All Their Strengths, None of Their Movies

For a long while now we’ve been hearing rumblings that the vampire hunter, Blade, would join the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe.. Since 2019 at least the studio has been saying that Blade would get a release date. It was supposed to be part of Phase IV, then Phase V, and then Phase VI of the MCU, only to drop off the release calendar each time with little mention of what’s going on. The obvious reasons of production issues or the script needing to be reworked have all been raised, but at the end of the day, Blade fans have been waiting for the return of Blade, but there’s no Blade to be found.

In fairness, it’s not as though Marvel has really understood what to do with the character over the years. What was once just “the Black character” that was thrown into the Tomb of Dracula comic series published by Marvel, the character evolved into a fan favorite over the years. It wasn’t until 1998’s Blade, though, that the character gained a real following, even among those that didn’t normally read comics. This was, in part, because the film completely remade the character into someone who barely resembled his original look, feel, and style, but it worked and that film went on to be a solid success for production studio New Line Cinema, and was one of the first superhero films to really launch the new wave of the genre.

It helps that the film cast Wesley Snipes. Say what you will about where the actor is now (and many of the bad decisions he made over the years), but Snipes was a key influence on Blade. His personality, his style, his fighting abilities, all of that went into the character on screen, and that that on-screen personal was readapted back into the comics (because Marvel expected that the fans of the movies would want to see a version of the character they recognized in the books), effectively making the movie version the default version of the character. In a way, Wesley Snipes became the DNA of blade.

Getting more blade films made after the initial trilogy of Blade, Blade II, and Blade: Trinity was difficult. Not only was the third film a Box Office disappointment (making only $132 Mil against its $65 Mil production budget, which, by Hollywood Math, makes it a failure), but Wesley Snipes had also become notoriously difficult to work with on set. He was also embroiled in a tax evasion case (where he’d eventually serve a three year sentence on three misdemeanor counts). That made any thought of a fourth film with the star at the time difficult, if not impossible. And since Wesley Snipes was Blade at the time, that pretty well put an end to the film series.

A continuation was made, though. A TV series, Blade: The Series, came out, although it was cancelled after a single year by broadcaster Spike TV (reportedly because while it got good ratings it also appealed to a more female-skewing demographic, not the male-oriented one Spike wanted). After that the franchise as a whole was put to rest and no one had any Blade anymore. A few half-hearted efforts, like Blade: The Anime, didn’t really give fans what they wanted, which was a new Blade film.

When the rumors started swirling that a new Blade was on the horizon, one with Mahershala Ali (Predators, Moonlight, Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse) as the main character, it all seemed like things were finally picking up. But then we’ve been waiting for years and even though the studio says that filming on the movie will begin in 2026, it’s hard to believe that until it actually happens. They’ve been promising the same for years now with no real movements. We’ve had Blade show up in various cameos – in Marvel Zombies, in Eternals as a voice, and even the original Blade, Wesley Snipes, in Deadpool & Wolverine – but we have yet to get the proper Blade movie we’ve been promised.

So yes, production problems are the reported issue, and apparently it all comes down to Kevin Feige and his team. Reportedly, despite these movies being based on comic book heroes, the team doesn’t like things that sound “too comic book-y”. If a story is pitched that comes from the comics, it’s rejected, which helps explain why actual comic storylines like Captain America: Civil War and Secret Invasion don’t resemble their comic counterparts at all. It’s like if DC decided to make a Catwoman film but didn’t base any of the material on existing Catwoman comics, instead making an entirely original character that… Oh, right, they did that.

But yes, that is a big issue that’s been plaguing this film in particular. A number of teams came on to pitch for Blade and most of the material they came up with was rejected for being too much like the comics. That means we shouldn’t expect the vampire hunting hero to ever go back to the Tomb of Dracula, for example, despite that being where he originated. Can’t be like the comics books in the MCU, apparently. The people watching comic book heroes wouldn’t like that at all.

I think, though, there’s another element at play that Marvel hasn’t been admitting. Although they’ve been more willing to embrace some harder-R storytelling, it’s always been from a safe remove. Sure, Deadpool & Wolverine crossed that hard-R barrier repeatedly, but that was for a proven franchise with a baked in fanbase. Plus, if Disney/Marvel wanted their Deadpool film starring Ryan Reynolds (which they did) they had to compromise on their “morals” and actually let him make the kind of film he wanted to make. He had a proven track record with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 so, despite some of their reservations, they let it happen.

Meanwhile, the next, true hard-R experiences (well, hard TV-MA) they made were Daredevil: Born Again and Marvel Zombies. Daredevil: Born Again got the same treatment as Deadpool & Wolverine, being allowed to go hard and dark because it was based on an already proven series, Netflix’s Daredevil, and that was what fans wanted. Marvel Zombies, meanwhile, benefits from being a four-episode limited series that they’ve kind of swept under the rug so no one notices what they’ve done. Parents won’t complain about all the blood and guts if these series comes and goes with little fanfare.

Blade is struggling against all that weight. Yes, the Wesley Snipes series was R-rated, but it also wrapped up close to two decades ago so there isn’t a “proven track record” in the same way there was for other R-rated properties Marvel has recently continued. And this is going to be a big-budget adaptation which likely has the bosses at Marvel and Disney worried. Can they really invest hundreds of millions of dollars on a R-rated superhero that might not even have a big fanbase? It might just be a bridge too far. But then, if they don’t treat Blade right, fans will be upset and it’ll be a waste of money anyway.

Suffice it to say I do kind of understand what the worries are about the film from the studio heads but, at the same time, it’s Blade. New Line Cinema did the series right (more or less) on tiny budgets (in comparison to what’s spent on superhero films now) and built a solid following for the character. It’s not that hard to put an ass-kicking hero up against vampires and let the blood, and magic, flow. If it was such a struggle then Marvel shouldn't have announced they were making a film based on the character until it was in production. They jumped the gun and ended up with egg (and vampire blood) on their faces.

So yeah, Blade is a mess. We don’t believe that the film will go into production in 2026, and we won’t until it really happens, stuff is films, and a premiere date is set… and even then it could still get shelved for eternity. Blade may some day happen, but that’s just as likely in the MCU regime as not. So don’t hold your breath any time soon.