Blade’s MCU Return in Secret Wars Reportedly Revealed, Despite No Updates on Solo Movie

The Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t been the same franchise since Avengers: Endgame (2019) brought “The Infinity Saga” to an end. The new content that followed was either treated as a one-off (Shang-Chi, Eternals) or got stalled in development and never actually made it to the screen. As Avengers: Doomsday approaches, it’s clearer than ever that the MCU’s “Multiverse Saga” has been a disjoined and uncoordinated mess, putting a lot of pressure on Doomsday and its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, to pull the franchise back into a cohesive whole.

Nothing exhibits Marvel Studios’ post-Endgame missteps better than the Blade MCU reboot. The film that seemed like it would be the easiest for Marvel Studios to pull off has instead become a dragged-out story of stumbles and missed opportunities. In fact, since Avengers: Doomsday set a release date and started production, it seems clear that the Blade reboot is stuck in development limbo, and that the character may not even be reintroduced into the MCU at all.

RUMOR: Blade Will Appear In Avengers: Secret Wars

Or, if a new insider report turns out to be true, Blade is not only still part of Marvel Studios’ plans for the future of the MCU, but that new version of the character could be appearing in Avengers: Secret Wars.

Reporter Jeff Snieder of the InSneider newsletter was making his regular podcast appearance on John Rocca’s The Hot Mic, where he teased a major scoop that he had already been teasing for days. Apparently, that scoop is that Blade will make his (live-action) appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars, where he will have more than just a cameo role.

But Which Blade Is It?

The even bigger news from this scoop is that Secret Wars will be the place that we finally get to see multi-Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali make his onscreen debut as Blade. Ali has been waiting in the wings since 2019, when Avengers: Endgame was released, and Marvel Studios was hyping up the franchise’s future. Having an actor of Ali’s stature seemed like an elegant solution to the problem of recasting Blade, who became a screen icon thanks to Wesley Snipes and his trilogy. With Ali in place, all it seemed like we needed was a good stunt team for the Blade vs. vampires action that’s the franchise’s signature, and a director who could add a bit of style to the movie.

But none of that happened. Instead, we got year after year of creative teams joining and dropping out of the pictures, while rumors swirled that Marvel considered some pretty wild concepts for what the reboot should be. Meanwhile, Wesley Snipes reprised the role for an appearance in Deadpool and Wolverine and ended up sparking major rumors that he could be the one we see in the MCU reboot. Then, at the start of the year, Sneider dropped a different rumor stating the MCU Blade reboot was completely dead, but that the character’s role in the MCU definitely was not. “I’m hearing Blade is dead and it’s a Midnight Sons movie,” Sneider said at the time. “[Blade] will not be introduced in a solo movie. He will be introduced in Midnight Sons.”

As always, the rumor mills and “scoops” need to be taken with a grain of salt, but even if Sneider was off about when Mahershala Ali’s Blade was debuting in the MCU, this new rumor still seems to indicate he may be right about how the character is being handled now; i.e., as a team member and not a solo franchise player.

Marvel Studios already tested those waters with an MCU Blade character who debuted in the Marvel Zombies adult animated series on Disney+. The character was drawn to look like Mahershala Ali, but was voiced by actor Todd Williams (who was doing his best Mahershala Ali impression). Still, as part of the surviving team of MCU heroes, Blade was a major scene-stealer and seemed to indicate that Marvel fans have not abandoned the hope for this character, or all the supernatural lore that comes with him.

Avengers: Secret Wars has a release date of December 17, 2027.

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