Blade is still moving forward at Marvel Studios, and the first details on its setting have been confirmed. It's hard to believe that six years have passed since Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali stood up at San Diego Comic-Con to confirm he will play the MCU's Blade. And going beyond that, there have been almost four years since Ali spoke to Kit Harington's Dane Whitman in Eternals' post-credit scene to warn him of the dangers that the Ebony Blade may hold.
Scooper Daniel Richtman offered Blade's first good news in years in May, confirming it is "on pause" but Marvel still wants Ali for the role. This comes after Wesley Snipes reprised his early 2000s role as Marvel's vampire hunter in Deadpool & Wolverine and taunted, "there's only been one Blade, there's only gonna be one Blade." Despite Deadpool's wink to the audience as the joke landed, this was starting to become a sobering reality, until now...
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and, naturally, was asked why Blade still hasn't happened. Despite concerns that the MCU vampire flick had been scrapped, the MCU boss was clear that it is still moving forward with Mahershala Ali in the leading role.
When asked what was causing the hold-up, Feige joked that Black Panther director Ryan Coogler called to borrow the Blade costumes for his latest movie, Sinners, and they decided to "hold off on the movie" to make that happen:
“The obstacle was Ryan Coogler called and said, ‘We’d love some costumes for Sinners.’ And we said, ‘Take them, man.’ He’s our good friend, take our costumes. We’ll hold off on the movie.”
Coogler explained how Sinners took its costumes from Blade in a recent interview with ScreenCrush. He explained that the two projects shared a costume designer in Ruth Carter who had a "warehouse full of period-appropriate clothes" made for an earlier version of Blade that were sold to them for Sinners:
“[Costume designer] Ruth Carter was working on the 'Blade' movie that ended up not shooting. At one point that movie was going to deal with, and she’s talked about this before, but at one point that film was going to deal with the past around the same era as ‘Sinners.’ She happened to have a warehouse full of period-appropriate clothes, and it was like, ‘Yo, we got to shoot this movie like tomorrow.’ And Marvel was generous enough and kind enough to let us basically purchase it at price.”
While these costumes were developed for an earlier Blade iteration that, much like Sinners, was set in the Prohibition era, Kevin Feige revealed they have "landed on [a modern day setting]" after two period and two present takes.
Feige clarified that Mahershala Ali is still attached to lead Blade, although there is currently no timeline on when the vampire flick will come to fruition. Eric Pearson, who just finished Fantastic Four First Steps script, will also be writing the script for Blade.
Why Is Marvel's Blade Reboot Taking So Long to Get Right
As the costumes were developed for a Prohibition-set Blade movie, it appears Marvel Studios was close to moving forward with this iteration. One has to wonder if Ryan Coogler's recent success with Sinners may have spurred the shift to a modern setting to avoid comparisons and similarities.
While Marvel Studios still appears eager to move forward with Blade, there seem to have been struggles landing the right script and storyline. The back-and-forth with Blade has caused the project to lose several major stars already, with many concerned that an aging Mahershala Ali may be next to leave it behind.
Some have already suggested the studio should abandon Blade to focus on Midnight Sons, with Ali taking a starring role in the supernatural ensemble. As time passes, it seems increasingly likely that both will happen after Avengers: Secret Wars once the MCU's busy schedule has cleared up somewhat.
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