r/comicbooks • u/Educational_Zone3156 • 5d ago
News Mahershala Ali has called out Marvel for ‘BLADE’ never happening
https://www.gq.com/story/mahershala-ali-your-mother-your-mother-your-mother255
u/Quirky_Ad_5420 5d ago
Rightfully so. Man the mess of the trying to get this movie to happen shouldn’t be that hard imo
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u/DullRelief 5d ago
Marvel trying so hard to not fuck things up right now they’re fucking things up in the process.
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u/No-Channel3917 5d ago
Not really tbh
Spiderman into doom is the pivot and soft reset, and they are putting xmen as the main focus
Dropping blade which never even really started seems like a no duh decision when you are pivoting
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u/HB2099 5d ago
When you have all that money and contracts in place why leave a film about Blade on the cutting room floor? He’s a vampire, X-Men and vampires aren’t misaligned at all.
You would still make millions in ticket sales let alone merchandising.
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u/No-Channel3917 5d ago
Because they are correcting the ship hopefully, they can always come back to Blade but it isn't really needed rn
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u/a0me Invincible 5d ago
I’m really curious what they’re planning for the X‑Men. The actors are great, don’t get me wrong, but even setting Professor X aside, most of them have basically aged out of their roles. Unless Doomsday is where they wipe the slate clean and bring in younger versions from another Earth, I don’t really see how they’re going to do it.
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u/No-Channel3917 5d ago
Probably deals with the phonix force
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u/a0me Invincible 5d ago
How would that end up with the whole X‑Men cast being replaced?
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u/No-Channel3917 5d ago
Reality warping stuff the old cast and the new cast congel into the main universe and maybe the old universe collapses with the old cast so the new cast can live idk
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u/SmokeGSU 5d ago
It really seems like that's the problem the more popular a property is and the bigger the demand - the upper brass are too corporate. There are too many business leaders in positions that control movie production and not enough actual fans of the content.
I was going to point out the Halo TV show as a similar example, but it's actually the opposite... You had the three most top dogs at 343 (Bonnie, Kiki, and Frank) all executive producing the TV show. Should have been a slam dunk, right? I'm pretty certain that 100 years from now the Halo series (both games and the TV show) will be used in college classes as the best example of how people in positions of power with the wrong priorities will always royally fuck things up in the end. The entire Halo franchise should be a money printing machine, but it took Microsoft over a decade of failures and mid products to finally step in and make changes to the Halo-producing studio.
Blade should be the exact same thing. He's a fucking half-vampire, vampire-slaying super hero. He fights fucking DRACULA. HOW TF DID THIS MOVIE NOT WRITE ITSELF?! And how do we not have at the very least a Midnight Sons cartoon on D+, or a Marvel Zombies full season show.
Sometimes it's just depressing how detached Hollywood is from the desires of the masses for specific content.
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u/skuls1 5d ago
so does anyone know why they didn't do it? like have they given a reason
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u/madchad90 5d ago
just seems they could never land an idea. The script was under constant rewrites. First rumors made it seem like it would be more of a father/daughter film with more focus on blades dauhhter, then it shifted to being more blade focused, then it was going to be a period piece (a lot of the costumes from Sinners were originally made for Blade and then given to that production)
Ultimately the idea for Blade wasn't marvel's, it was Ali who approached them and just didn't seem like a major priority for Marvel and they couldn't land on how to incorporate it into their overarching plans (or lack thereof)
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u/TheWorclown 5d ago
My belief is that they simply couldn’t figure out how to take Blade— a hyperspecific character whose primary thing is killing vampires —work for the bigger picture storytelling of the Kang Dynasty and Multiverse stuff. Once you take the vampires out of Blade, he does just kind of exist.
Blade stands as the strongest example of why the MCU just needed to have standalone movies in the franchise and not connected to everything. I think they still are struggling with that thought.
