At the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Marvel Studios President Feige welcomed Mahershala Ali to the MCU by announcing a Blade reboot. Three years later, the executive told fans in Hall H that the reboot would arrive in theaters on November 3, 2023. It then moved to September 6, 2024, and eventually slipped further down the calendar to February 14, 2025.
For a time, Blade was eyeing a November 7, 2025, release. We'd hoped the movie might meet that date, but it was soon removed from Marvel Studios' schedule altogether and taken back to the drawing board (having already gone through multiple creative teams).
As a reminder, the past 6+ years have seen both Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange attached to direct before creative differences became a problem. Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Beau DeMayo, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, Michael Green, and Eric Pearson have all also worked on different versions of the script.
In recent months, we've heard conflicting reports about whether Blade could eventually be scrapped. Not much has ever been officially revealed, but we do know that a 1920s setting was considered. In fact, the idea got far along enough for Ryan Coogler's Sinners to purchase and repurpose many of the costumes that had been made.
Now, a supposed full breakdown of the original Blade script has surfaced on Reddit. There are no telltale signs of AI usage, and much of this does line up with what we've heard about Marvel Studios' early plans for the movie.
That includes a huge role for Blade's daughter and plans for Lanterns star Aaron Pierre to play the villainous Aaron Thorne before Marvel Studios pivoted to Mia Goth's Lillith. There's also no mention of the Ebony Blade, which, in later drafts, became the reboot's MacGuffin (explaining Eternals' open-ended post-credits scene).
The period setting is undeniably unique, but Marvel Studios has had mixed fortunes with telling stories in this way. In hindsight, for example, placing Captain Marvel in the 1990s has done Carol Danvers few favours.
You can read the full, unedited Blade plot leak below:
Alleged BLADE script leak from 4chan
byu/Tales_of_the_Trivial inLeaksAndRumors
Read the script for Marvel's Blade movie. The first version, anyway, set in the 1920s. It’s not bad, but it’s very different from the Wesley Snipes movies and an average MCU movie, so I can see why Marvel got cold feet about it. It plays out almost like a supernatural fairy tale told from the perspective of Blade’s daughter Zora. It begins with Zora witnessing her mother being killed by a pack of vampires led by main villain Aaron Thorne (Aaron Pierre was supposed to play this role). A big part of this script is that vampire fathers pass their vampirism to their kids. Thorne is the son of one of the vampire elders who was recently killed by Blade, and the other elders have denied him his father’s position since he’s a half-black bastard, so he has gathered other outcast vampires to topple the elders. His plan is to sacrifice Zora and drink her blood so he and his followers can become daywalkers like Blade.
Zora escapes and hides with this old voodoo lady her mother didn’t want her to hang out with. Voodoo granny calls for Blade. The vampires track Zora down and attack voodoo granny’s house. Blade appears, kills one of the vampires and Thorne escapes with the other three. Blade only shows up around page 15 of the script. Zora finds out Blade is her father. Voodoo granny tells Blade that Zora is not safe in New Orleans. Blade takes Zora away, and voodoo granny gives her a silver locket before they leave.
Blade drives Zora to the estate of Quincy Harker, a wealthy descendant of Jonathan Harker whose family finances vampire hunters for generations. There, Blade and Zora meet two other hunters, Rachel Helsing and Taj Nital. She is a descendant of Van Helsing and bonds with Zora, while Taj is an Indian warrior who has taken a vow of silence after his family was killed by vampires. Blade needs Harker’s help to figure out why Thorne is after Zora.
Blade learns about the ritual, which Blade and Harker both doubt would work. This is when Zora finds out Blade is a half-vampire, and she is frightened. He explains how his mother was bitten while pregnant, and that a vampire hunter named Jamal Afari raised him (Delroy Lindo would have played this role). Jamal runs a black settlement and Blade will take Zora there to hide.
Blade and Zora take a train to Jamal’s settlement. They bond during the trip, and Blade reassures Zora that vampire children only develop the thirst when they hit puberty and only become true vampires when they first drink blood. Jamal trained Blade, but kicked him out of the when Blade lost control and killed Jamal’s son. The voodoo granny is Jamal’s ex-wife who loved Blade like a son and followed him to New Orleans. She created a potion to help Blade keep his thirst at bay. Blade fell in love with Zora’s mother and got her pregnant. He left, unwilling to endanger her and Zora, but asked voodoo granny to watch over them. He then linked up with Harker and his network and began hunting vampires.
Thorne and his men attack the train, leading to a big action scene where they hunt Blade and Zora through the cars. Blade kills another of Thorne’s followers and has a fight with Thorne before escaping with Zora as the train derails. They reach the settlement, Blade has a tense reunion with Jamal, but he agrees to shelter them. Zora learns Blade plans to leave her behind with Jamal and resume his crusade, and is sad. Jamal has a heart-to-heart with Blade where he apologizes to Blade for being a bad father and chasing Blade away and pleads Blade not to commit the same mistake with Zora.
Thorne attacks the settlement with a bunch of vampires he created from the victims of the train crash. They destroy the settlement, while Thorne kills Jamal and abducts Zora. Blade is captured and tortured after Thorne leaves. Rachel and Taj arrive, kill the vampires torturing Blade and rescue him.
They go back to Harker’s house to figure out where Thorne could have taken Zora. There, Blade connects the dots and figures out Harker sold him out to Thorne. That’s how Thorne located them on the train and later on the settlement. Harker rationalizes they can use Thorne to wipe out the elders, and then kill Thorne and his followers. Zora’s life is a necessary sacrifice since the ritual won't work. Blade, Rachel and Taj cut ties with Harker and leave him behind to rescue Zora. Harker later kill himself out of shame.
Blade, Rachel and Taj attack the temple where Thorne is preparing the sacrifice Zora, take out Thorne’s followers and we get fights between Blade and Thorne, Rachel and Thorne’s henchwoman and Taj and Thorne’s henchman. Taj is killed in the fight and dies in Rachel’s arms, while Thorne gets the upper hand on Blade until Zora stabs Thorne with the silver locket, allowing Blade to catch his second wind and push Thorne towards the rising sun where Thorne bursts into flames. The vampires had destroyed Blade’s spare potion earlier, so he begins to succumb to the thirst and go feral, but Zora manages to get through and get him to control himself long enough for her to make some more potion (she learned it from voodoo granny).
Rachel inherits Harker’s fortune and keeps financing vampire hunters. Blade and Zora returns to New Orleans and reunite with voodoo granny. Zora realizes she can’t stay with Blade because it’s dangerous, and they part ways, with Zora staying with voodoo granny and Blade watching over her from the shadows. We then get a montage of Zora growing old, using granny’s potions to keep her thirst at bay. She never becomes a full vampire, ages like a normal person, marries, has kids and dies of old age in the 90s. Blade attends the funeral and has a brief interaction with his granddaughter, who doesn’t know who he is. He says he’s an old friend of the family, before walking back into the shadows.