Marvel President admits canceled ‘Blade’ reboot is one of his biggest regrets: ‘A gigantic loser…’
Marvel Studios spent years trying to bring ‘Blade’ back to the big screen with two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali leading the project. It looked like one of the studio’s most exciting announcements when it was revealed in 2019, but the movie never made it into production. Now, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has opened up about the troubled project and did not hold back while reflecting on what happened. During an appearance on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, Feige admitted, “I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.” Although he expressed regret over losing the project, he said it was “very exciting” to see Wesley Snipes return as Blade in 2024’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. The comments come after years of uncertainty surrounding the reboot, which experienced one setback after another before Marvel eventually removed it from its theatrical schedule.
Marvel first revealed the new ‘Blade’ movie during San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, introducing Ali as the next actor to portray the famous vampire hunter. However, bringing the movie to life proved much harder than expected. Director Bassam Tariq was originally hired to lead the reboot, but he exited the project in September 2022, only a short time before filming was expected to begin. Marvel then searched for a new creative direction, eventually bringing in filmmaker Yann Demange to replace him. But Demange also departed the project in June 2024, leaving the reboot without a director once again. The screenplay went through just as many changes. As Variety previously reported in 2023, the film cycled through at least five writers during development. Among those attached to the script were Stacy Osei-Kuffour, known for her work on ‘Watchmen’, and Michael Starrbury.
Moreover, a person familiar with the writing process claimed the project had moved toward a story focused on female characters. The source also said the film included life lessons that differed from what many fans expected from a ‘Blade’ movie. At the same time, industry chatter suggested Marvel still hoped to move forward with the reboot while keeping the production budget below $100 million. Those plans ultimately never materialized. By the fall of 2024, Marvel Studios officially removed ‘Blade’ from its release calendar, leaving the future of the film uncertain. Even with all those setbacks, Ali has never publicly backed away from the role. Last summer, while speaking to Variety on the red carpet for ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’, the actor made it clear that, “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.”
Feige has previously addressed why the reboot kept getting pushed back. During press interviews in July 2025, he said the delays surrounding ‘Blade’ were a result of Marvel’s “over-expansion” into Disney+ content. He also admitted that “for the very first time ever, quantity trumped quality.” Feige further explained, “We didn’t want to simply just put a leather outfit on him and have him start killing vampires. It had to be unique.” He continued, “We didn’t feel like, as we often do, you can have a good script and make it a great script through production. We didn’t feel confident that we could do that on ‘Blade’, and we didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us.” For now, Marvel has not announced whether ‘Blade’ will return in another form or if Ali will eventually get the chance to play the character.
