The much-anticipated Blade movie appears to have finally lost all its momentum. This upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which promised to feature Mahershala Ali as the iconic Daywalker, has encountered numerous obstacles over the years and now seems to have come to a standstill with little chance of revival.
Rapper and artist Flying Lotus recently took to X / Twitter to discuss his involvement in the project, revealing that Blade is no longer moving forward. "I guess we are so far from it even being a possibility now but. Yeah I was signed on to write music for the new BLADE movie before it fell thru," the DJ, who recently directed Shudder’s new sci-fi horror ASH, shared. "Maybe it'll come around again but I doubt it. Would have been fun tho."
Just a day before Flying Lotus' tweet, costume designer Ruth E. Carter confirmed on The John Campea Show that she was set to design costumes for Blade before the project fell apart. She also revealed that the film was intended to be set in the 1920s, which would have offered a unique and visually stunning setting for the movie.
Adding to the series of unfortunate updates, actor Delroy Lindo, who was also attached to star alongside Ali, spoke about the project's collapse in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "When Marvel came to me, they seemed to be really interested in my input," he said. "And in the various conversations I had with producers, the writer, the director at the time, it was all leading into being very inclusive. It was really exciting conceptually, but it was also exciting in terms of the character that was going to form. And then, for whatever reason, it just went off the rails."
Blade was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, and if everything had gone according to plan, fans would have been eagerly awaiting its release this November. The project has seen several directors come and go, including Yann Demange and Bassam Tariq, but none have stayed on to see it through.
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Despite the setbacks, it's been only six months since the movie was removed from Marvel’s release schedule in October 2024, and no new release date has been confirmed. However, a month after the film was pulled, MCU boss Kevin Feige expressed the studio's continued commitment to the project. "We are committed to Blade. We love the character, we love Mahershala's take on him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still figuring out how it fits into our schedule, we let the audience know. You're all up to date on what's happening," he told Omelete in November 2024. "But I can tell you that the character will indeed make it to the MCU."
