Mahershala Ali’s Blade Failure Exposes One Major Weakness in Marvel & DC’s Approach

The failure of Mahershala Ali‘s Blade exposes a major weakness in Marvel and DC‘s approach to superhero movies.

If it wasn’t official before, it’s now clear: Ali is done with Blade. While promoting Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, Ali credited Marvel with funding his action training for his new thriller. However, that’s where his association with Marvel ends.

“I’m done,” Ali said when asked about his future in Marvel. “I’m doing this and anything moving forward. I’m over that. I’m done with that.”

It’s been over seven years since Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige famously brought Ali onstage at SDCC 2019 to announce Blade. The project went through development hell until Ali finally confirmed his departure this year.

Movies fall apart all the time. That’s not the takeaway from Blade’s failure. Marvel and DC need to be careful going forward and not feed into the obsession over superhero announcements.

Blade’s failure should be a warning to Marvel and DC’s obsession with superhero announcements

It feels like Marvel and DC care more about winning the headline than finalizing the project. Events like San Diego Comic Con are hype machines to generate excitement around the future. That’s totally fine if the project is ready to go. It becomes a problem if it’s all talk and no action.

The Blade failure will certainly go down as a stain on Marvel’s legacy. Feige even called himself a “gigantic loser” for failing to bring Ali’s Blade to the big screen. It’s not the first time Marvel has announced something at one of these events that never materialized. At Disney Investor Day in 2020, Marvel announced Don Cheadle would star in the Disney+ series Armor Wars. The series was later reconceptualized as a movie but remains in limbo six years later.

DC has run into serious trouble with its announcements. Take Gunn and Peter Safran’s 2023 press conference when they announced the DCU’s first slate of movies and TV shows. The 10 projects were Creature Commandos, Waller, Paradise Lost, Lanterns, Booster Gold, Superman, Supergirl, The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, and Swamp Thing. Only four of the 10 have been released, while the remaining six have either been canceled or are being developed at a snail’s pace.

Announcing superhero movies and shows without a cast or creative attached must end. All it does is put unnecessary pressure on Marvel and DC to deliver. As a fan, I’d much rather these studios wait until they can definitely announce a project than put a logo on a future timeline just to generate some social media chatter.

This year’s Comic Con and D23 were not stuffed with Marvel announcements, but the ones they did make—X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther 3—were extremely impactful. Marvel and DC must go for quality over quantity.

Source: Comingsoon.net