Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has openly expressed regret over the stalled Blade reboot planned with Mahershala Ali in the lead role. Speaking 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.”
The project was announced in 2019 but was ultimately removed from Marvel Studios’ release calendar in fall 2024. Its long development cycle became one of the clearest examples of the studio’s reassessment of projects that were not meeting its quality expectations.
A Development Process Marked by Changes
The film cycled through directors and writers before Marvel took it off the schedule. The major developments show how long the project remained in flux.
| Milestone | Timeframe | What Happened |
|---|---|---|
| Film announced | July 2019 | Mahershala Ali was attached to star as Blade. |
| First director exited | September 2022 | Bassam Tariq left roughly two months before filming was expected to begin. |
| Second director exited | June 2024 | Yann Demange dropped out after joining the project following Tariq’s departure. |
| Release date removed | Fall 2024 | Marvel Studios officially took the film off its release calendar. |
Several writers also worked on the screenplay, including Stacy Osei-Kuffour and Michael Starrbury. Variety reported in November 2023 that the movie had gone through at least five writers.
According to that report, one version of the story had shifted toward a women-led narrative filled with life lessons. There was also speculation at the time that Marvel was seeking to make the film for less than $100 million.
Why Marvel Did Not Push Ahead
Feige later linked the delays to Marvel’s broader effort to pull back after expanding heavily into Disney+ programming. Speaking to the press in July 2025, he said that “for the very first time ever, quantity trumped quality.”
Feige said Marvel did not want to make a conventional vampire action film by simply putting the character in “a leather outfit” and having him kill vampires. “It had to be unique,” he explained.
The studio chief said the screenplay was not at the standard Marvel wanted before moving into production. “It fell into the time when we started pulling back and saying, ‘Only accept insanely great,’” Feige said.
He added that Marvel did not feel confident it could turn a merely good script into a great one during production. Feige said the studio did not want to do that to Mahershala Ali or to itself.
Ali, however, has continued to signal his willingness to play the vampire slayer. On the Jurassic World Rebirth red carpet last summer, he told Variety, “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.”
Feige also said it was “very exciting” to see Wesley Snipes return as Blade in 2024’s Deadpool and Wolverine. That appearance offered Marvel fans a return of the character while Ali’s planned reboot remained unresolved.