Marvel’s Blade, first announced in 2019, has once again been delayed. The reboot of the franchise that is set to bring the daywalker and vampire killer into the Marvel Cinematic Universe was set to arrive in 2025, but now doesn’t have a release date.
On October 22, as reported by Deadline, Disney and Marvel removed the long-awaited Blade reboot from its schedule of upcoming movie releases. The plan was for Blade to arrive in theaters on November 7, 2025. But that’s not happening now and instead Predator: Badlands has taken that spot while Blade no longer has a release date at all. It’s just the latest roadblock for the comic book movie since it was announced five years ago at San Diego Comic Con 2019.
In February 2021, Stacy Osei-Kuffour was hired to write the film and Bassam Tariq was hired to direct it. However, Tariq left Blade in September of 2022 due to scheduling issues and creative differences. So Yann Demange was tapped by Marvel to direct the movie in November 2022 and Michael Starrbury was hired to rewrite the script. Then Michael Green was hired to write a totally new script in November 2023. After all that, Demange exited Blade in June 2024 as another writer who worked on the upcoming MCU Fantastic Four movie, Eric Pearson, was brought in for more rewrites. Production was also delayed by the covid-19 pandemic and the writer’s strike in 2023.
After all this behind-the-scenes turbulence, Blade is still set to star Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire killer after Wesley Snipes famously played Blade in a trilogy of films by New Line Cinema. However, reports are that Ali is understandably upset about the delays, and I bet he’s not pleased about this latest delay bumping the movie out of 2025.
With Marvel reining in its output and producing fewer MCU movies and shows each year, I’m hopeful that the company can take its time and make sure Blade is worth the wait. But I also worry that the involvement of so many people may lead to it feeling less like a cohesive movie and more like a jarring series of scenes that have been awkwardly stitched together.
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