. And again, all of this has obviously not been retained (yet) or finalized and we have just learned that Eric Pearson (Thor Ragnarok, Black Widow and also in charge of the next Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four) is also tackling the script for Blade. The same goes for Yann Demange, who simply left the ship this year due to the slow pace of the project.

Meanwhile, Mahershala Ali is waiting. It's difficult to plan and make a film when it hasn't been written for half a decade; Moreover, the actor has already expressed his annoyance several times in recent years. What is certain is that Blade should be part of a rather dark and violent vision: it will be stamped Marvel Spotlight, a label recently created for more mature MCU films and series like Echo, but also the next Daredevil Born Again. Blade will normally arrive in November 2025… well, maybe, because it still doesn't have a director.

Buy Blade on 4K Blu-Ray on Amazon