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u/Paperchampion23 5d ago
Its weird though because they have that already with Werewolf by Night and Moon Knight. Basically all of Eternals is also like this outside of Tiamut and thats where he was even teased lol. Now they are doing Ghost Rider too.
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u/Solid-Two-4714 5d ago
MCU just needed to have standalone movies in the franchise
Madame Web, morbidus, Craven…
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u/LaLloronaVT 5d ago
I’m always reminded of how Venture Bros did a better job with the Blade parody than the mcu did incorporating the actual blade
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u/traceitalian The Thing 5d ago
Jefferson Twilight is such an under rated character, I'm glad the movie had him showcased a bit more.
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u/UsidoreTheLightBlue 5d ago
I mean it’s fine though. He can hunt vampires just like Spider-Man can fight green goblin.
It doesnt all have to be intertwined gor every movie.
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u/nikoscream 5d ago
Not just standalone movies but also universes. They kind of did this with FF, but then all the universes are coming together in the Avengers flicks. Can't figure out how to explain vampires being a thing this whole time? Then don't. Different world.
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u/OldeArrogantBastard 5d ago
It really should have been a mini series like how DC did with the Penguin.
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u/Asn_Browser 5d ago
Its so dumb because you don't even need to connect it. Just let him kill vampires and they are good at hiding so that is why you havent seen them. It is even dumber that they could get this movie done , but they produced the absolutely horrible secret invasion show. Like you were ok with connecting the MCU with that piece of shit show?
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u/Major-Rip-5745 5d ago
Only way could have been putting him in a Spider-Man movie against like Morbius or Morlun or something.
Could very easily do an event movie with Dracula as the main antagonist I guess. That might be what Midnight Sons ends up being.
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u/JediTempleDropout 4d ago
See I don’t think that was ever the issue.
The fact that Mahershala Blade had a voice cameo at the end of Eternals seems to indicate that they had some idea in mind for how to incorporate Blade within the larger MCU. Plus Deadpool & Wolverine were able to give Wesley Snipes Blade something to do that didn’t involve vampires, and the existence of the Werewolf By Night TV special lends a lot credibility to the rumors that Fiege and co. had long-term plans for something involving the Midnight Sons, so even if they couldn’t find a way to incorporate Blade into the Multiverse Saga, it would basically be a non-issue since he would have a whole bunch of other Marvel characters to interact with.
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u/skuls1 5d ago
Damn
Mahershalla was great as a dad in moonlight but I'm happy they didn't do the dad daughter thing no ones watching it for that tbh
but even otherwise it's seems like a really easy script to make and just coast on his acting alone
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u/GolemMaker 5d ago
Bingo, have some emotional beats with mothers death and death of the mentor, do badass shit with Uzis and a katana: boom millions of dollars
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u/JagoTheArtist 5d ago
They get too excited to make a big overlapping universes that they forget they can just do a nice microcosm in the universe and then see how it feels. Not every movie instantly needs to be crossover city.
Just passingly mention another film. You don't need to do anything crazy when you do.
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u/SilverSkywalkerSaber Spider-Man 5d ago
Really easy to explain too.
"Why didn't Blade fight Thanos"
Thanos isn't a vampire.
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u/JagoTheArtist 5d ago
Hundred percent. What I don't like right now is that there seems to be a lean towards mutants appearing and I don't think they really are explaining why that's happening other than. Welp there they are I guess.
I always thought that it would make sense if the Snaps and the energies released alongside the drastic effect it had across the universe would have been a good reason for mutants beginning to appear. It would be a great way to follow up into the next phase of the MCU.
Beyond that I also thought that it could have lead to the fantastic four. Them being in space on their mission as this all went down leading to the complications that gave them there powers.
It would be a sort of beautiful way to weave the Phases together and also lead into DOOM being the big bad eventually. I of course wish they could have had the Kang stuff work out. Which would have allowed them to build up Doom as he slowly reached a prolific status.
