Marvel's Blade reboot film has been in development hell for the past six years, since it was announced at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019. Kevin Feige recently confirmed (via Variety) that the film, starring Mahershala Ali, is still in the works.Ali is set to portray the titular vampire slayer, made famous by Wesley Snipes in the 1998 superhero film Blade. Snipes went on to play the character in the sequels Blade II (2002), Blade: Trinity (2004), and most recently in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).Feige further explained that the project failed to get off the ground, mainly due to Marvel's over-expansion, a measure aimed at producing a high volume of content, following the streaming platform Disney+'s launch in 2019. As Marvel focused its attention on The Multiverse Saga, the reboot film got indefinitely stalled as a result.Kevin Feige and Mahershala Ali reiterate their commitment to Blade View this post on Instagram Instagram PostKevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, recently gave an update about the long-delayed Blade film while speaking at a conference on July 18, 2025. He explained why the film has been on the backburner for so long by saying:"Mahershala is still attached...We didn’t want to simply just put a leather outfit on him and have him start killing vampires. It had to be unique. It fell into the time when we started pulling back and saying, 'Only accept insanely great.' And it wasn't 'insanely great' at the time."He added that he is waiting for the right script to bring the story to the screen."We didn’t feel like, as we often do, you can have a good script and make it a great script through production. We didn’t feel confident that we could do that on Blade, and we didn’t want to do that to Mahershala and didn’t want to do that to us."Moreover, during the New York premiere of Jurassic World Rebirth in June 2025, the two-time Oscar-winning actor reconfirmed his interest in the project. Ali told Variety that he was "ready" to start production on the long-awaited project as soon as Marvel gave the green light."Call Marvel. I’m ready. Let them know I’m ready," he said.The reboot film has experienced a series of setbacks from the get-goThe poster for Marvel's Blade (Image via Marvel Studios)The reboot film has faced multiple setbacks since the project was first announced in 2019. It was initially slated to release on November 3, 2023, but went through numerous delays, which pushed back the release date to November 7, 2025. However, Variety reported in October 2024, that Disney had removed Blade from its release calendar and replaced it with the sci-fi film Predator: Badlands.Another report by Variety in November 2021 stated that Delroy Lindo had joined the cast alongside Ali. A few months later, in February 2022, a Deadline article mentioned that Aaron Pierre had been roped in as the latest cast member. Both actors have since left the project.Furthermore, the Mogul Mowgli filmmaker, Bassam Tariq, was hired to direct the film, which was set to go on the floor in 2022. However, he left the project in September 2022, two months before production began. The French-Algerian director Yann Demange stepped in as his replacement, but he also quit the film in June 2024, according to an exclusive report by The Wrap.In the past, screenwriters like Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Green, Beau DeMayo, Michael Starrbury, and Nic Pizzolatto were associated with the film. Eric Pearson was reportedly working on the script in June 2024. Also, Feige confirmed in the Variety article that the script has gone through "three or four" different iterations, including two period pieces. He, however, added that the story will be set in "modern day."Follow us for more updates about the movies and television shows coming to theaters in 2025.