It’s been over 5 years since Mahershala Ali was cast as Blade to start in own movie which will be a remake of the 1990’s Wesley Snipes’ movies.
The chaos that ensued after this is dampening for most fans of the character. Delays, change of Directors, still no start to production and the only thing that’s remained consistent over these years is Ali’s role as the Vampire Hunter.
It is even more insulting towards the film that Blade featured in Deadpool and Wolverine with Wesley Snipes reprising his role. Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t start production until well after the announcement at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Even now with no news in sight, no cemented release date, and no news on production, it’s beginning to feel like a completely pointless movie. I speak to a lot of Marvel fans and people often forget Blade is even happening. It’s understandable when it’s lost in a mist of upcoming films such as Avengers: Doomsday, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man 4, Captain America: Brave New World, and even Thunderbolts.
It’s not often Marvel drops the ball in their roadmap. Release dates are often moved around to accommodate other things but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Marvel project in such disarray as Blade.
I’ve always been on the fence in regards to this as I think Wesley Snipes is going to be difficult to replace considering what he brought to the role in the 90’s. He was incredible and it feels like what Robert Downey Jr. does for Iron Man.
Saying that, I do think Blade does have a place in the current MCU and I’d love to see a movie that allows for other characters to be introduced such as Moon Knight and others but even Moon Knight feels like a pointless character too.
There was huge scope for them to begin doing something like the Midnight Suns which could have been brilliant but I can’t see anything like that from happening now.
I personally feel like they need to just scrap this and go back to the drawing board. Mahershala Ali isn’t getting any younger, he’s now 50 years old. As much as I think Mahershala Ali will do a good job as Blade, I do believe someone younger needs to come in as harsh as that sounds.
Marvel should really come out and explain what is going on with this movie. It’s unfair to the fans and it’s also unfair to Mahershala Ali. Marvel has already done very well with their roadmap besides a few release dates changing here and then to accommodate other things. They’ve dropped the ball with this project though and it’s a shame.
