Marvel’s long-planned Blade movie looks like it might have been scrapped, according to a new report. More on the project here.
We’ve just double checked our calendar and April Fool’s Day is definitely tomorrow, so this widely-reported story is either a day too early, or represents the latest U-turn in one of the most troubled modern projects in Hollywood.
Just a few days after reports suggested that Chad Stahelski was boarding Marvel’s problematic Blade project, another report has popped up claiming that the studio has killed the film entirely.
In a detailed post on Twitter/X, The Playlist’s Rodrigo Perez claims that the Blade film has been ‘nixed’ with all active development on the project ceased. As we pointed out while covering the claim that the John Wick director was reportedly being drafted in, it seemed a little unlikely, but then it’s difficult to predict the wild swings in direction that this project has taken of late.
In the report, Perez claims that “Blade will likely be introduced formally in either the still-developing Midnight Suns movie or Avengers: Secret Wars, or possibly as a supporting character in another movie – like the way Namor was first introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.“
Read more: Blade | A brief history of Marvel’s troubled reboot
At this point, Marvel really needs to clarify the future of the project, because the increasingly wild tenor of these reports is doing little to stem the belief that this is a film that the studio has no clear steer on. In fact, it’s starting to resemble an episode of the new Seth Rogen Hollywood satire, The Studio or the fun Marvel Cinematic Universe send-up, The Franchise.
Either way, it’s not a good look for Marvel, as it moves towards production on its biggest film in years, Avengers: Doomsday. Other reports are suggesting that the script on that project isn’t complete, despite filming commencing next month. How much truth is there we don’t quite know, but that’s reportedly why, despite spending five hours unveiling the cast list for the film, so many expected names were still absent. Their deals are said to have not yet been signed.
Time will tell if there’s something to this latest report, but given Blade's troubled track record so far, we wouldn’t bet against it. More on Blade as it comes in.
