Blade Scrapped as Marvel Pivots to Midnight Sons, Per Rumor

Marvel announced a Blade reboot with Mahershala Ali way back at Comic-Con 2019. Six years later, the only time we have actually "seen" him as Blade was a voice cameo during Eternals. After a carousel of writers and directors, Marvel might finally have a direction — but it might not be a straight-up Blade solo anymore.

Where this all started (and stalled)

After that big 2019 reveal, Blade kept slipping. Ali is still attached — Kevin Feige told a small group of journalists a few months back that Ali remains their guy and that the team has finally settled on when this story takes place.

"We have landed on modern day, and that is what we are focusing on."

That sounds simple, but it actually rules out at least two scrapped versions that were period pieces. More on those in a sec.

What went sideways

Last year, there was a rumor Ali was getting increasingly frustrated with the slow grind. You could see why. Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre were cast at points during the long development, then quietly fell off as their characters were written out. Lindo, who appears in Sinners, recently talked a bit about who he would have played in Blade. An odd little detail: one previous Blade plan was set in the 1920s, which is why the 1930s-set Sinners ended up using some wardrobe that had been made for Blade when that version was still alive.

As for the script, it has been passed around like a relay baton. Writers who took swings include Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us), True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto (who worked with Ali on season 3), Beau DeMayo (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf), Michael Green (Logan), and Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps). Feige has said three or four different iterations came and went — two of them period pieces — before Marvel committed to present day.

Enter: Midnight Sons

For a couple years, the chatter has been that Marvel wanted to pull together a Midnight Sons project — a supernatural team-up movie — and at one point it was supposedly fast-tracked. If you are not deep in the weeds on this corner of Marvel lore, the short version is: Doctor Strange corrals a bunch of monster-adjacent heroes to fight Lilith, Mother of Demons. The roster has changed a lot over time.

• The classic "Rise of the Midnight Sons" lineup: Doctor Strange organizing Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Morbius, and the Nightstalkers (Blade, Hannibal King, Frank Drake), plus Darkhold characters Vicki Montesi, Louise Hastings, and Sam Buchanan, to battle Lilith and her Lilin.
• Other versions have rotated in names like Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Wolverine, The Hood, Doctor Voodoo, Elsa Bloodstone, Scarlet Spider, Kushala, Magik, Daimon Hellstrom, Jennifer Kale, and Nico Minoru.

Mia Goth was cast alongside Ali during Blade development, and as far as anyone knows, she is still in the mix. The word for a while has been that she is playing Lilith — which would slot perfectly into a Midnight Sons setup if Marvel pivots.

The latest rumor, straight from a podcast mic

Industry reporter Jeff Sneider (The InSneider) said on The Hot Mic podcast that Marvel has effectively scrapped the Blade solo and will debut Ali as Blade in a Midnight Sons movie instead.

"Blade is dead. It is a rumor. I am hearing Blade is dead and that it is a Midnight Sons movie. He will not be introduced in a solo movie, he will be introduced in Midnight Sons."

Co-host John Rocha pointed out that sliding Blade into a team-up neatly dodges the never-ending solo-story problems. Sneider also added:

"I think it is just gotten to the point where, 'Yeah, I do not think you are gonna get your own movie,' we cannot have a sixty-year-old Mahershala Ali fronting new comic book movies. So, I think it is gonna be Midnight Sons."

For the record, Ali turns 52 next month — not 60 — but yes, that is older than when Wesley Snipes first played the character at 35.

So where does that leave Blade?

Officially: Feige says Ali is still Blade, and Marvel has locked the setting to modern day. Unofficially: a well-sourced rumor says the solo film is off and the plan is to launch him in Midnight Sons, possibly with Mia Goth as Lilith. Given the revolving door of scripts and the age factor, a team-up first could be the cleanest way forward.

Would you rather see Blade get his own movie or jump straight into a supernatural team-up? Sound off.