The latest Hollywood strike hugely shook the movie business. That includes Marvel, who had to shuffle around the releases of Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Blade. However, unlike the first three films, the Blade reboot has been plagued with massive issues with the script alone. The Blade film has reportedly gone through five different writers. Now, it’s not uncommon for scripts to undergo rewriting.
It took 29 drafts until Robert Towne got Chinatown right. But the biggest issue here isn’t that the same writer isn’t penning these new drafts. It sounds like a bunch of different writers who truly fail to understand the entire lore of Blade. There was even a point where Blade was the fourth supporting character in his movie. Marvel needs some time to make sure that the upcoming Vampire movie is in the best shape that it can be. That’s why it’s better if Marvel took Blade off the calendar to focus on the script, not a deadline that they desperately need to reach first.
The Trouble Surrounding Marvel’s New Blade
The Blade reboot with Mahershala Ali was officially announced at Comic-Con in 2019. The two-time Oscar winner was fresh off his highly praised performance in The Green Book. Ali isn’t a stranger to comic book adaptations, with the most notable being Luke Cage. He played the villainous Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in the Netflix series. Though the writer and director weren’t official during this time, Marvel was a hot property that was known for its quality in terms of films.
Then Bassam Tariq “parted ways” with the studio. The PR surrounding his exit was billed as scheduling conflicts, though rumors circulated that Tariq was fired due to Ali not being happy with the script. The director was fired just mere weeks before the film was supposed to go into production. The alleged script at the time was 90 pages long with two lackluster action sequences.
Then the recent Variety expose about Marvel’s behind-the-scenes troubles detailed just how bad the Blade pre-production has been. The script trouble under the Marvel banner is nothing new at this point. There have been various reports on how executives forced filmmakers to change the script to their liking. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was reportedly rewritten 30 times!
Marvel Needs To Sit Back and Figure Out Blade’s Purpose
Blade is often touted as the Marvel property that saved the brand back in the 90s. The massive juggernaut that has brought your favorite comic book characters to life was on the brink of collapsing when Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 27, 1996. The Wesley Snipes version was by no means perfect, but it was a well-liked property that helped keep Marvel afloat.
Instead of trying to fit Blade into a puzzle, Marvel should take a step back and figure out what the direction of the story is. Based on the rumors, the filmmakers for past drafts were given feel reigns over the new Blade reboot. Of course, I’m sure Kevin Feige and Marvel gave them studio notes, but the fact that Blade was the fourth most important character in one draft is pretty telling of how loose the direction was.
Blade is a rich property. Marvel shouldn’t focus just on the first film, but the entire Blade franchise and what the overall objective is. This worked for Kevin Feige during Phases One through Three, so it’s not a crazy plan when Marvel set the book on how to weave cohesive and narrative storytelling throughout multiple films.
Marvel Needs Blade To Be Good
Not just good, but great. The Marvel brand is currently in bad shape. The Marvels just hit an all-time low for its opening weekend because fans are tired of mediocrity. The magic of the MCU is long gone because the studio became complacent and money-hungry when it came to its films and television. If it takes Blade an extra couple of years to be released then so be it. However, Kevin Feige shouldn’t rush to bring the film to life just for the sake of cashing in on its popularity. Blade deserves a proper film adaptation that honors the legacy of the character and reminds audiences why we fell in love with Marvel in the first place.