Marvel’s Blade movie reboot abruptly loses its director

The MCU episode was supposed to begin production in November.

Variety reported Tuesday that Marvel Studios’ upcoming Blade revival has lost its director, Bassam Tariq, less than two months before filming was set to begin. The departure might affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s already hectic timetable, with Blade set to premiere on November 3, 2023.

Tariq acknowledged to Variety that he was no longer the director, but the trade publication stated that Tariq is still on board as an executive producer. “I’m looking forward to seeing where the next director takes the picture,” Tariq told Variety.

Blade, a reimagining of Wesley Snipes’ vampire-hunting cult classic from 1998, was announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. It will be included in the MCU’s “Phase 5,” which was unveiled at SDCC this past July.
Although this film is part of the MCU, Blade is a significant figure in the 1970s super-monsters subgenre created by Marvel Comics, featuring crossovers with The Amazing Spider-Man. Morbius, a non-MCU Sony Pictures adaption, was the most recent movie adaptation from this series of heroes and villains.

However, Marvel Studios adheres to a strict release schedule and frequently teases or connects them narratively, in post-credits scenes or in the films themselves. If Tariq quitting Blade as director causes the film to be delayed, it might influence other Phase 5 films, such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May 2023 and The Marvels on July 28, 2023.

In a post-credits sequence for 2021’s Eternals, Blade chats to The Black Knight, Dane Whitman, in which he makes his first MCU appearance alongside actor Mahershala Ali’s voice-over (played by Kit Harington).