Marvel canceled «Blade» with Mahershala Ali, but they want to «stick the character in «Avengers: Secret Wars», — rumors

Recent reports indicate that Marvel has finally abandoned the development of a new «Blade», focusing on projects that will obviously bring more benefits.

Journalist Rodrigo Perez from The Playlist, known for infrequent but usually verified insider information, reportsthat Marvel has pulled «Blade» from its plans — a report that is generally consistent with previous news that the movie gave up the premiere date to the new «Predator»on November 7, 2025. Instead, the character of Mahershala Ali has a chance to appear in other Marvel projects in a minor role, including the films «Avengers: Secret Wars» or «Midnight’s Sons».

The new version of «Blade» was first announced six years ago at San Diego ComicCon, and all this time the film has been plagued by an endless series of delays caused by COVID, strikes, casting problems, and, most importantly, the script. Since 2019, Marvel has changed three directors and six writers — the last draft version of the script was written by Eric Pearson, known for the films «Thor: Ragnarok», «Black Widow» and «Fantastic Four».

At least two iterations of the «Blade» story are known to have been in development: one set in the 1920s and starring «Scream Queen» Mia Goth as the villainess, who plays a vampire out for the blood of Blade’s daughter; while for the other, Marvel built a huge train that was never used. In Pearson’s latest version, the action was moved to the present day.

Also, since the announcement of «Blade», several actors have left the project, including Aaron Pierre and Delroy Lindo. Ali was very disappointed by this chaos, but still held on to his spot.

The first Blade film was released by New Line Cinema in 1998 and became the most successful in the series (the other two were released in 2002 and 2004, grossing a total of $418.1 million excluding inflation). By the way, Wesley Snipes, the actor from the original «Blade», recently reprised his character in the movie «Deadpool and Wolverine», which broke the record for the longest career at Marvel.