UPDATE 7/31: Mahershala Ali has answered the question himself. Ali tells GQ he has officially moved on from Blade, saying Marvel had him under contract, has billions of dollars, and “didn’t want to do it.” If Blade shows up in Doomsday or Secret Wars, it won’t be Ali. Read Ali’s full comments here.
Kevin Feige is finally owning up to the Blade disaster.
Speaking with Josh Horowitz, the Marvel Studios boss got hit with the question fans have wanted answered for years, with Horowitz jokingly asking how much time in therapy Feige has spent talking about Blade.
“Oh, therapy, should we get into a therapy session?” Feige joked before getting surprisingly candid about the project that has been stuck in development hell since it was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con all the way back in 2019.
“I mean, we all want it, Mahershala wants it,” Horowitz said. “How are you feeling at this moment?”
Feige replied: “I’m feeling very excited that we got Wesley back for a time in Deadpool & Wolverine, and like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.”
That’s about as honest as Feige has ever been about Blade, which has burned through multiple directors and at least a half dozen writers, with Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange both exiting the project and the film getting pulled off the release calendar entirely.
Horowitz: “We All Want It, Mahershala Wants It”
That was Horowitz’s framing during the exchange, and Feige didn’t push back, so hopefully it is still something Marvel wants to make.
Notice what Feige didn’t say, though: nothing about the movie being in active development, and he spoke about Mahershala Ali’s Blade entirely in the past tense.
There’s still no script, no director, and no release date. Sound familiar?
It’s the same story we’ve been hearing since 2019, and Ali has now been attached to the role for seven years without shooting a single frame as the Daywalker (his voice cameo in Eternals notwithstanding).
Could Mahershala Ali Debut in Doomsday or Secret Wars?
Here’s the thing worth watching: Feige confirmed to Horowitz that Avengers: Doomsday is definitely sticking to its release date, and with Secret Wars following as a single film (Feige shot down the two-movie split, saying “Not this world”), Marvel has two massive multiversal event movies on deck that are pulling in characters from every corner of the franchise.
So maybe the play here is that Ali finally suits up as Blade in Doomsday or Secret Wars.
If Marvel can’t get a solo movie off the ground, debuting the character in an Avengers event film would be the fastest way to finally deliver on that 2019 announcement, and it would let a post-Secret Wars MCU launch Blade fresh on the other side.
Feige also told Horowitz he’s looking to the comics, particularly the Jonathan Hickman Secret Wars from ten years ago, as “a nice roadmap to where we can go,” which conveniently offers a built-in reset for characters like Blade who never got their shot in this iteration of the MCU.
Worth noting: Feige also said no X-Men actors are necessarily signed on right now, so casting across the board for the post-Secret Wars era still appears to be in flux.
Wesley Snipes returned as Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine and stole the show, so the appetite for the character is obviously there.
Now Feige just has to actually make the movie. Or at this point, just put Ali in Doomsday and be done with it.
