Mahershala Ali Calls Out Marvel For Canceling ‘Blade’: “If They Wanted to Do It, We Would’ve Done It”

After years of delays, rewrites, director changes, and release-date shuffling, it appears Marvel Studios’ long-troubled “Blade” reboot is officially dead.

Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, who was supposed to play the titular character, has broken his silence on the project’s collapse, and apparently — the decision wasn’t his (via GQ).

You had me under contract, they have billions of dollars. If they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie… I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them.

This is what I would call Ali throwing shade at Marvel and Kevin Feige. There’s no way around it.

Marvel Studios unveiled Ali as the new Blade at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, and many believed it was perfect casting. However, what followed became one of the MCU’s most infamous development stories.

The film cycled through multiple writers (at least six) and directors (at least three), reportedly underwent numerous rewrites, lost release dates, and was eventually removed from Marvel’s schedule altogether. Throughout the process, rumors suggested the studio struggled to find the right creative direction for the vampire hunter while also trying to fit him into the MCU’s increasingly interconnected storyline.

Ali’s comments suggest the delays weren’t because of scheduling conflicts or creative indecision on his part. Instead, he places the responsibility squarely on Marvel, which most likely overcomplicated what should have been one of its simplest and most efficient projects. What a massive missed opportunity.

The studio overcomplicated what could have been a simple, standalone vampire action movie starring Ali instead of worrying so much about fitting it into the larger MCU.

Wesley Snipes’ return as Blade in “Deadpool & Wolverine” has also made his “there’s only one Blade” joke even funnier in hindsight. With Ali’s version seemingly dead, that line now feels unintentionally prophetic.