Robert Downey Jr! Avengers: Doomsday! The Russo Brothers! Marvel Studios dominated SDCC 2024 with their massive presentation, but after all the fireworks, I’m pondering one question: what’s going on with Blade?
Marvel’s return to Hall H delivered on the kind of pageantry Kevin Feige has a reputation for. We got updates on Thunderbolts and Captain America: Brave New World, complete with Harrison Ford doing a live Red Hulk impression, before seeing the Fantastic Four cast together in the flesh.
If that wasn’t enough, Feige decided to unveil new plans for Avengers 5 and 6. The latter is still called Secret Wars, but the former has been rebranded to Doomsday, focusing on the Latverian king, to be portrayed by none other than a returning Robert Downey Jr.
Oh, and Joe and Anthony Russo are directing both. Everyone in attendance and online melted down at these reveals, and amid my own excitement, I felt a little pang for what wasn’t mentioned. Specifically, Marvel’s resident vampire hunter, who’s been conspicuously absent for years now.
Marvel returns to Hall H at SDCC… without Blade
This year’s Hall H showcase comes five years after Mahershala Ali was introduced as the MCU’s Blade in the same venue. Yes, that happened in 2019 – we were all different people back then, that’s for sure.
Ali’s involvement was rabble-rousing. He’s a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most respected actors of his generation; getting him to sign on the dotted line is an accomplishment for Marvel that signified big things.
Even as Phases 4 and 5 have stumbled, falling short of the box office domination and steady critical reception the franchise enjoyed between 2012’s Avengers and 2019’s Endgame, Ali’s presence inspired optimism. He wouldn’t be involved if the ideas and direction weren’t strong, right?
Well… about that. As of now, Blade doesn’t have a director. Two have sat in the chair so far: Bassam Tariq, who left due to creative differences and scheduling issues, and Yann Demange, who departed this past June.
Blade is becoming a revolving door
They join no less than five writers who’ve been publicly attached to the script. Reports state that the emphasis is on doing Blade “right” over getting the film over the line, and the amount of changeover indicates it’s taken some time for all parties to align on what that means.
Blade has been caught up in what’s been a troubling period at Marvel Towers. A rather damning report from Variety in November 2023 mentions Disney Plus shows being produced without screenplays and a desire for as much output as possible, stretching producers and diluting the end results.
In other words, the last few years have been chaotic, explaining the erratic storytelling and subpar production values. I’ve enjoyed most of the last couple of phases, especially She-Hulk, Shang-Chi, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ms Marvel, but it hasn’t felt as cohesive as before, and the lows are truly low.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a hodge-podge of Quantum Realm info-dumping and attempted scaremongering for Kang, and Secret Invasion was just a mess of wonky effects and p*ss-poor scripting. If Marvel’s smart, they’ll back up a second dump truck of money to Olivia Colman’s house for another go, because she deserved better.
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The MCU has seen better days
I’m glad that we’ve avoided the risk of Mahershala Ali being in one of these franchise farts, but the silence has become unnerving. What’s actually happening over there? Who’s writing it? Who’s directing it?
This feels glaring because the panel we just got was clearly engineered for Marvel to regain control of its own narrative and redirect public discourse. And by golly, did it work – the first test footage of Galactus barely left a mark after Downey Jr ripped off that Doom mask.
His casting and Avengers: Doomsday will fuel Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and idle chatter for months. A lot of the audience that checked out after Steve Rogers finally got his dance with Peggy Carter are now right back in.
Then you have reminders of Thunderbolts, the ensemble picture that includes Florence Pugh, Captain America 4 featuring Harrison flippin’ Ford, and the Fantastic Four finally joining the MCU. So, where’s the damage control on Blade?
Marvel’s daywalker is like a ghost
No appearance from Ali or update from Feige. No official logline of any sort. Blade still has a release date of November 25, 2025. That’s just over 15 months away, no time at all for blockbusters like these, and we don’t even know who’s making this thing anymore.
For a company that always tries to keep a hand on the Overton window, Marvel really seems to be ice-skating uphill on this one. Most of what we know has come from insider reporting while the studio remains mute.
Even with the recent controversies, Marvel’s been a steady hand over the years when it comes to releases. Generally, if something is announced, it comes out. Sometimes there’s a title change, sometimes the medium shifts a la Inhumans; whatever happens, Kevin Feige and his cohorts find a way to get the production off their desk and move on.
Blade needs to rise from the dead
Blade is increasingly starting to seem like something that might die in the shadows of development hell, just like that Nick Fury film that was announced as part of Phase 1. I’d like to believe otherwise, but the only people with answers are avoiding the subject.
Malibu Stacy in a new Doctor Doom mask can only account for so much. Though I suppose there’s one small upshot – Blade seems further along than Armor Wars.
If you’d like to keep making yours Marvel, we have a Phase 6 guide for everything else happening in the franchise, and a rundown of all the Deadpool and Wolverine cameos.
