Blade: What Does Mahershala Ali's Jurassic World Casting Mean for MCU Reboot?
Will Marvel's Blade movie reboot get delayed once again?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's Multiverse Saga has been ebbing and flowing in some fascinating ways over the years, telling a wide variety of stories across movies, Disney+ television shows, and more. One project on the franchise's slate — which actually predated the establishing of the Multiverse Saga itself — is Blade, a new movie centered around the titular vampire-hunting Daywalker. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has been attached to portray Eric Brooks / Blade since San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, ultimately making his MCU debut with an uncredited voice cameo in 2021's Eternals movie.
In the years since the Blade solo film was first announced, the film has held, and subsequently lost, multiple writers, ensemble cast members, and release dates. At the time of this writing, Blade is committed to debut in theaters in November of 2025, but updates surrounding the film's production have been few and far between. With Ali now in talks to star in Universal's upcoming Jurassic World movie, which would begin production in mid-June for a July 2025 release, some have begun to speculate about what that means for Blade's newest release date. Could Blade still debut in the fall of 2025, or is another date change on the horizon?
Thanks to last year's writers' and actors' strike, the most recent updates surrounding Blade's development and pre-production have been few and far between. Countless reports have hinted at the various creative overhauls have entailed, ranging from various period pieces, to lower budget fare, to a female-led ensemble that would have Blade himself be a supporting character. Ali was quoted in December of 2023 saying that he's "encouraged" by the most recent direction the movie is heading in, but newer details have been scarce. The most recent concrete piece of information came from Aaron Pierre, who joined the project in 2022, confirming in March of this year that he is no longer attached amid those creative evolutions. Other previously-reported cast members, including Mia Goth, Milan Ray, and Delroy Lindo, have also become something of a Schrodinger's box as well. (The fact that Lindo has also signed on to Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's untitled vampire movie at Warner Bros., which has been fast-tracked for an early 2025 debut amid Blade's delays, hasn't helped either.)
In a hypothetical scenario where some combination of Ali, Goth, Ray, and Lindo are all still attached to Blade, there is still the question of when the production would commence. If Ali is signed on for Jurassic World 4, that mid-June production could feasibly last a few months, meaning he might not be available for Blade until the fall of 2024. That would, at best, give the movie a little over a year to go from pre-production to release — a feat that certainly isn't impossible, but could certainly exacerbate previous complaints about Marvel Studios having rushed visual effects and shorter windows for marketing campaigns. The studio's highly-anticipated The Fantastic Four reboot could also be running into a similar logistical problem, which has led some to wonder if it will ultimately take Blade's current fall 2025 slot.
Beyond that, there's no telling what the future might hold for Blade. Maybe the film will ultimately land Marvel's next theatrical release date in early 2026, if the company ends up rearranging its slate to better map out its next two Avengers movies. Some have even begun to theorize that Blade is among the projects secretly cancelled by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who hinted earlier this year that some of those "tough calls" have already been made. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to find out the movie's fate.
As mentioned above, Blade is currently scheduled to be released on November 7, 2025.
