Where Was Blade During Marvel’s Phase 4 Movies Trailer?

Marvel Studios’ “Marvel Celebrates The Movies” sizzle reel revealed titles and release dates for upcoming movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even teased the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, but Blade was conspicuously missing from the line-up. Based on the comic character created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, Blade is set to be played by Mahershala Ali, who previously appeared in the MCU as Luke Cage villain Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes.

Blade was announced at the end of Marvel Studios’ San Diego Comic-Con panel in July 2019, alongside the news that Ali had been cast in the title role. In February 2021 the news broke that writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen) was attached to write the script, and that Marvel Studios would be meeting with potential directors soon. Fantastic Four is also in the early stages of development, with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Far From Home) attached to direct but no cast members yet announced. So, why did the sizzle reel tease Fantastic Four, but not Blade?

Speaking at Disney’s 2020 Investor Day presentation, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said that upcoming releases Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Marvels and Fantastic Four will be part of the MCU’s Phase Four (which was originally supposed to end with Thor: Love and Thunder). He did not include Blade on this list, saying only: “As we announced at Comic-Con last year, we’re moving ahead with Blade, starring Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali.” Though the fact that the movie has a star (and now a writer) attached might make it seem like Blade is quite far along, it’s likely to be behind Fantastic Four in the production pipeline, since Fantastic Four already has a director who is experienced with Marvel Studios’ process.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Blade is expected to begin filming in 2021 – which, if true, mean that it could release as early as 2022. Indeed, Disney has scheduled a Marvel movie release for October 7, 2022, and that release date remains unclaimed. If Blade ends up in that slot, it would release in between Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels, making it a part of Phase Four. However, it could also be the case that Fantastic Four releases in the October 2022 slot, and that Blade will release in 2023 or later. Blade‘s absence from the sizzle reel makes the latter scenario seem more likely.

Marvel’s release schedules and phases are not set in stone. The original MCU Phase Three slate, announced in 2014, included an Inhumans movie (which became a TV show instead) and did not include either of the Spider-Man movies or either of the Ant-Man movies. The studio has had to become even more flexible in order to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which closed down movie theaters worldwide for more than a year and forced the MCU movie release dates to move backwards. Although Kevin Feige has a well-earned reputation for meticulous planning, Blade‘s place in the MCU may not yet be decided.

Blade isn’t the only confirmed upcoming Marvel movie not featured in the sizzle reel. Deadpool 3 (set to be the MCU’s first R-rated movie) and Captain America 4 (starring Anthony Mackie as the newly-minted Captain America) were also absent since, like Blade, they’re very early on in the development stage.

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Hannah Shaw-Williams
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Hannah has been with Screen Rant since 2013, covering news, features, movie premieres, Comic-Con and more! You can follow her on Twitter @HSW3K

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