Seriously, Why Is Blade So Hard For The MCU To Bring Back?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has had a Blade reboot in the works for years, but the Daywalker’s proper entry into the franchise has been a frustratingly slow one that still has not fully gotten off the ground. Blade was once a lesser-known Marvel superhero, with even most comic book readers being unfamiliar with his backstory, and Blade’s most substantial pop culture impact arguably came in his appearance in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the mid-90s. That finally changed in 1998 with the release of the Wesley Snipes-led Blade, which combined Hong Kong-style martial arts action with vampire movie thrills and superhero movie trappings to launch Blade into the mainstream, helping to pave the way for the modern comic book movie boom in the process.

Long after the end of the original Blade trilogy and the short-lived Blade: The Series starring Kirk “Sticky-Fingaz” Jones, the Daywalker has been on the bench of the superhero movie golden age – and despite the announcement of an MCU Blade reboot, Blade’s sabbatical from vampire hunting seems no closer to ending in the midst of the movie’s development hell.

In a recent interview with Variety, Aaron Pierre announced his departure from Marvel Studios’ Blade film, stating, “Early on, there were conversations. As the project evolved, I’m no longer part of that – attached.” It isn’t entirely clear from Pierre’s statement why the evolving nature of the Blade reboot has led to his departure from the film, but what is clear is that it is the latest indicator that Blade has indeed gone through significant creative hurdles behind the scenes.

What makes that even more confounding is not only how much of a key pillar Blade is to Marvel’s gradual rise to becoming a cinematic powerhouse, but just how long it has been since the new MCU Blade movie has been announced, and how little Marvel Studios has to show for it.

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The Blade reboot was first announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, with Mahershala Ali brought on stage alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to be revealed as the new Blade. Even if Blade finally gets in front of the cameras by the time of 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con, it will have been a whopping six years – or the entire timespan of the MCU’s Phases Two and Three combined – from Blade’s announcement to the reboot finally just entering production.

In that time, the most audiences have seen or heard of Ali’s Blade has been through a voice cameo in the end-credits scene of 2021’s Eternals; with Ali’s auditory appearance being so ambiguous, it’s reasonable to assume many moviegoers probably didn’t know it was Blade at all until reading online commentary and coverage of it.

To be fair, there have been some real-world complications that surely would have slowed Blade’s development, not the least of which was the COVID-19 pandemic breaking out just eight months after Blade’s 2019 announcement. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes also brought Hollywood to a virtual standstill for much of the year. Still, even with these external factors, Blade has taken an excruciatingly long time simply getting up to the start line, with reports of major script disagreements and Mahershala Ali coming close to departing the project altogether at one point.

While creative disagreement on major superhero tentpoles is hardly uncommon, it’s become crystal clear that the difficulties in realizing the Blade reboot are far from normal creative differences. What makes it that much more frustrating for Blade fans is how clearly the original Blade set the template for how to do the character justice cinematically. While 2004’s Blade: Trinity did the Daywalker no favours, each Blade movie kicks off with Blade doing what he does best – tracking down another vampire horde and putting down scores of Nosferatu before moving into his main mission of the film.

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Admittedly, inserting Blade into an ongoing cinematic universe full of superheroes makes his return to cinema screens more complex, but the simple starting point of “Blade slays vampires and looks cool while doing it” is perfect for any iteration of the character. If Marvel Studios hasn’t already begun building their Blade reboot from that basic foundation, the time has long since come for them to do so.