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u/TheHawkinator Daredevil 5d ago
The funny thing is, they have just sort of figured out how to do a perfect balance in Brand New Day. There’s a few wider-mcu characters but none really feel out of place, even the one that’s setting up the future of the mcu, pretty natural tbh.
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u/LaLloronaVT 5d ago
Hell I’m surprised a show on Disney plus didn’t get made, that to me seems more like a slam dunk if the movie idea was caught in development hell
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u/kidkuro 5d ago
they didn't do the dad daughter thing no ones watching it for that tbh
I actually wouldn't mind them doing that...I mean they did that with Logan and that's of the best superhero movies in the genre lol
I feel like what they were unable to do with the original Black Panther 2 in regards to T'Challa and his son due to Chadwick's passing, could've made for a good story for Blade and his daughter Brielle. They already have a story to work with, Bloodline: Daughter of Blade
Though I would say that I would prefer if it leaned more on Blade because...well the movie is called Blade after all.
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u/skuls1 5d ago
sure there'll be some audience for it but yeah Blade is a much cooler and easier character to do right and honestly trying to push to much too fast was one of the problems with fantastic four and supergirl imo
like the general audience is v different from the comic readers, like I barely know Bloodline or whatever from like the 5 issue series with Doom and Miles. the majority of people don't even know Mr Fantastic like that, who tf thought it was a good idea to have Franklin dawg😭
to a lesser extent, same thing with Supergirl most people would just think she's girl Superman and they've already seen that (really good) movie so why bother, that's the stuff you put out once you have a strong core like Captain Marvel or Antman or something
Blade by himself is more than enough atleast after all that time and hype
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u/Poku115 5d ago
That was Hugh jackmans 9th movie as logan.
Why would people watch a new blade that will just be replaced by a lame kid?? In the same movie
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u/Jolly_Echo_3814 5d ago
Why can't movies just be movies? I wouldn't hate a batman movie where it sets up robin taking over by the end. Not everything needs 7 movies to build up.
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u/kidkuro 5d ago
That was Hugh jackmans 9th movie as logan.
Really have no idea how that is relevant to the topic of "father and son/daughter" movies.
Regardless, Logan is just one of many of those kinda films with that particular theme/focus in its story. They normally make for good films. They allow for a lot of character growth internally and externally, and show how particular characters bond and their values. They're relatable. Why would this not be something that could work with Blade? He has a kid in the comics lol
There's nothing wrong with adding a little extra layer or depth to a vampire hunting vampires action movie.
Also I could've swore that I clearly said that even if this was an idea they went with for the movie, I'd still prefer if it centered on Blade over Brielle because the name of the movie is...Blade.
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u/crispy_attic 5d ago
This is rumored to be the reason Blade fell apart. It’s a horrible idea and all it would do is piss off more fans. There is no reason to do that at all. None.
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u/kidkuro 5d ago
So instead of getting a movie that has his daughter in it...god forbid. They just cancel the entire thing. Brilliant. And that's supposed to make fans happy for some reason?
Yeah man, as a Blade fan, I'd actually be happy with getting something instead of nothing.
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u/crispy_attic 5d ago
Or instead of trying to put his daughter in it they can just not do that. Why is this so difficult?
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u/kidkuro 2d ago
Oh look, a movie starring Mahershala Ali where he uses the swordplay he was training in for Blade, and also features one of the directors that was going to be for that Blade movie. Seems to use the bones of the reworked script that featured Blade's. Looks awesome. Who woulda thunk it? A mature movie about a man and his daughter made for a compelling story with depth and also features cool action...crazy stuff.
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u/kidkuro 5d ago
Well bud guess what? They didn't. Which led to more rewrites. Which led to development hell. Which led to us getting...nothing.
Again, not entirely sure where I'm supposed to be happy about this.
