Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has essentially confirmed what many had long suspected: the “Blade” reboot that was supposed to star Mahershala Ali is dead.
Speaking on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Feige said bluntly, “I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.”
So there you have it: “Blade,” the long-gestating, frequently rewritten, and possibly cursed MCU reboot, has made Feige feel like a real loser. It’s not happening. Fans will be crushed; the rest of us will move on with our lives.
Since the project was first announced at Comic-Con 2019, delays have piled up — COVID, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, multiple rewrites, casting changes, and director departures. Aaron Pierre and Delroy Lindo both exited the film, while Mia Goth and Mahershala Ali remained attached.
The project went through countless drafts and an ever-changing roster of directors. The most glaring recent sign of trouble came when costume designer Ruth E. Carter’s period wardrobe for “Blade” was repurposed for Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.”
The film cycled through no fewer than six writers — Michael Green, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Beau DeMayo, Nic Pizzolatto, and Eric Pearson — as well as at least three directors: Bassam Tariq, Yann Demange, and Cary Fukunaga, the latter of whom never officially signed on but was reportedly in talks before walking away over creative-control concerns.
Meanwhile, reports indicated that Ali — the two-time Oscar-winning actor around whom the entire project was built — had become “increasingly frustrated” with the lack of forward momentum. Now that “Blade” is seemingly over, he can finally move on to other projects.
Malkovich, a two-time Oscar nominee, fought back tears while the audience cheered him, which has become a first-stop tradition to kick-start an Oscar campaign — tears need to be shed!