Blade's journey back to the big screen has been nothing short of headache-inducing. The movie was first announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 when Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige introduced Mahershala Ali as the MCU's Daywalker.
Stacy Osei-Kuffour was tapped to pen the screenplay in February 2021, with the idea being to wrap shooting by the end of that year. The start date was soon pushed back but Bassam Tariq came on board to direct shortly before Blade made a voice cameo in Eternals.
Additional delays followed and Tariq was replaced by filmmaker Yann Demange. Beau DeMayo and Michael Starrbury had both tackled the script by this point, with Nic Pizzolatto and Michael Green following them.
Various cast members left the movie as it continued to evolve and then, this past June, Demange stepped down as Eric Pearson signed up to polish the script.
As for Armor Wars, it was first announced as a Disney+ TV series in 2020. Yassir Lester was hired as Head Writer in August 2021 but countless delays followed until, in September 2022, we learned it was being redeveloped as a movie.
Now, with Marvel Studios tasked by Disney CEO Bob Iger with getting back to quality over quantity, it seems some tough decisions are going to be made in the months ahead.
According to scooper Daniel Richtman, the fate of both projects is likely to be decided by the end of 2024. One or both could be scrapped or may move forward as planned; scrapping two high-profile comic book movies with Black leads won't be a good look for Marvel Studios, though.
Ali no longer playing Blade would be a real shame. However, the release of Deadpool & Wolverine has led to an increased interest in Wesley Snipes once again returning to the role and interest among fans in Armor Wars has always, unfortunately, been pretty minimal.
"We are still committed to the movie and we're so committed that we're not going to make it until it's right," Feige said of Blade earlier this year. "Which has been frustrating for us and for some fans because it's taken a while. But we have a new writer working on it now, I've read half of his new draft and it's feeling good so far."
"Wesley's great, Wesley's the greatest. Mahershala is the one who came in four years ago...five years ago...and said 'I want to play [Blade]' is what this movie's about." He also revealed at the time that the movie is going to be R-Rated.
With the Multiverse Saga's conclusion now only a few years away, do you think we'll eventually see Armor Wars and Blade on screen?