Marvel Rumor: Blade movie has been scrapped, replaced by Midnight Sons
The fact that there was going to be a Blade reboot as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring Mashershala Ali in the title role, came as a huge surprise when the announcement was made at the San Diego Comic-Con back in July of 2019… but we’ve reached the six year anniversary of that announcement, and we still haven’t seen a new Blade movie. The closest we’ve gotten is Ali making a vocal cameo as the character at the end of Eternals back in 2021. Things have been looking dire, with screenwriters and directors coming and going – but while talking to a group of journalists at Marvel Studios a few months ago, studio president Kevin Feige confirmed that Ali is still attached to star in an MCU Blade movie, which may have finally found its story and setting. As it turns out, the key may have been to set aside the idea of a Blade solo movie and drop the character into a Midnight Sons movie instead.
Development Hell
Last year, we heard a rumor that Mahershala Ali is getting “increasingly frustrated” with the long development process on this one. Delroy Lindo and Aaron Pierre have been cast alongside Ali as the years have gone by, but are no longer involved, as their characters have apparently been written out. Lindo, who has a role in Sinners, recently shared some information on who his Blade character would have been. We’ve heard that, at one point, the reboot was going to be set in the 1920s – and that’s why the 1930s-set Sinners ended up using some wardrobe that was originally intended for Blade.
Writers who have worked on the script include Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us), True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto (who worked with Ali on season 3 of that show), Beau DeMayo (The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf), Michael Green (Logan), and Eric Pearson, who has worked on Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Feige confirmed that three or four different versions of Blade have been developed over the years, two of which would have been period pieces. But now, “We’ve landed on modern day, and that’s what we’re focusing on.“
Midnight Sons
The rumor that Marvel was interested in getting a Midnight Sons project off the ground has been going around for a couple of years now – and at one point, the rumor was that the project had been put on the fast track. This would be a team-up movie focused on various supernatural heroes.
One of my favorite comic book story arcs is “Rise of the Midnight Sons,” which saw Doctor Strange overseeing the formation of a team of supernatural heroes – Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, Morbius, the Nightstalkers (Blade, Hannibal King, and Frank Drake), and Darkhold characters Vicki Montesi, Louise Hastings, and Sam Buchanan – who were brought together to battle Lilith, the Mother of All Demons, and her evil offspring, the Lilin. There have been different variations of the Midnight Sons over the years, with other team members 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 coming and going.
Mia Goth was cast alongside Ali in the Blade project, and as far as anyone knows, she is still set to share the screen with him. We always heard that her intended character was Lilith, so it’s possible that she and her character could move over to Midnight Sons with Ali and Blade.
The Rumor
The rumor that the Blade solo movie has been scrapped and replaced by the Midnight Sons team movie comes from industry scooper Jeff Sneider of The InSneider, who spoke about the possibility on the latest episode of the podcast The Hot Mic. Sneider said, “Blade is dead. It’s a rumor. I’m hearing Blade is dead and that it is a Midnight Sons movie. He will not be introduced in a solo movie, he’ll be introduced in Midnight Sons.” As co-host John Rocha said, that’s one way to get around all the issues they’ve had with trying to figure out a story for Blade – if you just put him in another movie, you don’t have to struggle with his solo story anymore. Sneider added, “I think it’s just gotten to the point where, ‘Yeah, I don’t think you’re gonna get your own movie,’ we can’t have a sixty-year-old Mahershala Ali fronting new comic book movies. So, I think it’s gonna be Midnight Sons.“
Well, Ali will only be turning 52 when his birthday arrives next month, but that is an advanced age for an actor to just get started playing Blade. Wesley Snipes was 35 when he first played the character.
What do you think of the idea of pushing the Blade solo movie aside and introducing the character in a Midnight Sons team movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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