Marvel's Kevin Feige Updates Mahershala Ali’s Blade Reboot at Disney Investor Day 2020

Kevin Feige says Marvel's Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali is "coming together" and promises more updates "very, very soon." Announced by the Marvel Studios president and producer during San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, Blade takes a bite out of the supernatural with the two-time Academy Award-winning Ali playing the vampire hunter popularized by Wesley Snipes. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe-set reboot, Ali is the "daywalker" Eric Brooks, a half-human vampire killer who uses his superhuman abilities to destroy the undead preying on humanity. When announcing the revised Marvel Studios slate during Disney Investor Day 2020, Feige revealed a brief update on Blade:

"As we announced at Comic-Con last year, we're moving ahead with Blade, starring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali," Feige said during Thursday's webcast presentation. "The development and storylines are coming together, and we'll have announcements very, very soon."

Feige and Marvel agreed to take a stab at Blade when Ali phoned the Disney-owned studio and told them he wished to play the character after his second Oscar win for Green Book. In October, Marvel was said to be on the hunt for Black behind-the-camera talent on Blade, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ali has been after Blade since 2016, when the acclaimed actor starred as Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in Marvel Television and Netflix's Luke Cage.

"I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage. So in doing that show, the day it premiered, I had turned to my agent, and I had said, 'What are they doing with Blade?' Because I kept hearing they were trying to find a way to remake and put it back together," he previously told The Tight Rope. "And it was exciting for me to get to be in that Marvel space and TV, but for me, my goal had always been film. But also being able to participate in television in a very specific way that had real meaning, but my larger goal was to be able to really navigate between film and television."

Marvel Studios will also navigate between film and television with its Phase Four and Phase Five slates that now include just-announced series Armor Wars, Ironheart, and Secret Invasion for Disney+. On the film side, Feige officially announced a Fantastic Four reboot for theaters under Spider-Man director Jon Watts.

Blade does not have a release date. On Thursday, Feige confirmed new release dates for Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder (May 5, 2022), Ryan Coogler's Black Panther II (July 8, 2022), and Nia DaCosta's Captain Marvel II (November 11, 2022).