Blade is said to be undergoing some major changes at Marvel Studios, leaving us unsure whether we'll see it next November as planned. When we do, the movie may be vastly different to the version Bassam Tariq had planned, though The Illuminerdi has now shared some plot details about what might have been...and what might still be.
According to the site, Blade was going to be primarily set in the 1920s with the Daywalker squaring off again European vampires. It sounds like the action was going to jump to multiple periods, potentially meaning the story would follow him into the present day.
With any luck, that would mean we'd catch up with Blade during the events of Eternals and finally find out why he decided to confront Dane Whitman before he could wield the Ebony Blade.
Going back to that period setting, though, and it sounds like Marvel Studios is planning to stick to the source material here. Despite what we saw in the Wesley Snipe-led movies, Eric Cross Brooks was born in a London brothel in 1929 and when there were complications with his birth, a doctor was called.
Unfortunately, that doctor was vampire Deacon Frost, and his feeding on Eric's mother changed the child's DNA, creating a human/vampire hybrid. Eric was raised in that brothel and taught how to fight vampires by Jamal Afari, a jazz musician. Given his skill with a knife, he earned the nickname "Blade" and travelled across Europe in a quest to destroy all bloodsuckers.
That means the Blade we meet in the present would be a veteran vampire hunter and someone who more than likely crossed paths with a previous wielder of the Ebony Blade. This could also mean his feud with Dracula plays out over years, ultimately leading to the Daywalker assembling a team - the Midnight Suns, perhaps? - to take him down.
That's speculation on our part, of course, but it would be a fun story to follow. We'll see what happens.
Blade is set to be released in theaters on November 3, 2023.