As Marvel Studios continues to hone and craft its "less is more" era, a number of projects have been redeveloped and moved around on its release schedule. Exciting things are still happening with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Kevin Feige and co. are being more careful now to ensure that the releases focus on fan-favorite characters and that viewers aren't overwhelmed with the post-Avengers: Endgame increase in content.
Deadpool and Wolverine will be the only MCU release of 2024, but that has less to do with the reshuffle than it does the strikes that took place in Hollywood last year. It does, however, give fans a chance to miss the Marvel shared universe and build up more anticipation to its return next year. However, according to new reports, one of those movies might not make its planned 2025 release date and could be moved to 2026 instead.
Blade rumored to be facing a delay to 2026
According to Marvel scooper AlexFromCC, who is a writer for The Cosmic Circus, Blade is now reportedly eyeing a 2026 release date. While Marvel Studios has yet to announce this, it isn't the first time that this has come up online, as fellow Marvel scooper HolyField News had previously reported on a potential delay for Blade, suggesting that Spider-Man 4 could end up taking its current release date.
Blade's official release date is currently November 7, 2025 but if those reports turn out to be true, it could be moved in the foreseeable future. The film is set to begin production before the end of 2024, but so is Spider-Man 4 (according to reports) so that also gives grounds to the possibility of Spidey replacing Blade if Marvel wishes to swap them around.
Blade stars Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter, who will be making his on-screen MCU debut in the movie. Ali previously made an uncredited cameo appearance in 2021's Eternals when his voice could be heard in the post-credits scene. Like that movie, Blade is expected to open up a whole new world for the MCU bringing in more supernatural, horror elements through the introduction of vampires.
What's also interesting is that this might not be the first time a version of Blade appears in the shared universe of superheroes. Rumor has it that Wesley Snipes is expected to appear in Deadpool and Wolverine to reprise his role as the original live-action Blade from the classic '90s and '00s movie franchise. If that does happen, it could help Marvel bridge the gap into that more supernatural world.
As for the MCU's Blade movie, it sounds like we might have to wait to 2026 to see Ali's Daywalker appear on-screen. While it's important to take all rumors with a grain of salt until confirmed by Marvel, this isn't the first time that Blade has been delayed. After being announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, the film was planned to release in November 2023, but a number of creative changes and departures resulted in it getting pushed to 2025. With rumors of multiple creative issues behind the scenes in the time since then, we'll have to wait and see if it will end up forcing Marvel Studios to move it again.