‘Blade’: Kevin Feige Gives Positive Update on Marvel’s Reboot!!

If you study the movie making industry enough, you will come across that one project, promising, yet beset by persistent setbacks. Marvel has set about bringing to life a reboot of Blade, but production on the project has been hit by several complications from losing cast members and its creative minds. Marvel announced its reboot of the beloved film in July 2019, but as noted, development has been nothing short of rocky. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke on the prospects of the film within the studio, noting that he is committed to bringing the project full circle.

Despite the many writers, directors, and cast members that have come and gone in the years since the project was announced, Blade still has two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali set to star in the lead role. Speaking in a new interview with BlackTreeTV, Feige commented on the possibility of more R-rated MCU films after Deadpool & Wolverine‘s release. Despite delays, Feige isn’t rushing the film, and noted that it’s “inherently the character of Blade,” to be R-rated, suggesting that the reboot will follow suit. His comments read:

“For the last few years, as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it, and making sure we are making the right Blade movie. Because there were some great Blade movies years ago. They were all rated R. So I think that’s inherent – like Deadpool – that’s inherently the character of Blade.”

When Feige was beginning to make a name for himself in the industry, he honed his skills working alongside Wesley Snipes on the 1998 version of the film, so it’s fair to suggest that the reboot means more to him. In that light, the filmmaker is committed to the project, and won’t give up on the project easily. “We are committed to the movie, and we’re so committed to it that we’re not going to make it until it’s right,” Feige said in a separate interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act,. “[It] has been frustrating for us and for some fans that it’s taken a while but we have a writer working on it now. I’ve read half of his new draft, and it’s feeling good so far.”

A Troubled Reboot

Since 2019, Blade has been in a complex situation throughout its development journey. The film is set in the 1920s, and will feature Mia Goth as a vampire villain named Lilith alongside Ali as the titular vampire hunter. The movie has been through two directors already. Bassam Tariq was the first to come and go, before the arrival and departure of Yann Demange. Writers who have been attached to the project include Nic Pizzolatto (True Detective), Stavey Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen), Beau DeMayo (X-Men ’97), Michael Starrbury (When They See Us). The reboot has endured the loss of cast members, including the likes of Delroy Lindo, and Aaron Pierre.