Report: Marvel Has Found Yet Another ‘Blade’ Director

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Blade from Bethesda and Arkane Studios' Marvel's Blade video game, with back to viewer, pulling out blade from behind back

Credit: Bethesda, Arkane Studios

Marvel Studios has a lot of questions about its future, but there is one big one to answer: what the heck is happening with Blade?

A person wearing black sunglasses and a black leather jacket is smiling in the foreground. Behind them stands another person with bright red hair and a person with a bald head, both partially visible. The background is dark and industrial.
Credit: New Line Cinema

At San Diego Comic-Con five years ago, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige announced that a new film version of Blade was in development, with two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali replacing Wesley Snipes as the half-human, half-vampire Daywalker. Since then, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been turned over and inside out, with Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) being presented as the new post-Thanos Big Bad, the Multiverse presented as the new Saga and a whole lot of uncertainty about who could replace Robert Downey Jr. as the center of the franchise.

Related: Wesley Snipes Confirms ‘Blade’ Role in MCU

Fast-forward to 2024 and Jonathan Majors has been fired and essentially kicked out of Hollywood. The studio is shying away from the increasingly complicated Multiverse in favor of mutant-oriented storytelling, and Robert Downey Jr. is back, but now as Doctor Doom.

A smiling man with dark hair and a goatee is standing in front of a decorated background with glasses and shelves. The text "Avengers Doomsday" is displayed in the top left corner of the image.
Credit: Inside the Magic

In all that time and change, all we have gotten of Mahershala Ali is a brief vocal cameo in the mid-credits of Eternals (2021). Even then, all he was doing was telling Kit Harington to be careful about a sword, not even getting a hint of his own future.

And while Mahershala Ali has remained connected to the Blade movie, he’s about the only one. Director Bassam Tariq and screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour were brought in to guide the film, only to both be jettisoned. Tariq was replaced by Yann Demange, who has also since left the film. Osei-Kuffour was replaced by X-Men ’97 creator Beau DeMayo, then by Michael Starrbury, then Nic Pizzolatto, and then Michael Green. Eric Pearson is the latest credited screenwriter.

Wesley Snipes as Blade dressed in black tactical gear is crouching and baring their teeth fiercely. They have a focused, intense expression and prominent, sharp-looking canines. The background is blurred, emphasizing the person's expression and pose.
Credit: New Line Cinema

Related: Marvel Abandons ‘Blade’ as New MCU Slate Revealed

Now, World of Reel reports that director Jeymes Samuel, a musician turned filmmaker best known for the Netflix Western The Harder They Fall (2021) and The Book of Clarence (2023), is in discussions with Marvel to helm the Blade movie. Even more excitingly, it seems that the studio is finally happy with Pearson’s script and strongly leaning toward Samuel.

Blade is currently scheduled to be released in November 2025, after a literal half-decade of delays and changing creative personnel. Could the movie finally have turned a corner?

Do you think Marvel will ever actually make Blade?

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