Mahershala Ali‘s Daywalker should have made his MCU debut by now.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. Reshoots, scheduling conflicts, and the “wokeness” that Disney wants to inject into the narrative of Blade has resulted in multiple holdups. This has left many Blade fans and the fans of MCU, in general, wondering what exactly is wrong and whether Blade‘s veins have been tapped dry, considering that we haven’t received any news or promotional material about the movie. And that’s what we’re here to discuss: who or what is driving the stake into Mahershala Ali’s Blade and delaying the movie?
Unfortunately, the answer to that particular question isn’t as easy as pointing a finger at someone to shoulder the blame. Making movies, especially those whose storylines have to fit broader narratives, isn’t as easy as just picking up a camera and yelling “Action!” at the actors and crew. It’s a complex process that, besides the usual complexities, also demands planning, sometimes in years, to make a cohesive story. And therein lies but one part of the problem plaguing Blade’s elusive release date.
The other part of the problem stems from more “old-school” reasons associated with movie production. Of course, we’re referring to creative differences between directors, writers, and studios, with studios often to blame for the film’s subsequent failure. Provided that someone actually makes the movie. 2022’s Uncharted, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, spent more than a decade in development hell before it finally hit theater screens. But the problems during production seeped into the final result, which ended up diluting the quality of the source material.
Now, Blade is at risk of suffering the same fate, considering that it has already spent a decade in various stages of pre-production and active development. After regaining the rights for the Blade IP from New Line Cinema — which produced the first three Blade movies — in August 2012, Marvel had developed a working script for a new Blade movie by May 2013. By that time, MCU’s Phase One had concluded, and Marvel probably had already figured out where they wanted to place the new Blade film in their broader narrative.
But Marvel isn’t really sticky when it comes to release dates. Considering the breadth of the MCU’s interconnected narratives, Marvel had to be pretty flexible with its release dates, and Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther (all Phase Three) had to be delayed to accommodate the seemingly ever-expanding universe. So, it was quite obvious that Blade wasn’t going to make it to Phase Four, especially since Mahershala Ali approached Marvel Studios about starring in a new film in February 2019.
Kevin Feige officially announced the new Blade movie with Ali in the title role at San Diego Comic-Con (July 2019) without offering any promotional material. The only promotion we have received thus far is in the end-credit scene in 2021’s Eternals, where we can only hear Mahershala Ali’s uncredited voice performance. However, the active work on Blade began in speculated “earnest” in February of 2021, when Marvel Studios hired Bassam Tariq to direct the movie, with a production start date of October/November 2021 and the original release date of November 3, 2023.
Unfortunately, that didn’t go according to plan, and Tariq left Blade in September 2021 due to production shifts and creative differences. Some of those differences include a very short 90-page script written by the original scriptwriter, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, which was not only a rip-off of a previous vampire movie from a different studio but also laughably woke in a very heavy-handed way. According to the rumors, Blade was supposed to have a non-vampire daughter, who ends up being bitten but then bites Blade and basically becomes a god with unlimited powers.
Subsequent rumors only affirmed the initial ones and added that werewolves were also scripted in the movie. So, we have a non-vampire daughter who gets bitten, then bites Blade and becomes the better, faster, stronger Daywalker 2.0, who apparently fights werewolves. Seems to us that the upcoming Underworl… oops, we meant Blade, was going to be a blast. Other reports also suggest that Mahershala Ali also wasn’t satisfied with the script because it only contained two pretty lackluster action scenes. Please keep in mind that this is unofficial information.
Yet, despite this fact, the rumors seem plausible. In the end, whatever the reasons might be, Bassam Tariq left the production, and Marvel brought in Yann Demange as a replacement director in 2022, with Micheal Starrbury rewriting the script alongside Nic Pizzolatto, who joined in April 2023. By that time, it was quite obvious that the movie wouldn’t meet its original release date, but given that the delays had already become associated with the MCU, no one was really surprised that Blade‘s release date was postponed.
Michael Green was then hired to write a completely new script, and the filming was delayed from its June 2023 start date due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. As things currently are, Blade is scheduled to release on November 7, 2025, as part of the MCU’s Phase Six, following the scheduled release of the new The Fantastic Four movie on July 25, 2025.
Please note that, as with nearly all MCU releases that have dropped in the past five years, these dates aren’t set in stone. Unfortunately, delays aren’t rare exceptions in the entertainment industry anymore.
So, the driving force behind the stake aimed at the heart of Blade‘s production is a mixture of everything. Disney pushed the MCU into a rapid expansion at the cost of quality, and the overarching narrative, as diluted as it has become, is still pretty broad. This makes it harder to introduce newer storylines. Pair that with the fact that productions were hit by the pandemic and the subsequent industry strike, along with Kevin Feige-led mismanagement and constant rewrites and creative differences with key people, it’s really not surprising that Blade got pushed into 2025.