Mahershala Ali says Marvel's 'Blade' is dead, and the studio didn't want it
It's official: Mahershala Ali will not be playing Blade. The two-time Oscar winner announced he's moved on from the long-gestating Marvel project after seven years of development hell, per reports from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and others.
Ali placed the blame squarely on Marvel Studios, which first announced him for the role in a flashy 2019 Comic-Con reveal. "You had me under contract. They have billions of dollars. If they wanted to do it, we would've done it," he said, according to Variety. The Hollywood Reporter echoed the sentiment, with Ali confirming, "They didn't want to do it."
The project cycled through multiple directors and writers but never got off the ground. With Ali's statement, the much-hyped MCU reboot of the vampire hunter is now officially cancelled.
