In 2019, Kevin Feige announced to the world at San Diego Comic-Con that Mahershala Ali would play Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and then the actor joined the Marvel Studios president on the Hall H stage. Five years later, we know that Blade remains on upcoming Marvel movies schedule, but its numerous behind-the-scenes issues have kept it languishing in development hell, the latest setback being the departure of director Yann Demange. The wait continues for a new director to come aboard and for production to finally begin, but in the meantime, some scrapped story details for the Marvel reboot have been revealed that I wish hasn’t been tossed aside.
In a report details the reasoning behind Demange’s exit and how Ali has “exercised an inordinate amount of influence” over the project when it comes to picking directors and writers, THR mentions that when Blade was expected to begin filming in summer 2023, the story was set in the 1920s and starred Pearl’s Mia Goth as Lilith, a vampire villain introduced to the comics in 1974’s Giant-Size Chillers Featuring The Curse of Dracula #1 who was trying to get the blood of Blade’s daughter in this feature. Another “iteration” of Blade, specifically from when Bassam Tariq was attached to direct, Marvel built a “massive train set,” but it was never used, though the publication mentioned a different Disney project could incorporate it.
Although I’m not a fan of scary stories and don’t keep an eye on the upcoming horror movies, since I’m an MCU fan, I have to be invested in Blade to some degree or another. But when you tell me we could have seen Mahershala Ali’s Blade, a.k.a. Eric Brooks, slicing down vampires in the 1920s, my interest kicks up a notch. The MCU has played around with period pieces before, like Captain America: The First Avenger taking place during World War II and Captain Marvel being set in 1995, so having Blade take place just a few years after World War I concluded and as the Jazz Age raged on would certainly have been a good way to make it stand out both in this franchise and among the other Blade movies.
As for the train set, even with no context for how it would be used, that would have been another great hook for Blade. Captain America: The First Avenger, Ant-Man and Black Panther are among the Marvel movies in order that have used trails as part of major action sequences (although in the middle movie’s case, it was literally a Thomas the Tank engine toy), so it would have been interesting to see what Blade cooked up on this front. Bonus points if the train set had remained in the 1920s story.
Alas, both these story elements have now been scrapped, with THR saying that Blade is now said to be set in the present day. Eric Pearson, who wrote Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four, is now penning the Blade script, and Mahershala Ali and Mia Goth are the only actors still attached, with Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre being let go. Earlier this week, Wesley Snipes poked fun at the reboot experiencing so much trouble by putting a twist on one of his iconic Blade lines.
Blade is still officially slotted for a November 7, 2025 release, but it’s a good bet that another delay for this reboot is coming up. Keep yourself entertained while waiting for more Blade updates by streaming MCU content with your Disney+ subscription.
