After nearly six and a half of ice skating up hill, Marvel Studios pulled Mahershala Ali‘s Blade off its theatrical slate in 2025. Production on the project was delayed multiple times beginning with the decision of original director Bassam Tariq to leave the film in 2022. At least five different writers have taken a turn on the script after original scribe Stacey Osei-Koffour parted ways with the project, with Marvel Studios’ vet Eric Pearson (Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps) having most recently penned a draft. Without a director since Tariq’s replacement, Yann Demange, bailed in June 2024, there was simply no way Blade was making it in front of cameras and plans reportedly shifted toward the character debuting in the ensemble Midnight Sons film.
Despite all the writers who took turns working on it, a solid script for Blade never materialized. “You can start and have a good script and make it a great script through production, but we didn’t feel confident we could do that on Blade,” said Feige during a 2025 event at Marvel HQ. “We didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us.“ Since then, Marvel’s Big Cheese has stayed silent on the project until now.
While talking with Josh Horowitz during an interview for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Feige candidly revealed how he’s feeling about the struggles to get the movie to the big screen.
“I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala,” said Feige.
It’s an understandable sentiment, with Ali only having one faceless appearance since being announced as the Daywalker in 2019; however, with an upcoming appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars and Midnight Sons rumored to be in the works, maybe Feige can feel better soon.
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