Deadpool & Wolverine Could Help Unlock the Blade With Mahershala Ali

Kevin Feige is showing confidence despite the project's production struggles.

Deadpool & Wolverinethe first R-rated Marvel/Disney film, is about to hit theaters, and it's set to get off to a historic start. Enough to relieve Kevin Feige, the studio's big boss, who had a very difficult 2023 at the box office. This announced success could also benefit another project that Marvel has been struggling with for years: the reboot of Blade with Mahershala Ali.

The actor who won an Oscar in 2017 for Moonlight signed on for this film in 2019. 5 years later, it is still in writing and has recently lost its second director, the French Yann Demange, who had himself replaced Bassam Tariq. But all is not lost. Interviewed during the promotion of Deadpool & WolverineKevin Feige acknowledged that the latter could change Marvel's approach to this new Blade (via THR).

“I think that's right. I mean, over the last couple of years as we've been trying to figure out how to make this movie, the most important thing has always been to not rush and make sure that we do the Blade movie right. Because there have been great Blade movies in the past, and they've all been R-rated. So I think, like with Deadpool, it's inherent in the character of Blade.”

Making R-rated films, meaning those under 17 years of age who are not accompanied by an adult in the United States, was until recently unthinkable for Marvel Studios. Sex and violence are not very compatible with Disney's family image, but above all, such a classification deprives you of a part of the public and can therefore have harmful consequences for the box office.

The arrival of Deadpool in the Marvel/Disney fold following the Fox acquisition has therefore changed the situation. In 2016, Ryan Reynolds had broken the box office with nearly $800 million in revenue worldwide for only a $58 million budget, taking the record for the most profitable R-rated film in history. A record that he should beat with Deadpool & Wolverine.

So will Marvel stop beating around the bush and give audiences the Blade they deserve, namely a vulgar and bloodthirsty vampire slayer? That's all we can hope.