Credit: Marvel StudiosThings aren’t looking promising for next year’s Marvel Studios release slate.
The last few years have been rough for Marvel, to say the least. Not only have some of its cinematic efforts flopped – namely, the likes of The Marvels (2023) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) – but its forays into television have been met with extremely mixed reviews.
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Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger have stated that the studio is taking a step back from pushing out as much content as possible and instead focusing on producing fewer, higher-quality projects. As a result, this year’s release slate looks a lot emptier than usual for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with just one film – Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) – hitting theaters in 2024.
Theoretically, next year should be much more action-packed. At present, Marvel’s release slate for 2025 features four films: Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four, and Blade.
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But will they all actually make their release dates?
At present, only two Marvel films due for release in 2025 have actually wrapped filming: Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*. The former is currently undergoing a series of extensive reshoots, which reportedly followed poor test screenings. Thunderbolts* completed filming earlier this month.
That gives both films a decent amount of time to get big screen ready. The other two, however, may have a tougher time making their release dates.
This week, Feige confirmed that The Fantastic Four starts filming the day after San Diego Comic-Con (July 29, 2024). It’s supposed to hit theaters in July 2025, starring the likes of Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing).
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Blade – which was originally supposed to hit theaters in November 2023 – recently lost its director, Yann Demange. That’s the second director to exit the project, which has also cycled through at least five screenwriters. and is yet to nail a final script. It’s currently scheduled for a November 2025 release date.
Considering the amount of post-production likely required for The Fantastic Four, where the majority of heroes boast VFX-heavy superpowers, turning around an entire Marvel movie in almost exactly a year seems incredibly ambitious. It also doesn’t exactly gel with the idea that Marvel Studios is taking extra care with its upcoming projects.
As for Blade, we’d argue that the odds of it being released in November 2025 are next to nothing. The film has now been in the works for several years, with Mahershala Ali unveiled as its star at Comic-Con in 2019 – nearly five years ago to the day.
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To his credit, Ali recently made it clear that he’s very much still committed to the film (which he apparently views as his Black Panther (2018) moment). He’s also been a huge driving factor in the film’s production since day one, having set up a meeting with Kevin Feige after winning his second Academy Award for Green Book (2018) and telling him about his desire to play Blade in the first ten minutes.
Meanwhile, Mia Goth, who will reportedly play Lilith in the film, commented that she is “very optimistic” about the film moving forward and that the team behind Blade “really care, they do. They want to make a great movie. That’s the sense that I get from them, and that feels good.”
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There have been multiple reports about the chaos behind the scenes of Blade. The film recently lost its director, Yann Demange. That’s the second director to sign on and then leave the project. As per industry insider Jeffrey Sneider, Ali had grown frustrated with Demange, “who has long been considered ‘a talented director who’s difficult to work with.'”
Despite his positive sentiments towards the film, it seems like Ali himself is also pretty frustrated. Earlier this month, his attorney, Shelby Weiser, told The Hollywood Reporter that he sighed onto the project “in 2019, and they still haven’t shot it, which is pretty much the craziest thing in my professional experience.”
With all that in mind, we wouldn’t get our hopes up for a Marvel-packed year in 2025. In fact, we’re trying not to get our hopes up about seeing Blade any time soon in general. Manifesting more positive news on the horizon for the iconic vampire hunter ASAP.
What Marvel project are you most excited to see in theaters?