Of all the upcoming projects from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a total reboot film Blade starring Mahershala Ali in the lead as the superhero of the same name remains one of the most anticipated movies of Phase 5. This stands all the more truer after Wesley Snipes failed to land the perfect end-film in 2004 for his trilogy of The Vampire Hunter.
However, amid the growing anticipation for the film, multiple rumors have been popping up about the film and Ali’s involvement in it. One of these even reportedly claimed that Mahershala Ali had exited the Blade reboot project, making fans who were really looking forward to seeing him in the character of Eric Brooks panic. And after much wait, an industry insider has finally addressed the rumor.
Industry Insider Finally Reveals The Truth Behind Mahershala Ali Exiting Blade Rumors
After the seemingly messed up end-film to Wesley Snipes‘ Blade trilogy, fans were really looking forward to Mahershala Ali redeeming the superhero through his own reboot film. And things were going pretty fine until a rumor emerged that Ali had reportedly exited the remake.
This made fans from all around the globe panic at the mere thought of losing something they had been patiently waiting for so long, even sharing on X their heartbreak at these mere rumors. But after a long wait, these rumors have finally been addressed by an industry insider.
Or, to be more precise, debunked by an industry insider.
Recently, Jeff Sneider, a renowned insider of the entertainment industry, took to his X handle @TheInSneider to talk about and debunk all these rumors by tweeting a post that read:
“No truth to the rumor that Mahershala Ali has exited BLADE.”
No truth to the rumor that Mahershala Ali has exited BLADE.
Subscribe to my newsletter instead of listening to Film Twitter.
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) February 15, 2024
Thanks to this confirmation from him, fans are now more at ease than ever before, as can be deciphered from their “thank yous” in the comments section of Jeff Sneider‘s tweet that finally revealed the truth to them.
Although fans don’t usually fall for such rumors running around, the major reason behind them seemingly assuming this one to be real was because of a prior incident that reportedly led to Mahershala Ali almost exiting Blade as well.
Mahershala Ali Reportedly Almost Left Blade Before As Well
While these rumors about Mahershala Ali allegedly having left Blade reboot were fresh, they only seemingly stemmed from a previous report about the same, though this one was more believable than the more recent one because of its reason.
As reported by Variety, the development stage of this remake reportedly wasn’t the easiest of tasks for Marvel, and went through “at least five writers, two directors, and one shutdown six weeks before production.” This indirectly hinted that the creators were struggling to pin a direction to their story.
This was further followed by reports that at one point, the story even “morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons,” leading to Blade reportedly being the fourth lead in the movie — which was ostensibly not okay because the entire film was supposed to be about Blade himself.
These reports then led to the conclusion that because of all these script issues, Ali was allegedly ready to exit the project. However, that’s when Kevin Feige took the leashes to the project and handed them over to Michael Green to curate the story for The Vampire Hunter.
Thanks to this eventual turn of events, the two times Oscar-winning actor was finally reported to be back on track and seemingly happy with how the project was going, as he shared during an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
“We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you,” Ali said. “I’m really encouraged with the direction of the project. I think we’ll be back at it relatively soon. I’m sincerely encouraged in terms of where things are at and who’s on board and who’s leading the way as far as the writing of the script and the directing and all that. So that’s the extent of what I can tell you.”
Thus, as of this writing, Mahershala Ali is still on track to bring a whole new presumed Blade masterpiece to life which would reportedly be created on a budget of less than $100 million, as per Variety. As for the film itself: Blade is set to hit the theatres on the 7th of November, 2025.
