On July 14, 2024, a new poster of Blade movie was shared on a Facebook page named YODA BBY ABY. The poster featured Wesley Snipes and it indicated that he will return to play Blade. According to the caption, the film is set to release in July 2025. It read: “Blade returns!!! Wesley Snipes!!! Marvel Studios presents Blade, starring Wesley Snipes as the iconic vampire hunter in an exciting new chapter.”
The post also mentions that Blade has a new enemy that threatens the balance between human and supernatural powers several decades after his first trilogy. The masterpiece is expected to hit theaters in July 2025.
However, there is no official confirmation from Marvel yet despite excited fans. While announcing Mahershala Ali as Blade during San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Marvel revealed that fact-checking site Snopes clarified that the poster was fake and there was no movie with Wesley Snipes.
Having appeared in three Blade films, including Blade: Trinity, released in 2004, Mr Snipers will not be part of the next part of the franchise. Bassam Tariq was originally set to direct the new installment, but he was replaced by Yann Demange in June 2024, who later left the film. In 2019, Marvel announced Mahershala Ali as Blade in Phase Four, but faced numerous delays and changes.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last July, Snipes said, “Over the years, we’ve had a lot of very interesting conversations, some of them very important and some of them not. So I thought I’d move on from those, which is fine. I did three of them, and I thought they turned out pretty good. Not so bad… So we move on to other things, and bigger and better things.”
The new Blade movie was supposed to begin production in November 2022 and had a November 2023 release date. However, due to several changes, Disney has pushed it back to November 2025. According to Vulture, the movie is now part of Marvel’s Phase Six.
Although Mr. Snipes did not take part in the new Blade project, he did have a small role as Blade in Deadpool and Wolverine. I didn’t think it was possible. I didn’t think we could pull it off. I didn’t think Marvel was involved, Disney was involved — even because they cast Mahershala for the next version of it that’s coming up,” Snipes told Entertainment Weekly.
The Blade franchise suffered script changes and lacked creative direction, according to a report from Variety in November 2023. This report also suggested that Mahershala Ali could be only one of the four lead roles, while all of the leads could be women starring alongside him.
Fans are looking forward to the return of Wesley Snipes as Blade, official plans for future films involving Mahershala Ali, and major changes to the original plot.
Also read: Jennifer Garner said this about reprising her ‘impossible dream’ role of Elektra in Deadpool and Wolverine
