Kevin Feige says Marvel’s Blade reboot stalled before it was ready
The Marvel Studios boss said the Mahershala Ali project was not strong enough to shoot after years of directors, writers and delays.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Kevin Feige is owning Marvel’s long-running trouble with its planned Blade reboot, the Mahershala Ali vampire-slayer movie announced back in 2019 that still has not made it to cameras.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Marvel Studios president said he felt like “a gigantic loser and failure” because the studio did not get the film moving with Ali in the lead role. Feige also said it was “very exciting” to bring Wesley Snipes back as Blade in 2024’s Deadpool and Wolverine.
Marvel unveiled Ali as its new Blade in July 2019. The project then became one of the most visible examples of Marvel’s development headaches, cycling through filmmakers and writers while its start date kept slipping.
A reboot stuck in the coffin
Bassam Tariq was first attached to direct the film, but left in September 2022, about two months before production had been expected to begin. After Tariq’s exit, Yann Demange came aboard as director, then departed in June 2024.
The script also changed hands repeatedly. Variety reported in November 2023 that the movie had gone through at least five writers, including Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour and Michael Starrbury. One person familiar with the rewrites told Variety that, at one stage, the story had shifted toward a women-led narrative with life-lesson elements.
Variety also reported at the time that speculation around the project suggested Marvel still wanted to make the film, but at a budget under $100 million. Marvel later removed Blade from its release calendar in fall 2024.
Ali, meanwhile, has publicly kept his hand raised for the role. At the Jurassic World Rebirth red carpet last summer, he told Variety, “I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready.”
Feige points to Marvel’s Disney+ boom
Feige previously told reporters in July 2025 that the delays around Blade were tied to Marvel’s wider pullback after its expansion into Disney+ programming. He said that, during that period, “quantity trumped quality” for the first time at the studio.
As Marvel reassessed how it developed projects, Feige said Blade was among the titles that stalled. He told reporters the studio did not want to take a basic approach to Ali’s version of the character.
“We didn’t want to simply just put a leather outfit on him and have him start killing vampires,” Feige said. “It had to be unique.”
Feige said the project landed during a period when Marvel began insisting on material it considered “insanely great.” According to Feige, the Blade script was not there at the time, and the studio did not believe it could safely improve the movie during production.
“We didn’t feel confident that we could do that on Blade, and we didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us,” Feige said.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.