It's no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is always two steps ahead. While audiences just watched The Fantastic Four: First Steps—which is the studio's final movie releasing this year—the next seven years' worth of content is already planned.
The superhero giant has always been thinking about what will come next ever since the premiere of Iron Man in 2008. However, it doesn't matter how many years in advance some projects are planned; there will always be some bumps on the road.
Just in recent years, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was delayed, which in turn impacted the narrative of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty was redeveloped into Avengers: Doomsday, and the movie's initial release date was pushed back over a year.
Finally, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has also suffered a series of setbacks, which made fans worried about the future of Tom Holland's Peter Parker. But above all, there was a highly anticipated MCU project that ultimately was axed after years of being trapped in development hell... or so we initially thought. Fortunately, it was revealed that Marvel is still developing it behind the scenes.
Marvel is still working on a Blade movie
This month, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had the chance to talk with The Hollywood Reporter about the past, present, and future of the MCU. He discussed the reason behind some of their recent misses, as well as when we could see certain characters appear on the big screen. Of course, Blade was one of those topics that had to be mentioned, given that the vampire hunter is commonly believed to be the one that got away from the MCU.
Back in 2019, Feige and Mahershala Ali took over the stage of San Diego Comic-Con to announce that a Blade movie was in the works. Since then, the project has suffered countless delays and has even been reported to be on indefinite hold, which is usually just a fancy way of saying it was cancelled. Now, we finally know what was going on behind the scenes and how it has impacted the project's development.
Feige revealed that there have been four different iterations of the film over the years. Two of them were period pieces, and the other two were set in the present. At long last, Marvel landed on a modern setting, and Ali is still set to bring Eric Brooks to life.
But while it's great to know that Blade is still moving forward, perhaps a bigger question to ask is: When is it coming? Unfortunately, Feige didn't reveal any possible release windows. On the bright side, we might still have a good idea of when shooting will begin.
According to reliable industry insider Daniel Richtman, production on Blade will allegedly start at some point in 2026. With that in mind, some have speculated that Marvel's previously reserved spot of July 23, 2027, might actually be for the Vampire Hunter. However, that scenario seems unlikely, given how Avengers: Doomsday is on the horizon, and the studio will likely try to build up towards that movie instead of establishing other standalone characters that won't likely appear in it.
We've heard reports that the MCU's supernatural side will make a major comeback after the end of the Multiverse Saga with the release of Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. Multiple heroes, such as Moon Knight, Werewolf by Night, and Blade, are rumored to have standalone projects before coming together in a Midnight Sons crossover. This seems all the more plausible given how Mephisto stole the spotlight in the final episode of Ironheart and was established to have a storyline further down the line.
All things considered, it looks like 2028 will be the year of the vampire hunter.
Given how Blade was originally announced back in 2019, it might be a letdown to know his movie could (hypothetically) be released in three years, at the earliest. However, it's a better tactic for Marvel to hold off the debut of certain characters until it's truly their chance to shine. Otherwise, we'd just have a Moon Knight or Shang-Chi situation in our hands again, where fantastic heroes are introduced on the big or small screen only to never be seen again for many years.
And, with a bit of luck, the Blade film will be worth all the delays and cancellation rumors.