Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige expressed disappointment over the failed “Blade” reboot that was supposed to star award-winning actor Mahershala Ali as the legendary vampire slayer.
During an appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Feige said: “I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.”
Feige said he wanted “Blade” to be “insanely great,” and he didn’t think it was fair to Mahershala if they didn’t have a great script to work with.
“We didn’t want to simply just put a leather outfit on [Mahershala] and have him start killing vampires. It had to be unique,” Feige explained. “It fell into the time when we started pulling back and saying, ‘Only accept insanely great.’ And it wasn’t ‘insanely great’ at the time… We didn’t feel confident that we could do that on ‘Blade,’ and we didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us.”
Marvel originally announced the vampire film starring Mahershala Ali in July 2019. But the COVID pandemic in 2020 caused all movie production in Hollywood to grind to a halt.
When movie production resumed in 2022, director Bassam Tariq abruptly quit.
Multiple screenwriters came and went. Variety reported in November 2023 that “Blade” had gone through at least five writers.
“One person familiar with the script changes said the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons. Speculation at the time said that Marvel was still looking to make the film but on a budget of less than $100 million. Source
Further complicating matters was the election of President Donald Trump to a second term in November 2024. Trump immediately rolled back DEI initiatives, saying they were “illegal and immoral.”
Corporations ended their DEI programs and hired H-1B workers. Hollywood stopped making movies that focused on DEI.
Marvel Studios officially took Blade off its release calendar in late 2024.
Mahershala is still anxious to take on the role of vampire slayer in Blade. He told Variety last summer: “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.”