Beau DeMayo will likely be best known for working on (and being fired as) showrunner on Disney+ animated series X-Men '97, but he also did a pass on the script for an earlier take on Marvel Studios' troubled Blade reboot.
DeMayo has now taken to social media to share some of his concepts for the Daywalker's MCU debut (or what would have been his debut before Wesley Snipes appeared in Deadpool and Wolverine), and, like a lot of fans, he wonders why it's been so difficult for the studio to come up with a compelling premise.
"Take a John Wick movie. Give mobsters fangs. Swap Keanu for Ali, hand him a sword, not a daughter who makes him fret over swinging the hero’s name. Wick cost 20 mill to make. Add 10 mill for vampire/Darkhold magic VFX, you have 30-40 mill Marvel movie."
" I don’t get why it’s been so hard," he went on. "Studio’s broken. I wrote 3 drafts and a dozen outlines in 3 impossible months, my fav was a “The Raid”-style treatment where Blade finds himself defending a rundown tenement of humans from Varney’s vamp hordes until daylight. Took place over one night Blade learns from tenant Jericho Drumm that Varney’s attacking b/c the female tenant who Blade sorta fancies has been magically impregnated with Lilith by tenants who’re secretly Darkhold Cultists. Think 30 Days of Night meets Rosemary’s Baby."
DeMayo's outline certainly sounds... interesting! You'll find more details in the thread below.
Blade has been plagued by production woes ever since it was first announced over four years ago, going through a number of directors and writers. The project finally seemed to be back on track after a recent update claimed that shooting was set to commence this Fall, but we recently learned that director Yann Demange will no longer helm the movie.
Despite these setbacks, the movie is still said to be moving forward, with Mahershala Ali attached to star.
Ali's last update during an interview with EW was a positive one.
“We’re working on it. That’s the best I could tell you. 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,” he added. “So that’s the extent of what I can tell you.”
Demange (who stepped in to replace Bassam Tariq) previously confirmed that the movie will indeed be rated R.
"I'm excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that," said the filmmaker. "He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen."
Blade is currently set to hit theaters on November 7, 2025.