Marvel Studios will need more time to bring vampire hunter Blade back to the screen. Two weeks after director Bassim Tariq left Blade, Marvel is reportedly putting the project on hold while the studio searches for a replacement. The film will star Mahershala Ali as the title character, previously played by Wesley Snipes in the 1998 Blade movie.
Blade was expected to start filming in November, with production teams already preparing the shoot in Atlanta. However, Marvel has temporarily shut down all activities related to the film, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Crew members were told about the delay early Tuesday. Marvel hopes to resume production in early 2023.
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Disney planned to release the movie on Nov. 3, 2023, but it has since been delayed to Sept. 6, 2024. The delay led to a domino effect, as several other Marvel movies have been delayed. Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, previously had a Sept. 6, 2024 date, but is now scheduled for Nov. 8, 2024. Fantastic Four, which will be directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, will now open on Feb. 14, 2025. Avengers: Secret Wars was rescheduled to May 1, 2026, while Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will still open on May 2, 2025.
Blade has not had an easy time returning to the screen. The script went through several revisions, with Beau DeMayo, who worked on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Moon Knight, as the current writer. Although it looked like things were on track, Tariq announced his departure on Sept. 27. “Due to continued shifts in our production schedule, Bassam is no longer moving forward as director of Blade but will remain an executive producer on the film,” Marvel said at the time. “We appreciate Bassam’s talent and all the work he’s done getting Blade to where it is.”
Marvel hoped to find a replacement quickly, but that has not happened. The studio decided to put the whole project on hold, instead of trying to keep it going without a director. “They want to really get it right,” one source told THR.
Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema first brought Blade to the big screen with a trilogy, released between 1998 and 2004, starring Snipes. After the screen rights reverted back to Marvel, the company announced Ali would play their version of Blade during the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. Ali’s Blade made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut during the Eternals post-credit scene.
Writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan created Blade in 1973, with the character making his debut in an issue of The Tomb of Dracula. He is a half-mortal, half-immortal vampire hunter, seeking revenge after a vampire killed his mother. The Blade movie will be the second major MCU project to feature Marvel’s horror characters, following the Disney+ special Werewolf by Night with Gael García Bernal.
