As a wise Daywalker once kind of said, "Some studio presidents are always trying to ice skate uphill" — and it looks like Marvel head honcho Kevin F
As a wise Daywalker once kind of said, “Some studio presidents are always trying to ice skate uphill” — and it looks like Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige ain’t ready to hang up his *ahem* blades just yet. After what can only be described as a tumultuous half-decade spent trying to get Marvel’s Mahershala Ali Blade movie off the ground, it looked like plans to bring comics’ premier vampire hunter to the MCU might’ve bitten the dust for good when Marvel Studios removed Blade from the release calendar last month. But at this past weekend’s D23 Brazil fan event, Feige offered an confident update on Eric Cross Brooks’ big-screen future to Brazilian outlet Omelete.
As translated and reported by Variety, when asked about the status of Mahershala Ali’s long-in-the-works MCU project, Feige was quick to dispel the notion that a lack of release date meant that the movie had been shelved for good. “We are committed to Blade,” the studio boss declaratively stated. “We love the character. We love Mahershala’s take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. You’re all up to date on what’s happening. But I can tell you that the character will indeed make it to the MCU.”
First announced as the MCU’s Blade at Comic Con way back in 2019, the only (non-)appearance of Oscar winner Ali’s Daywalker thus far has been a voice cameo in the post-credits of Chloe Zhao’s 2021 joint Eternals. Beset by delays stemming from the pandemic and last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, as well as a double whammy of directorial departures (first by Bassam Tariq back in 2022, and then Yann Demange earlier this year), Marvel Studios’ Blade has long-since entered the annals of legendarily troubled Hollywood productions. It’s been such a rocky road in fact that Wesley Snipes, star of the OG Blade movies, even popped up in Deadpool & Wolverine to quip that, “There’s been only one Blade! There’s only ever gonna be one Blade!” But with this latest comment from Feige, who knows? Perhaps there’s life — or, rather, undeath — in the MCU’s long awaited vampire movie yet.
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