Director Yann Demange has exited Marvel Studios‘ long-anticipated reboot of Blade, Deadline has confirmed.
Attached to the film since 2019, when he joined Marvel chief Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con to roll out the project, Mahershala Ali remains aboard to star, we’re told.
Sources stressed that Demange’s exit from the project was entirely amicable, though it signals perhaps another delay on Blade‘s path back to screens. Initially prepping for production in fall 2022 before the exit of director Bassam Tariq, the project again faced delays last year amid the writers’ strike.
Marvel veteran Eric Pearson is writing the new Blade, which is slated for release on November 7, 2025. Today’s Blade news comes at a time when Marvel has begun recalibrating, lifting the pressure to produce as much content as possible with a new mandate of two films per year. Titles coming up next for release, which are either almost done or well underway, include Deadpool & Wolverine (out in theaters July 26), Captain America: Brave New World (February 14, 2025), Thunderbolts* (May 5, 2025) and Fantastic Four (July 25, 2025).
Otherwise known as Eric Brooks, the character of Blade was first introduced in “The Tomb of Dracula” #10 in 1973. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and illustrator Gene Colan, he’s a half-vampire, also referred to as a “daywalker,” who possesses the strengths of vampires without their typical vulnerabilities, except for a modified version of their bloodlust.
Starring Wesley Snipes, the franchise’s trajectory in film kicked off with 1998’s Blade, directed by Stephen Norrington, with sequels Blade II and Blade: Trinity following in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Guillermo del Toro helmed the former, with David S. Goyer tackling the latter. Previously, the Blade franchise also expanded into television with Blade: The Series, which aired on Spike TV in 2006.
While Ali’s Blade hasn’t yet made an appearance in the MCU, he was heard as the character in a post-credits scene from 2021’s Eternals directed by Chloé Zhao.
Nominated for an Emmy for his work on HBO’s Lovecraft Country, Demange is otherwise best known for the features White Boy Rick and ’71. The Wrap was first to the news of his departure from Blade.
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