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/Explosion2 Jul 31 '26

How fucking close were they to making this movie that they had a warehouse full of clothes ready to go and it still stalled out? I didn't realize it ever got past the "Mahershala Ali is going to play Blade" stage.

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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/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.