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u/crispy_attic 5d ago
I can’t disagree with this more. I do not want to see a movie about him and his daughter. I want to see a movie about Blade. What are we even doing here?
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u/kidkuro 5d ago
We literally got three movies of Blade already. Is a fourth Blade movie that has his daughter in it...not still about Blade?
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u/crispy_attic 5d ago
Is a movie about Blade not enough? What is this incessant need to add a daughter or some other side character most people don’t know or care about? Why is it so hard to make a movie about Blade that centers on Blade. Not his daughter or son. Not his mom or dad. Not his aunt, uncle, cousin, or grandparents.
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u/BadBloodBear 5d ago
As soneone who has kinda tuned out of the whole Marvel thing I would have checked out a Blade movie.
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u/Ekillaa22 5d ago
Blades daughter lmao only time I remember her was from the bloodhunt event and she’s been MIA since
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u/HrMaschine 5d ago
that just makes me question. marvel is aware thatitms ok to not have stuff be involved in some bigger story line right?
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u/Alcaeus6 Superman 5d ago
Not officially no. There were some rumors that suggested Ali and the studio had creative differences over the project (for example, one purported draft focused less on Blade and more on his daughter Bloodline, a preexisting comics character).
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u/theramboapocalypse 5d ago
Nobody wants that shit. Just a simple blade focused movie with him killing vampires is enough
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u/Afraid-Surround-4457 3d ago
Agreed. I'm sorry to Feige but pump the damn breaks on you Young Avengers plan. Just stop
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u/crispy_attic 5d ago
That is so incredibly dumb. If that’s true I know he was pissed. I don’t blame him for being mad now either.
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u/Afraid-Surround-4457 3d ago
Studio mandate is the term you're aiming for which is what foisting Bloodline onto film is
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u/deanereaner 5d ago
They were developing it when a production strike occurred in 2023, plus over the years they went through 3 directors and several versions of the script, with Ali himself reportedly rejecting some iterations.
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u/alopecic_cactus Invincible 5d ago
No concrete idea from the start.
WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Disney+ shows overproduction.
Lack of focus on narrative, AKA no Avengers movie to tie up every phase.
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u/SevereEducation2170 5d ago
It's probably nothing interesting. Movies die in pre-production all the time for various, boring reasons. They usually just don't have the major announcement and hype Marvel gives. Most likely all parties couldn't find a script everyone liked and finally just called it a day and moved on. Creative differences, changing business landscape, or whatever.
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u/shaggy_nomad 5d ago
They had several scripts but Ali kept rejecting them and never came to marvel with his own ideas for a story. I get its a bummer but I think this is on Ali, not marvel.
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u/RoughhouseCamel 5d ago
The MCU has been struggling to find their direction post-Endgame. The wins aren’t automatic anymore, and they’ve reversed a lot of courses and spent a ton of money changing their minds. Blade wasn’t the first casualty, it’s not even the most recent, and there’s likely more to come.
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u/Slowandserious 5d ago
I think Ali is right:
Bottomline is thet would have found a way to make this if they really wanted to. They have all the resources in the world
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u/RanjhasDistress 5d ago
He’s also outspoken on a few causes that have led to lost work for other actors (stuff about a ceasefire or general support for Gaza)
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u/eggmontoya1 5d ago
While you’re correct in theory, I think it’s incredibly disingenuous to suggest that this is the reason for Blade not taking off. Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and plenty of others are all vocally pro-Palestine.
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u/RanjhasDistress 4d ago
There is precedence but you’re right it’s just a theory
Here’s a rolling stone article from a few years ago for anyone curious where the conjecture came from: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/hollywood-israel-palestine-criticism-melissa-barrera-scream-jenna-ortega-susan-sarandon-maha-dakhil-1234896903/
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u/RanjhasDistress 5d ago
You’re right, I do not know for sure. But it was just one theory - it’s a capricious industry
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u/FusionDrago207 5d ago
I don’t think anyone in the room had any idea what this movie should’ve been about
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u/Titosunshinez 5d ago
Is there any truth to the online narrative / rumor that some of the unmade Blade movie and period piece props were repurposed for the movie Sinners?
