Bassam Tariq and Marvel Studios are nothing but complimentary towards each other in their notes issued after Tariq’s departure. Due to the shifting nature of the MCU’s production schedule, Tariq has gracefully bowed out of leading the new Blade film. He will remain on as an executive producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Blade is still currently set to be released next November, and will star Mahershala Ali as the titular half-vampire dhampir, Eric Brooks. Not much is known about the plot, but THR has reported that the script has undergone multiple rewrites. It is currently being worked on by Moon Knight’s Beau DeMayo, and was previously supposed to be written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, which would have marked the first time a Black woman penned an MCU film.
The movie has a lot to live up to — this is one of the first MCU films that will have to directly compete with a recent adaptation. The Wesley Snipes-starring Blade films of the late ‘90s and early aughts have become cult classics; they are bloody, gory, absurd, and beloved. Anyone who takes over from Tariq will be filling some big action-horror shoes, including those of Guillermo del Toro, who directed 2002’s Blade II.
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