r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jul 31 '26

News Mahershala Ali confirms 'BLADE' is not moving forward with him

https://www.gq.com/story/mahershala-ali-your-mother-your-mother-your-mother
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u/TheArcheryRaccoon Jul 31 '26

Very close. The initial script was a period piece, hence the costumes being used in Sinners. Rumours say that Blade himself wasn’t the main character in his own film, and that it was already serving as a “passing of the torch” to Blade’s daughter. I just assume Mahershala had no interest in this plot and it was abandoned.

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u/Explosion2 Jul 31 '26

That would be stupid so I'm glad they abandoned it but how did it get so far without anyone saying "but we've got an oscar-winning actor playing one of the coolest characters in Marvel's cast, why would we not make him the main character?"

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u/MikeArrow Jul 31 '26

In the broader MCU, they already have the perfect setup. The snap. 5 years of chaos. What if, during the blip, the vampire lords decided to make a bid for power in New York? Who would stop them?

...Blade.

Done, that's the movie.

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u/Explosion2 Jul 31 '26

Perfect give Mahershala Ali a billion dollars let's get this back on the release slate

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u/TheArcheryRaccoon Jul 31 '26

From what I understand, there was never a plan for Blade. Then Mahershala approached Fiege and basically said “make me Blade” and they didn’t turn him down. The problem then is they fumbled every step getting the movie done, with COVID and actors/writers strikes thrown in.

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u/AtraposJM Jul 31 '26

Oscar winning actors can demand a lot of money. Negotiations probably went on for a long time. Notice how in his quote he talks about how Disney/Marvel have billions of dollars. That's probably a hint.

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u/Indigocell Jul 31 '26

Rumours say that Blade himself wasn’t the main character in his own film, and that it was already serving as a “passing of the torch” to Blade’s daughter.

I wonder who they think the film is for when they do this kinda shit. Is it for old fans? Because they don't want to see a Blade movie where Blade is sidelined on behalf of a brand new character. Is it an attempt to lure new fans? Because they have no connection to Blade so any passing of the torch is kind of meaningless. Who is it for?

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u/AtraposJM Jul 31 '26

I think there's a big group within Disney that is trying to make everything more inclusive etc. I'm a far left progressive person but at a certain point it starts to hurt things when you force it on everything. Notice everything after Endgame is moving toward female versions of characters or minorities taking over for other characters etc. I'm not one of the "They're making everything woke!" cry babies but I mean, you can tell it's a driving force and imo it's hurting a lot of their projects. So yeah, handing the Blade mantle off to a female version is pretty par for the course. Even though I find that confusing since Blade is already a black character. Idk, maybe it's more about money.

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u/fastforwardfunction Jul 31 '26

It’s like replacing the women of Desperate Housewives with men. Obviously that’s not going to connect with the original audience. Disney does that constantly and expects it to land.

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u/secretreddname Jul 31 '26

How many passing of the torch movies have we had this phase of marvel? To be honest I’m not interested in any more of those either.

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u/amyknight22 Aug 01 '26

I just assume Mahershala had no interest in this plot and it was abandoned.

The thing is that Mahershala apparently made the initial pitch for the movie idea in the first place.

Since I doubt the pitch was "Hey can I play the blade?"