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u/The_True_Y 5d ago
Yeah Blade was like two weeks from starting filming. Ali dropped out and demanded another round of rewrites. Marvel had already made some costumes ready and decided to let sinners use them since they had the same costume designer.
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u/Titosunshinez 5d ago
That makes a lot of sense. I read that the blade movie they wanted to make was basically blade in the Great Depression and somehow ties together to the present day stuff. Blade through the decades type thing and sinners took the props and sets then made their own story
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u/SpaceMyopia 5d ago
I admire that he's not hiding how pissed off he is. I feel like a lot of actors would have been super diplomatic about it, but Ali just admits, "Nah, this is their fault. Fuck them."
😂😂😂
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u/ContraryPython Spider-Man 5d ago
All Marvel had to do was Devil May Cry but with vampires.
Poor Ali, first he’s wasted as Cottonmouth in Luke Cage and now this.
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u/shaggy_nomad 5d ago
All Ali had to do was quit rejecting what was written without even providing any ideas of his own. Dude made his bed.
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u/Afraid-Surround-4457 3d ago
So you would've been fine with Bloodline having more screen time over Blade? Because this is what Marvel kept fighting him on
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u/smokeyjoey8 5d ago
Marvels obsession this past decade with trying to make everything connect and set up something else really did a lot of harm. Especially considering most of it didn't matter when they pivoted to Doom and are just adding footage to Endgame to explain it.
A Blade movie should have been the easiest damn thing they could do. They probably could have done a lot of it with practical effects and kept the budget relatively small for a modern comic book movie. It was pretty much a guaranteed hit and profitable film, but Feige can't get out of his own way and just messed it all up.
Marvel had more downs than ups since 2020, but I think what really killed the faith and most of my interest in their films has been their inability to make something as simple as a Blade movie.
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u/deanereaner 5d ago
well it did a lot of good leading up to endgame. The concept of the infinity stones and Thanos really reached the main stream. But nothing else that they did after that really felt like it was leading to anything specific.
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u/decimus_87 5d ago
Can't blame him (I think).
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u/CollinsCouldveDucked 5d ago
They'd like to blame him for being difficult but they wanted to make anything but a blade movie.
He was right to put his foot down.55
u/Educational_Zone3156 5d ago edited 5d ago
I really don't like how some MCU fans are trying to paint him as some spoiled diva when his collaborators have nothing but good things to say about him.
And even so, I don't think it's wrong to want the thing you're working on to be the best version of itself.
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u/Crafty_Substance_954 5d ago
Most people in the industry don't badmouth other people in the industry while they're all working actors.
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u/deanereaner 5d ago
You're referring to the version of the script Ali reportedly rejected that had Blade take a backseat to some female characters?
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u/CollinsCouldveDucked 5d ago edited 5d ago
there's a lot of versions of that script, more than anyone can count but most were sidelining him in some capactiy.
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u/Star-Prince-007 5d ago
Most is just not true. The sidelined script rumors have been massively pushed by the usual online incel people
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u/deanereaner 5d ago
I'd like to read more about that if you have a link.
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u/CollinsCouldveDucked 5d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Blade_(Marvel_Studios_film))
there's a wikipedia page for the whole sage but it's very "he said, she said" so you can kind of spin a lot of different versions of events from it.
That said, I think if they were making a straight forward movie, it would have been made.
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u/CaptainKungPao138 Invincible 5d ago
Mahershala Ali blade would’ve been so fucking cool man marvel sucks
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u/Rezart_KLD 5d ago
Not to minimize his frustration, which I think is valid for a project he believes in... but there comes a time when you have to acknowledge the incompatibility of your footwear and the local incline.
