It’s been six years since Mahershala Ali took the San Diego Comic-Con stage in 2019 and made Marvel fans lose their minds after announcing he’d play Blade. Six years later, the only thing he’s probably killed is his own patience. Yet somehow, against all odds, the Blade reboot is still not dead. Or at least, that’s what Mia Goth says.
In a recent interview with Elle, Goth insisted she’s still attached to play Lilith, the vampiric villainess after the blood of Blade’s daughter, and that Marvel’s vampire slayer movie is “still happening.” She even added, “It’s for the best that it’s taken the time that it has. They want to do it right.”
This thing’s been in creative limbo longer than most Hollywood marriages last. Since that 2019 announcement, Blade has gone through at least six writers (Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo, Nic Pizzolatto, and now Eric Pearson) and three directors, with Cary Fukunaga rumored to have been in the mix before walking away over creative control. Bassam Tariq dropped out in 2022, Yann Demange bailed in 2024, and Marvel quietly yanked the project from its schedule.
And yet, here we are, still talking about the MCU’s Blade.
According to reports, the latest script from Eric Pearson ditches the 1920s setting for the present day. The budget hovers around $80 million, it’s still R-rated, and yes, Mahershala Ali remains attached, though at one point he was reportedly “increasingly frustrated” by the lack of movement. Can you blame him? Imagine being an Oscar-winning actor waiting half a decade to swing a sword at vampires.
Kevin Feige recently joked that Blade was delayed because Marvel gave away its costumes to Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a movie that also featured vampires. It’s a funny line, but behind the humor was a real update: Marvel has officially decided the film takes place in the modern day. It’s not much, but it’s something. At least now they know when Blade is hunting vampires.
And that tiny step forward matters. It shows Marvel hasn’t buried Blade entirely. After a string of messy delays, WGA and SAG strikes, and casting shakeups that saw Aaron Pierre and Delroy Lindo exit, the film finally has direction again.
Meanwhile, fans haven’t forgotten the OG Daywalker. Wesley Snipes even returned for a quick cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, cracking, “There’s only been one Blade, there’s only ever gonna be one Blade.” Hard to argue with that. Snipes’ original Blade trilogy practically saved Marvel’s cinematic future before the MCU even existed.
At this point, with all the multiverse shenanigans, they might as well have Wesley Snipes fighting alongside Ali in the Blade reboot. Two Blades. One movie. Plenty of action. Take my money!
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