News just broke about Mahershala Ali, and it is not good for MCU fans or Marvel Studios' Blade film, which seemingly can't catch a break in any way. A Blade movie set in the MCU was announced by Kevin Feige all the way back in 2019, and the movie is essentially in the same place now as it was then. During that announcement, Feige revealed that Mahershala Ali would portray the titular character (whose real name is Eric Brooks). Aside from a voice-only cameo in Eternals, Ali has yet to actually portray the character in the franchise.
It was recently announced that Mahershala Ali was cast in HBO's Task Season 2. The series, which also stars the MCU's Mark Ruffalo, recently released its first season, with Season 2 being greenlit shortly after.
Notably, Ali's casting in Task Season 2 spells more trouble for the Blade film that is in development limbo. It has not been confirmed if Ali will be in a co-lead role with Ruffalo, or if he will be a series regular, but all reports point to him having a major role in the series.
Since Task is a major production at a company like HBO, Ali will likely be committing a lot of time to filming the project, which means that he won't be spending that time shooting Blade. Along with his availability being limited for any other project, it is safe to assume that his casting in Task also implies that Blade is still not planning to go into production anytime soon.
At this point, with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars premiering in 2026 and 2027, respectively, many assumed that, if Blade ever does go into production, it won't be released until 2028 at the earliest.
Ali being cast in Task Season 2 all but confirms that, as the second installment of the HBO show is still in pre-production and likely won't be released until 2027.
If Blade ever does get off the ground at Marvel Studios, it will demand Ali to have a rather free schedule. So, if Task is renewed for a third season, and Ali remains a major cast member of that show for a third season, that could push Blade back even further.
Will Blade Ever Be Released?
Marvel Studios still has not technically announced that Blade has been cancelled. However, fans are aware that the project has had a ton of major problems behind the scenes, and that it is far more likely the film will never be released than it will actually start production and come out at some point in the future.
When looking at the MCU as a whole, Marvel really doesn't need Blade, and, honestly, it never did. Yes, it would have been amazing to get a modern version of the movie set in the MCU, and fans were excited at the fact that it could have led to a Midnight Suns project, but Marvel seems more focused on establishing Mutants and a saga fully surrounding Mutants and the X-Men after Secret Wars.
An X-Men movie has already been announced to be coming after Secret Wars, and other films like Black Panther 3 are much more stable on Marvel's upcoming slate.
Most likely, Blade will never be released. That is a shame, because Ali is an Oscar-winning actor who could have made the MCU's version of Eric Brooks exciting, but the stars just can't seem to align, and Ali continuing to commit to other projects indicates that he is aware the movie is nowhere close to actually going into production.