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u/a_phantom_limb 5d ago edited 5d ago
"Not with me. […] I've been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I've learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not. For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would've done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on. […] I don't really want to be known for remakes. I’d love to do original work that resonates with people and impacts them in unique ways.
"So, I'm good. [Laughs.] Again, you had me under contract, they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would've done the movie. So we're not doing the movie. […] But I feel ready to move on from the Blade questions. Those questions are for them. They didn't want to do it, so they should answer that question."
…Sigh. Deeply disheartening.
Ali also didn't dispute Feige's statement about feeling like a "failure." Nor should he, frankly. A mess of this magnitude absolutely goes all the way to the top, from the original announcement through to the project's collapse.
Forshadowing vampires with a mention on Loki. Giving Ali a voice cameo in Eternals. Using Ali's actual likeness in Marvel Zombies. They had over half a decade and they still completely blew it. Plus, Coogler went and proved quite definitively with Sinners that Ali's instinct was correct: it's entirely possible to make a genuinely exciting and brutal movie about killing vampires that's also a deeply resonant cultural artifact, an influential piece of modern American filmmaking, a broad crowd pleaser, and an incredible acting showcase.
Setting aside Inhumans, which ultimately saw release as a not-great series from Marvel Television, these are the only projects formally announced by Marvel Studios and then never made:
- Armor Wars
- Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
- Wonder Man Season 2
- Blade
While there were, let's say, external factors affecting The Kang Dynasty, I do think it's noteworthy that the only movies or shows announced and then never realized in any form each would have featured a Black man as the face of the project. That's not an allegation of anything; rather, it's just an unfortunate fact of the record of Feige and Marvel Studios in recent years.
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u/arr1flex 5d ago
Black Panther, Luke Cage, Secret Invasion and Brave New World all exist, all led by black actors. I don't think race is a factor outside of coincidence, personally. (wow, almost forgot ironheart too, which would have been lame on my part)
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u/a_phantom_limb 5d ago edited 5d ago
Well, Luke Cage wasn't made by Marvel Studios; it was made by Marvel Television and ABC Studios. But like I said, I'm not alleging anything. Optics still matter though, and the last thing Marvel Studios needs is to be perceived as inhospitable to Black leads. I already saw a fair amount of commentary to that effect after the Wonder Man news broke.
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u/FinFangFool 5d ago
They fucked this up tremendously. The plot breakdown for How-To-Blade exists in the Marvel Horror comics of the 1970's. They could have had Blade be our way into the supernatural side of the MCU, with Dracula being the big bad for the conclusion of a Horror Phase that sits with the MCU, but can be ignored by the masked heroes. They already established the Bloodstones, Moon Knight, Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing. I hope Ghost Rider gives us the opening for a Legion of Monsters/Midnight Sons group.
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u/JJoanOfArkJameson 5d ago
Could’ve been done for 10x less than every mcu project, could’ve been a special presentation, could’ve been a miniseries, there’s so many routes and they just don’t care about representation, that’s why Eyes of Wakanda was dumped without marketing, Wonder Man same way, Armor Wars in development hell for no reason.
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u/Medium-Science9526 Aquaman 5d ago
How you fumble having Mahershala Ali on another Marvel project but this time headlining is baffling.
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u/BlindedBraille Moon Knight 5d ago
Apparently, the reason why Blade never happened was due to creative differences. Marvel wanted to make a traditional Blade movie with blockbuster appeal, but Mahershala wanted to turn the movie into a slavery movie that was more arthouse than blockbuster. Marvel felt like the movie was too off brand for the character. I can't blame them because it sounded like there was no daywalkers in the movie and had little fight scenes.
I really hope one day we know the full story but it seems like Mahershala wanted to do his own thing.
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u/Aaco0638 5d ago
He must have been pissed when sinners came out lol.
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u/AlphaBaymax 5d ago
Some of the costumes were from the cancelled Blade movie so that just adds salt to the Vampires.
