Mahershala Ali Says Kevin Feige Should Feel Bad for 'Blade'

In an interview with GQ, Mahershala Ali commented on Kevin Feige 's statement about having failed with the project to make Blade with the actor, agreeing with the executive on the matter.

The interviewer recalls Kevin Feige's statement that he felt like a loser for not having made the film, and Ali retorts, "I agree with him 100%. He should feel that way," said the actor. Announced as Blade at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, the actor never got to star in the reboot.

“They had a, as you said, a two-time Oscar-winning actor under contract and you got billions of dollars. That’s a question for them, like, why it didn’t happen. I don’t mean that anything personal to you, but I don’t know why it didn’t. To this day, I don’t know why it didn’t happen.”

The actor continued: "I was waiting, they kept postponing the film, I kept training, training, doing fencing training, learning various martial arts ... I moved to Atlanta with my family, waiting for them, and they kept postponing," Ali explained.

He also commented that he didn't want to make the announcement in 2019. "I'm not like that. I like to announce when things are ready, but they wanted to do it this way," he said.

The Blade reboot was announced in 2019, and was to star Mahershala Ali, but the film went through several development problems. Bassam Tariq was the first director to join the film, but ended up leaving in September 2022, two months before filming was supposed to begin.

Several screenwriters were also attached to the project, but ended up leaving over time. The film's script also went through several modifications, including one by the creator of X-Men 97 , Beau DeMayo. One version of the story was set in the 1920s and dealt with slavery. More recently, the script was in the hands of Eric Pearson.