While many Marvel Cinematic Universe projects are greenlit and even rushed into development to keep up with the demand of Marvel fans, not all projects are so quickly put together, and that includes one long-awaited MCU movie. Fortunately, as confirmed by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, this MCU movie that’s suffered a rather difficult development cycle is still happening and it hasn’t been canceled.
Feige revealed this exciting news while speaking with reporters. There were plenty of issues plaguing this project over the last few years, but Feige has commented to assure fans that not only is the movie still happening – but that the lead star is still attached.
As such, it should only be a matter of time before the film finally gets off the ground.
Here’s what was shared by Variety:
“Mahershala is still attached,” Feige told journalists, referring to star Mahershala Ali who was attached to a new Blade movie quite a few years ago now. Many fans felt as though the actor would have finally left the project, something which seemed likely after several delays, but it looks like he’s still eager to play the part previously played by Wesley Snipes (and as recently as Deadpool & Wolverine.)
Feige first joked that the delays were due to costumes from one abandoned iteration being given to Ryan Coogler for use in Sinners. Coogler previously directed the Black Panther films for Marvel Studios and eventually did his own vampire movie with Sinners, so it’s quite appropriate that the unused Blade costumes were used for that production.
Nevertheless, Feige then adds that the actual delays were caused by the studio’s eagerness to focus on quantity over quality. With so many projects being put out to keep up with the demand for content on Disney Plus, he didn’t want to rush out a Blade movie:
“We didn’t want to simply just put a leather outfit on him and have him start killing vampires. It had to be unique,” Feige explained. “It fell into the time when we started pulling back and saying, ‘Only accept insanely great.’ And it wasn’t ‘insanely great’ at the time.”
He continued to emphasize the necessity of making sure everything was great and perfect for Blade:
“We didn’t feel like, as we often do, you can have a good script and make it a great script through production. We didn’t feel confident that we could do that on ‘Blade,’ and we didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us.”
“We’ve landed on modern day,” Feige confirmed as well, referring to when Blade will take place. Several drafts of the film would have made the movie a period piece, and while it’s decided it will take place in the present, this is why Coogler was able to use the previous costumes made for the production in Sinners.
Ultimately, it looks like there’s still plenty of work to be done regarding Blade, especially without a director attached. Hopefully this is reassuring for fans who feared the MCU movie was canceled, however, and also reassures that Ali Mahershala is still attached to play the titular vampire hunter.