Marvel’s Blade reboot has been officially removed from Disney’s 2025 release slate, as was officially announced today. Blade had been set to debut in theaters on November 7, 2025 – a release date that Marvel Cinematic Universe fans felt was increasingly unlikely, as the project had not yet started production. It’s now being reported that Disney will fill Blade’s vacant release date with 20th Century Studios’ Predator: Badlands, the first theatrical installment of that rebooted franchise, following the streaming success of Disney/Hulu’s ‘surprise’ Predator movie, Prey (2022).
Videos by ComicBook.com
What Happened to the Blade MCU Reboot?
The story of how Disney and Marvel Studios have handled this Blade reboot could arguably fill an entire book all on its own. Things have looked dire for the film all year, with big red flags popping up when Mahershala Ali joined the Jurassic World franchise, while Marvel Studios totally ignored Blade during its San Diego Comic-Con 2024 panel and D23 Expo presentation. Things only got more confusing for mainstream viewers when Deadpool & Wolverine was released, and brought original Blade actor Wesley Snipes back to the role. Now there’s been just as much fan hype for another Snipes film as there is for the MCU reboot.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige now looks like he committed one of the bigger unforced errors in media when he announced an MCU Blade reboot starring Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali during Marvel’s Hall H panel at SDCC 2019. Ali was brought onstage to the delight of fans; Marvel Studios made it semi-official by having Ali’s Blade make his off-screen (voice only) MCU debut during a post-credits scene in Eternals (2021). That scene allied Blade with Dane Whitman (Kit Harington), introducing the latter character’s infamous soul-sucking Ebony Blade. When Marvel also released the Moon Knight (2022) miniseries and Werewolf By Night Special (2022), it seemed a supernatural lane of the MCU was opening up wide for Ali’s Blade to stroll right down to his 2024 solo film.
However, the Blade reboot has languished in development hell the last few years. Director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) joined and left the project and director Yann Demange’s (Top Boy, Lovecraft Country) status is somewhat unclear. The 2023 Writers and Actors Strikes knocked back the planned production timeline for the film – making it hard to lock down rising stars like Mahershala Ali (who’s snagged a second Oscar in that time), and Mia Goth (X, Pearl, Maxine), who was set to play Marvel’s demonic villain Lilith. Even worse were the rumors of wild story concepts for the reboot – everything from a period piece movie to a ‘passing of the torch’ idea that would’ve made Blade’s daughter Bloodline the star of a female-led film. How true those rumors are remains unclear – but what we do know is that the MCU Blade project never did get through pre-production far enough to get a public greenlight.
Marvel Studios has announced three movie release dates for 2028 – will Blade be one of them? It could make more sense for the MCU to now focus on concluding the current Multiverse Saga in 2026-2027 (in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars), and soft-reboot the franchise with new elements like mutants (the X-Men) and the supernatural (Blade, Ghost Rider).
Via: Deadline