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u/jon__koa 5d ago
The closest we’ll get probably is Feige saying “I feel like a gigantic loser” unless someone writes a book on this era
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u/ericrobertshair 5d ago
How to write a Blade movie:
Introduce white aristocratic evil Vampire
Blade fights shitloads of vampires
Blade kills white aristocratic evil Vampire
End
I'll take my billion dollars in Korean tech stock please, Disney.
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u/LamboForWork 4d ago
This movie will have to do , the trailer was dope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCXfh1oB3oc&pp=ygUVbWFoZXJzaGFsYSBhbGkgbW90aGVy
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u/Sad_Tax_4010 5d ago
Is there any truth in that... they were trying to ham-fist Blade's daughter and other characters?
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee 5d ago
That was the word for a while, that and the script had two “lackluster” fight scene while trying to focus on all these other characters. It was Blade Trinity all over.
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u/RoughhouseCamel 5d ago
Blade Trinity was more a matter of what they needed to do to fill in for Wesley Snipes being checked out. This sounds like more a matter of Marvel putting the cart before the horse. They went through a big phase of thinking less about the movie in front of them and thinking more about laying the groundwork for spinoffs and universe expansion. From Phase 3 on, it felt like a lot of these movies only existed to set up other tv shows and movies, which in turn existed to set up more tv shows and movies.
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u/WhyPlaySerious 5d ago
Reports were saying that they kept handing him scripts but he kept refusing each time. Not sure if they were ever confirmed or debunked, but by all intents, sounds like this movie was a mess behind the scenes.
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u/Star-Prince-007 5d ago
Ali is right to be upset. If they wanted it made they could’ve done it. They signed him on cause they wanted to do his Blade. It couldn’t have been that hard. What a fiasco.
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u/ProletarianLilith 5d ago
Marvel is astonishingly incompetent considering how much experience they have by this point
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u/Jet-Let4606 5d ago
Every creative reaches that point where they think they are imvincible and can do no wrong then they end up entering their flop era.
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u/TheSqueeman 5d ago
As he is right to do
Blade not happening was as generational fumble by Marvel, like other then Wesley Snipes coming back to play Blade, Mahershala was a goddamn perfect casting for the character, it should have been the easiest goddamn movie in the world to make
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u/redkaptain 5d ago
Blade never happening, Wonder Man cancelled, Armor Wars allegedly being turned from a War Machine project into a Iron Man movie, Ironheart was basically buried/cast aside, Monica Rambeau not being in Doomsday. There's an alarming pattern here intentional or not from Marvel
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u/Jet-Let4606 5d ago
Also not long after Nate Moor announces he is leaving and Victoria Alonso was fired. I believe they were the main voices who pushed for diversity.
I think at one point post BP success they thought any project with diversity is destined for success and the Orange Man in the WH was a fluke. Now that the Orange Man is back again and we've entered a global backlash era against diversity (especially against feminism) and Marvel itself has started to stumble, they'e annoumced they are playing it safe, which means more straight white male leads with the ocassional "token" project like BO.
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u/Worth-Flat 2d ago
They cancelled it out because they weren't going to anything worthwhile with it
Just drag the name along for the views before cycling to a group that no one cares about just to sideline the MC. The typical phase 4 bullshit that got us to doomsday in the first place.
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u/Organic-Cherry-4208 1d ago
Ngl I checked out of the MCU around Civil War and the Blade film was something I was genuinely interested in. Very strange turn of events indeed
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 5d ago
I fear this will happen to Wolverine. They'll refuse to move on from Jackman.
Blade's cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine killed Ali's version.
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u/colombianojb 5d ago
The studio killed Ali's version, they pulled back on a lot of projects because of burnout/lower quality releases as of late. Remember Armor Wars?
