Mahershala Ali Agrees Marvel's Blade Failure Is Kevin Feige's Biggest Flop
Mahershala Ali is echoing Marvel boss Kevin Feige's own harsh assessment of the long-stalled Blade reboot. Per Variety, Ali said he agrees with Feige calling the movie's failure "the biggest failure of his career."
The actor, who was set to star as the vampire hunter, told GQ he still doesn't understand why the film never happened. "They had, as you said, a two-time Oscar-winning actor under contract and you got billions of dollars," Ali said, according to the outlet. "That's a question for them."
Variety reports the project was announced in 2019 and cycled through multiple directors and writers before stalling. Director Bassam Tariq exited in 2022, and his replacement, Yann Demange, dropped out in 2024.
Feige previously told the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast he felt like "a gigantic loser and failure" over the Blade situation. He later cited Marvel's "over-expansion" into Disney+ content as a reason for the delays, per Variety.
Ali has repeatedly stated his readiness for the role, telling Variety last summer, "I'm ready. Let them know I'm ready." In his GQ interview, he pointedly added, "You had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would've done the movie."
