Marvel’s Wake-up Call: Kevin Feige is Forced to face the Ugly Truth About Mahershala Ali Led Blade’s Terrible State in an Awkward Moment

Marvel Studios’ superhero movie Blade, starring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali as Eric Brooks, is one of the highly anticipated entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that a reboot of Blade was in development, and it’s going to be a total revamp of the franchise with Wesley Snipes.

Wesley Snipes played the titular character in the original trilogy and was highly appreciated for his performance. The actor became one of the fan favorites for the part, but when Ali was announced to be taking over the role in the MCU, fans seemed thrilled about it as well. Unfortunately, the MCU reboot of Blade has been through various changes from directors to writers, and Kevin Feige has finally explained the reason for the delay.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige gives a much-needed update on Mahershala Ali starrer Blade

Ahead of the release of Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated movie Deadpool & Wolverine, the president, who is on his press tour during his conversation with BlackTree TV, touched upon the delay of Blade. He mentioned,

For the last two years, as we’ve been trying to crack the movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right ‘Blade’ movie.

Talking about the rating of the original movie, which was R, Feige noted that there have been some great Blade movies made years ago, and all of them were rated R. So just like how Marvel retained the R-rating for Deadpool, Blade’s character also inherits the R-rating. Deadpool & Wolverine is the first R-rated entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In another interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act, Kevin Feige was asked about the progress of the script of Blade, to which he said,

We are committed to the movie, and we’re so committed to it that we’re not going to make it until it’s right. It has been frustrating for us and for some fans that it’s taken a while, but we have a writer working on it now. I’ve read half of his new draft, and it’s feeling good so far.

Initially, Bassam Tariq was announced to helm the reboot of Blade, but he exited the project in September 2022, just two months before the movie was set to start filming. Last month, it was reported that Yann Demange had also exited the project. Actress Mia Goth, alongside Mahershala Ali, is set to star in the movie as the villain Lilith.

Kevin Feige answers the awkward ‘Wesley Snipes’ return’ to the Blade franchise question

During his interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act, Marvel Studios President was asked if he’d be open to seeing the original trilogy actor Wesley Snipes return to reprise a version of his character. Feige replied,

Wesley’s the greatest. Wesley’s great. Mahershala, who is the one who came in four years, five years ago, and said I want to play it, is what this new movie is about.

The awkwardness in Feige’s answer and face could be felt through the screen as the Marvel Studios president finalized Mahershala Ali to take over the role of Blade after a lot of consideration. The actor has been attached to the project since 2019 and always has nice and positive things to say about the project, despite the challenges it has faced. It is clear that the question did not sit right with him; however, he has never hesitated to give Wesley Snipes credit for bringing visibility to the character.

Feige, according to Deadline, had mentioned that Wesley Snipes has played an essential part in bringing attention to the character of Blade, which he explained that no one knew from the comics. The studio president also mentioned that Blade wasn’t exactly advertised as being from Marvel Comics back in the day.

According to reports by BuzzFeed, Feige had mentioned that Mahershala Ali won a second Academy Award, and the first thing he did was meet him, which was very flattering and nice. Fans are very excited to see the actor portray the character on-screen, and he has always been optimistic about the vision of Marvel Studios when it comes to Blade.

Blade is currently scheduled for a 2025 release.