It’s been 20 years since Blade 3 came out and we finally might be close to an MCU reboot of the franchise. According to the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, shooting should start in the next 10 weeks, featuring Mahershala Ali as the famous vampire hunter.
Feige sat down with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which marks the start of Phase 5 of the MCU, where he finally gave a positive update about the much-delayed film, saying:
It's going well. Our director Yann is down in Atlanta right now. Cameras roll in, like, the next 10 weeks or so.
The last 20 years in the history of the franchise were filled with attempts and failures to make a good Blade movie. Things started looking up after the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, where Feige revealed that Ali would take on the role of the half-vampire Blade. Filming should have begun in November 2022, but the project suffered several delays throughout the year. First, it was a director change that was announced during the summer, and then the original "lackluster" script was completely thrown out after Ali voiced his concerns.
Blade 1998🧛🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/ibnzJL0XrN
— 🎃Jenny From the Block👻 (@Jeanna350) February 6, 2023
Blade is one of the six movies and seven television shows scheduled to release during Phase Five of the MCU. The franchise gained recognition after the trilogy of movies starring Wesley Snipes effectively saved Marvel Studios from the brink of bankruptcy.
Marvel's cinematic revival all kicked off with the original 1998 movie that depicted the hero as a half-human, half-vampire hybrid. He was nicknamed "The Daywalker" because he possessed all the strengths a vampire could have and none of their weaknesses. A vampire unharmed by sunlight quickly drew interest and built a cult following asking for a sequel. Fans got what they want with the 2002 Blade movie directed by Guillermo del Toro. Unfortunately, the threequel, Blade: Trinity by David S. Goyer, killed the series' momentum due to negative reviews and a so-so box office performance.
And this isn't the only good news we’ve gotten related to the MCU recently, with promotional material for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 surfacing in Australia. Also, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever became the most-watched MCU film on Disney+, a title Eternals held for most of the last year. Finally, Jonathan Majors' Kang was rated as the best MCU villain, but Kevin Feige might not have been here to witness it if he was fired in 2015 as recent reports suggest.
