Mahershala Ali says Marvel dropped the ball on shelved 'Blade' reboot

Mahershala Ali says Marvel Studios could have moved forward with its long-stalled “Blade” reboot if it had wanted to, telling GQ in a new interview that he has moved on from the project. “You had me under contract; they have billions of dollars,” Mr. Ali said, arguing the studio bore responsibility for the film never getting made. He added, “That project is not for me,” referring to the failed reboot rather than the character itself. Marvel announced Ali as the star of a “Blade” reboot at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, but the film cycled through directors Bassam Tariq and Yann Demange without beginning production and was eventually pulled from Disney’s release calendar. Mr. Ali’s remarks, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, came partly in response to Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s own comments on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, in which Mr. Feige said he felt like “a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.” Mr. Ali and Mr. Tariq have since reunited on the Amazon MGM action film “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival in September before its Sept. 25 theatrical release. Mr. Ali said the year he spent training for “Blade” fed directly into his preparation for the new role, calling it a form of creative redemption after the Marvel project collapsed. The comments come the same week Disney+ canceled the Marvel series “Wonder Man,” reversing a Season 2 renewal announced in March, according to Variety. This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times' AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times' original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com. Story Topics