“Blade has been delayed infinitely” is becoming an all-too-familiar headline. Well, it happened again.
In an unsurprising move, Disney has removed Marvel Studios’ Blade from its release calendar. Blade’s theatrical release was scheduled for November 7, 2025. Instead, Predator: Badlands, Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator movie starring Elle Fanning, will now open on Blade’s former November release date.
It’s been over five years since Mahershala Ali donned a Blade hat at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con to announce the vampire hunter’s entrance into the MCU. Ali will star as Eric Brooks, aka Blade, a sword-wielding hunter with vampire powers who is unaffected by sunlight. Ali made a voice cameo as Blade in Eternals.
Wesley Snipes famously played the character in New Line Cinema’s Blade trilogy and Deadpool & Wolverine.
Blade’s production has suffered numerous delays and creative setbacks. Scheduled to release in 2023, Marvel pushed Blade to 2024 after the first director, Bassam Tariq, exited the project in September 2022. Yann Demange replaced Tariq in November 2022. After the strikes delayed Blade to 2025, Demange exited the film in June 2024. Eric Pearson is rewriting Blade after Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green contributed to the script. Blade has not started filming, nor does it have a director.
Besides the Blade release date shift, Disney added three Marvel projects to its 2028 release calendar. The dates are February 18, 2028; May 5, 2028; and November 10, 2028.
Marvel has three movies scheduled for release in 2025: Captain America: Brave New World on February 14, 2025; Thunderbolts* on May 2, 2025; and The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25, 2025. After Fantastic Four, only two Marvel movies have confirmed release dates. They include Avengers: Doomsday on May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.
