Mahershala Ali’s Blade movie is no more, as the star has revealed he is no longer a part of the long-gestating reboot – a project that has been troubled since its announcement in 2019.
Speaking during an interview with GQ, Ali stated that he has officially moved on from the project. “For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it,” he said. “So I have to move on, and I have moved on… Again, you had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie. So we’re not doing the movie … But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn’t want to do it, so they should answer that question.”
Ali’s comments follows that of Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, who spoke on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he felt like a “gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get [Blade] off the ground with Mahershala”.
Marvel’s Blade reboot was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, but the project has since hit numerous hurdles, including losing two directors – first Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) and then his replacement, Yann Demange (Lovecraft Country) – alongside the film’s composer, Steven Ellison (better known as Flying Lotus or FlyLo). While the film hasn’t been explicitly cancelled, losing its lead hero will no doubt signal the final nail in the coffin, so the future of the project remains up in the air.
Ali did have a voice cameo as Blade in the post-credits scene for 2021’s Eternals, following which the character was once again portrayed by original franchise star Wesley Snipes in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, but now, it looks like Ali is completely done with the role.
This news also comes on the heels of another Marvel cancellation, as the studio recently announced that its award-winning Wonder Man Disney+ series, which had previously been renewed for a second season, would now end after Season 1.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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