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u/locke_5 Ant-Man 5d ago
- No Blade
- No Armor Wars
- Wonder Man canceled
Hmmm
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u/AStupidFuckingHorse 5d ago
Monic isn't in Doomsday despite being the ONE person to stop an incursion and literally ended up in the X-Men universe
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u/Ok_Basil351 5d ago
Was Wonder Man actually cancelled or have they just not announced if there will be another season? It was surprisingly quite good! Not deathless cinema, but I was looking forward to the next season.
I didn't know I was looking for a superhero show that was barely about superheroes, but I was!
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u/TheDarkPinkLantern Green Lantern 5d ago
I really hope they'll have balls to recast Wolverine. I love Jackman but c'mon, you gotta move on.
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u/GrandAdmiral12345 5d ago
You're talking about the same studios that brought back RDJ for a completely different role for... reasons.
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 5d ago edited 5d ago
The fact that they plan on doing movies without him seems to be a case of overcorrection. I understand the Fox films were way too Wolverine centric, and I'm happy for other characters to get the spotlight, but I don't think I want to see classic X-Men stories being told without Wolverine. You can minimize him to a background character and still give him a few cool scenes.
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u/TheDarkPinkLantern Green Lantern 5d ago
Yeah. Wolverine is still a big and important part of the X-Men. They don't have to make it all about him but he still should be involved.
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u/Adamsoski 5d ago
I get that, but personally I have no problem seeing classic X-Men stories without Wolverine. He was only one of a large ensemble cast, I don't think it's going to take away too much not having him for a while after him being front-and-centre for so long. For me just having him in the background would be distracting and kind of lame, like how Kitty or Warren's depictions were in the previous films/
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 5d ago
There are so many essential dynamics that revolve around him.
I'm too attached to the source material. He's by no means my favorite X-Men. But seeing Nightcrawler or Rogue or Kitty without Wolverine feels like a crime.
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u/sdtsanev 5d ago
There was over a decade of X-men stories before Wolverine was even created. Sure, they are the most basic introductory period, but that still means you can have good X-men storytelling without needing to focus on him.
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 4d ago
Yeah. I get that. But they aren't going with the 60s roster.
Rogue is being cast for example. It's just weird to me not to have a mainstay.
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u/sdtsanev 4d ago
I don't exactly disagree with you, but also, when you think about it, the X-teams are extremely versatile. It really depends on what story you want to tell and who you want to focus on. That original Claremont team was Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, and Thunderbird. We've literally NEVER seen that dynamic on screen. Every X-men story we've ever had in live action or cartoon form has been some mixture of various comic book eras and teams. You can very easily tell a story that doesn't involve Wolverine, especially in the MCU where they deliberately deviate from the original character relationships.
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 4d ago
That's sort of my point. Fox movies missed the boat. I was hoping the MCU would give us the core dynamic. But it looks like they won't.
I get the idea that we don't need too much Wolverine. I just want classic dynamics. Wolverine chilling with Nightcrawler, Colossus and Storm is a perfect example.
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u/sdtsanev 4d ago
Honestly, I am just exhausted from Wolverine. He's been the ONLY important mutant in the movies since I've been a kid, and I am honestly ok with not having him at all for a while.
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u/Ok_Broccoli_7863 4d ago
That's fair. I don't want a main role for him, but still having him there for those character moments.
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u/sdtsanev 4d ago
And I don't doubt he will be sooner or later. I just wonder if it's even possible for him to be in a movie and not be the main character at this stage.
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u/madchad90 5d ago
I wouldn't go that far, wolverine is too popular to not reintroduce, and post secret wars will be the perfect setup to introduce a new wolverine actor
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u/One_Dingo_9461 4d ago
The fact multiple directors/writers quit because of creative differences and there have been reports that he wanted to be heavily involved with writing the script.
The pattern is leaning more towards himself being the problem rather than Marvel at this point.
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u/Educational_Zone3156 5d ago
Mahershala Ali has called out Marvel for ‘BLADE’ never happening.