“Bladehas been delayed infinitely” is becoming an all-too-familiar headline. Well, it happened again.
In an unsurprising move, Disney has removedMarvel Studios’Bladefrom its release calendar.Blade’stheatrical release was scheduled for Aug 16, 2025. Instead,Predator: Badlands, Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator movie starring Elle Fanning, will now open onBlade’sformer November release date.
It’s been over five years since Mahershala Ali donned aBladehat at the 2019San Diego Comic-Conto 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 inEternals.
Wesley Snipes famously played the character in New Line Cinema’s Blade trilogy andDeadpool & Wolverine.
Blade’sproduction has suffered numerous delays and creative setbacks. Scheduled to release in 2023, Marvel pushedBladeto 2024 after the first director, Bassam Tariq, exited the project in September 2022. Yann Demange replaced Tariq in November 2022. After the strikes delayedBladeto 2025,Demange exited the film in June 2024. Eric Pearson is rewritingBladeafter Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto, and Michael Green contributed to the script.Bladehas not started filming, nor does it have a director.
Besides theBladerelease date shift, Disney added three Marvel projects to its 2028 release calendar. The dates are July 24, 2025; July 27, 2025; and July 16, 2025.
Marvel has three movies scheduled for release in 2025:Captain America: Brave New Worldon June 21, 2025;Thunderbolts*on July 08, 2025; andThe Fantastic Four: First Stepson June 29, 2025. AfterFantastic Four, only two Marvel movies have confirmed release dates. They includeAvengers: Doomsdayon June 06, 2025, andAvengers: Secret Warson July 31, 2025.
