Marvel’s Blade Will Reportedly, Once Again, Get a New Script This Summer

The long saga of Marvel’s Blade isn’t quite over yet, as a new report states that Marvel is looking to give the film a new script this Summer, which will then be sent to directors.

The long-delayed film, which stars Mahershala Ali as the titular character, has been plagued by problems for years, turning over directors, writers, and actors.

A new report from THR suggests that Marvel has enlisted the help of Eric Person to pen the new script for Blade . Pearson’s previous work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe includes the screenplays for Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow, as well as the upcoming Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four. THR claims that Pearson has “pleased” the studio with his work on the latter two.

The report also says that Ali has been able to exercise an “inordinate amount of influence over the project.” Far more than other actors have been able to over other projects. Ali called the studio after his Oscar win for Green Book and said he wanted to do Blade, and according to sources he envisioned it as his Black Panther.

Fascinatingly, the project has also apparently shifted storylines and even time periods multiple times. The version that was planned last year was set in the 1920s and starred Mia Goth as a vampire villain named Lilith, who tries to get the blood of Blade’s daughter. In a different iteration, under director Bassam Tariq, Marvel had constructed a massive train set that was never used, and could be passed onto another production. Tariq left the project in September 2022, after Marvel felt he wasn’t the best fit for the project.

To date, Blade has gone through two directors and four scriptwriters. After Tariq, director Yann Demange ( White Boy Rick ) took over, but recently left the project.

Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour was originally attached to the project, but that eventually led to Beau DeMayo, creator of X-Men ’97 . When that didn’t work out Marvel moved to True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, then When They See Us ‘ Michael Green. Now, Pearson is the fifth writer on the project.

Now it remains to be seen if the project can actually move ahead. Marvel also recently announced it’s limiting the number of releases each year, with no more than three movies and two TV shows moving forward. The studio’s next film is Deadpool & Wolverine , which hits theaters on July 26.