It’s time to lower your swords, Blade fans, because Mahershala Ali has hung up the metaphorical cape on this Marvel project.
In an interview that the Academy Award-winning actor did with GQ to promote his new movie, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, he was asked about the potential of ever starring as the titular character after years of production hell. Ali was frank and said that he’s “moved on” from Blade, and at this time, he’s not involved with anything going on with it:
“For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would've done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on…you had me under contract, they have billions of dollars…those questions are for them [Marvel]. They didn't want to do it, so they should answer that question.”
This is majorly disappointing news, but truthfully, it’s not that surprising. The MCU version of Blade has long been a huge issue for the studio since its initial announcement in 2019. It’s gone through casting changes, director changes (including Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother director Bassam Tariq), and many other issues that have pushed it back time and time again.
There were reports of The Blade being pushed back in November 2025 due to director changes (again). Still, in 2026 it was reportedly confirmed that the long-awaited adaptation was dead in the water because plans for the character changed.
The Blade movie has been such a big issue for the MCU that its president, Kevin Feige, has even gone on the record and expressed regret over how that project was handled, saying he felt like a “gigantic loser and failure” in an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Even so, there have been some little tidbits of light in this whole situation. Reportedly, Blade is going to make his MCU debut in Avengers: Secret Wars. But as this is only just a rumor, it’s the closest we have to something being announced about this new film. There’s also the fact that the Blade video game is still in development (but won’t get here until God knows when in 2027).
Regardless, though, this is still sad news. But from how Ali speaks on it, he’s eager to move on from this whole messy situation and devote his skills to projects he truly feels passionate about, like Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. The actor even said in the GQ interview that he used the training he did for Blade as preparation for the upcoming action film. So I suppose we’ll see him in action in this way!
At the end of the day, at least we have Wesley Snipes’ version of Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine, and I think that’s the only version of Blade in the MCU we’re going to get for some time. Ali as a potential Blade will forever be in my heart (unless Marvel somehow, in some fashion, gets him back, which is doubtful).
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