Marvel Studios' Blade movie has been trapped in development Hell since it was announced all the way back in 2019. The Marvel Cinematic Universe movie has went through multiple directors, as well as some reported rewrites, but it hasn't come to fruition yet - in spite of having a 2025 release date once upon a time. However, it has now been revealed that costumes which were created for the as-of-yet unmade MCU film were used in Sinners, which was released earlier this year, and is also about vampires.
This revelation came from Sinners producer Sev Ohanian, who shared the following statement about the costumers which Ruth E. Carter originally designed for the unproduced Blade movie:
“Ruth Carter was working on the Blade movie that ended up not shooting... At one point that movie was going to deal with, and she’s talked about this before, but at one point that film was going to deal with the past around the same era... She happened to have a warehouse full of period-appropriate clothes. And it was like, ‘Yo, we got to shoot this movie like tomorrow.’ And Marvel was generous enough and kind enough to let us basically purchase it at price.”
Therefore, while the status of the Marvel Studios Blade movie really is anyone’s guess at this point, at least the costumes which the Oscar-winning Carter made for the potentially-cancelled film can be seen on-screen in Sinners, where they were worn by the extras.
Announced at the Marvel Studios panel at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Blade was going to star two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as the titular half-vampire warrior, but the film has suffered from absolutely countless delays and false starts, with Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange both being attached to direct at various points. Although it now starting to seem unlikely that it will ever get made, Ali did briefly voice Blade in the post-credits scene at the end of Eternals, and Wesley Snipes returned as Blade, a role he played in the original trilogy of Blade films, in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Since it was revealed a while ago that the unmade Blade film would be set in the 1930s, it makes sense for the costumes to have been used in Sinners, which is primarily set in 1932. And since Ohanian confirmed that the costumes were purchased for a price, only a company as financially successful as Marvel could earn money from a film which was never produced.
Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who also helmed Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (and produced recent MCU show Ironheart), Sinners focuses on vampires launching an attack on a music venue during its opening night. It stars Michael B. Jordan (who played Erik Killmonger in the Black Panther films), Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O'Connell, Omar Miller, and Wunmi Mosaku, and it grossed an impressive $364 million, in addition to earning fantastic reviews.
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