Social Media Is Not Here For Kevin Feige's 'Blade' Remorse

It’s been roughly seven years since Mahershala Ali was announced as the new daywalker in the Marvel Studios Blade reboot, and we still have nothing to show for it. Kevin Feige, the architect of the MCU, addressed the franchise being stuck in development hell, and he’s just as sad as all of us.

Outside of Ali lending his voice as Blade in the post-credits scene of The Eternals, where he warns Dane Whitman, aka The Black Knight (Kit Harington), about the dangers of wielding the Ebony Blade, we have yet to see Ali don the shades and black leather outfit.

While promoting Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is hilariously the third Spider-Man film to swing into theaters since the Blade reboot’s announcement at San Diego Comic Con, Feige shared how he feels about dropping the ball with Blade.

“I am feeling like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala,” Feige said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

Development hell is an apt description for the film about a character who usually tussles with Marvel’s characters who deal in the occult. Since the announcement of Ali’s arrival into the MCU, the film has gone through numerous script rewrites, been hit with several delays, and seen two directors, Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange, exit the project.

Blade Has Become A Running Gag Within The MCU

MCU’s Blade has even become a running gag with people always reminding us every time we haven’t gotten the Blade movie when Mahershala Ali pops up in another project.

Even Wesley Snipes, the original Blade, took a shot at Mahershala Ali’s missing character in Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, saying  in the film, “There’s only one Blade, there’s only ever gonna be one Blade.”

Before his recent comments, Feige had reiterated that Ali’s Blade is still a thing, despite the movie being removed from the 2025 release schedule.

“We love the character, we love Mahershala’s version of him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still trying to figure out how it fits into our schedule, we let the public know,” Feige said in a November 2024 interview. “You’re up to date on what’s going on. But I can tell you that the character will be coming to the MCU.”

Ali’s version of Blade did eventually show up in the most recent season of the animated series What If…?. While he didn’t voice the character, it did have his image and likeness.

Welp.

We’re still holding onto hope that he will either show up in some form in Avengers: Doomsday or follow-up Secret Wars.

Until that day arrives, you can peep reactions to Kevin Feige’s feelings about the dormant Blade movie below.