Could Spider-Verse 2 Delay Marvel's Plans for the Blade Movie?

The coronavirus pandemic has already delayed dozens of movies from their theatrical release dates and in all likelihood, the postponements are far from over. Friday afternoon, a few studios announced even further shuffling of release dates, a task that saw Sony delay the release of the anticipated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel until October 7, 2022. Should that date look familiar to you, it's for good reason — Marvel Studios has also placed a movie that's yet to be revealed on the same date.

Which makes us ask the question — has Blade already been delayed? Before you say we're trying to pull the cart before the horse here, let's break it down a little bit. The second it was revealed Marvel was preparing to release a movie on that date, most people instantly gravitated towards the Mahershala Ali-starring feature falling to that spot in the calendar. It's Marvel's first October release date which, coincidentally enough, falls in the middle of spooky season — the perfect time to release a movie about superheroes fighting vampires.

Unless the date's just another placeholder for Into the Spider-Verse 2, it's increasingly likely Marvel removes the date from its schedule entirely. Thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness being pushed back to 2022 too, that now means Marvel Studios actively has five dates scheduled for the year, a first for the studio.

Outside of the madness surrounding the production and marketing for five tentpole features in 12 months, we've seen lately Marvel Studios and Sony have had a sense of increasing synergy bloom between the studios. A new Spider-Man deal has opened up all kinds of new doors between the partners, seemingly allowing Venom 2 and Morbius to become MCU-adjacent features. Because of that, it's very unlikely the Kevin Feige-led outfit would want to directly compete with its renewed partner.

At this point, it's nothing but speculation on our part but since nothing's been revealed about the Blade reboot — other than the fact it's starring Ali as the eponymous character — we've no idea when Marvel actually planned to release the feature. Either way, it'd be very surprising that Sony would end up debuting it's most acclaimed franchise up against a feature from Marvel.

When do you think Marvel intends on releasing Blade? Think it over and let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by joining the conversation online by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt!