One of the few things that Marvel Studios has promised at Hall H during San Diego Comic-Con and failed to deliver on was the reveal of Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali as the MCU’s Blade. Despite confirming it seven years ago, the most that ever happened with Ali as the character was an off-camera voice cameo in Eternals and a version of Blade being modeled after him in the animated series Marvel Zombies (voiced by Todd Williams). Hope for the project appeared to officially be over earlier this summer, though, when Marvel boss Kevin Feige admitted that it made him feel like a “gigantic loser and failure” that they never got the movie made.
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Now, Mahershala Ali has a chance to say something. In an interview with GQ about his new movie Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Ali reunites with filmmaker Bassam Tariq, the original director that he picked to helm his Blade movie before the extensive development cycle saw it fall apart over time. Speaking out about how his work with Marvel fell apart, Ali had a matter-of-fact opinion on the movie not coming together, saying: “If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on.”
Mahershala Ali Opens Up About Blade Movie Falling Apart
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In the interview, Ali detailed some of the prep he’d done to get ready for Blade, specifically noting that he was excited to do stunts because he’s not only a former athlete, but a lot of his action work on the big screen has seen his characters die before the stunts really happen (it occurs in both Predators and Hunger Games).
Ali confirmed he “trained for a long time” for the stunts, with Tariq revealing that the footage he saw of Ali practicing his sword moves for Blade was “incredible” and directly inspired him to write his new movie. When asked if we’re any closer to Blade finally getting made, Ali had a succinct reply, saying: “Not with me.”
The two-time Oscar winner went on to note that he didn’t want to be known for remakes in his career, adding that he wouldn’t have been able to do both Blade and his new film, and that the latter only exists because the Marvel project fell apart so spectacularly.
“You had me under contract; they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie. So we’re not doing the movie,” Ali said of Marvel. “I feel creatively redeemed on some level (by Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother), just in my own journey between me, myself, and I. But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn’t want to do it, so they should answer that question.”
Ali’s comments on the project and his work within Marvel certainly paint a specific kind of picture of his feelings, and appear to shoot down the idea that many fans have clung to about his character appearing in a project like Midnight Sons instead of a solo film. Though a team-up of Marvel’s supernatural heroes has never been formally announced, it’s been talked about extensively in the rumor mill.
To that end, Marvel’s announcement this past weekend that a Ghost Rider movie with Ryan Gosling is happening, and also has a 2028 release date, is salt in the wound for fans that have been waiting patiently for Ali’s Blade. At least the performer himself has moved on, and also delivered a project that utilized not only the creative juices that had gone into the failed Marvel movie but the skills he practiced.
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