The excitement for Blade joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was palpable when it was announced in 2019 with Mahershala Ali set to star as Marvel's premiere vampire hunter, but since then, the film has struggled to get pre-production off the ground. Its struggles continue as the film suffered another major setback with the departure of another key figure behind the camera.

It was confirmed on Wednesday that Blade has lost its director as Yann Demange is no longer attached to the upcoming MCU film, according to The Wrap. Demange is the second director to leave the project after Bassam Tariq, who departed in September 2022 after being attached to Blade for roughly a year.

Mahershala Ali and Kevin Feige with a comic panel of Blade in between

The outlet clarified that the parting actually occurred “a while ago” and the parting was described as “amicable” between Demange and the studio. Additionally, a reported insider for The Wrap the feeling within Marvel Studios is to focus on getting Blade “right” instead of getting it out without the pressure of meeting content demands looming over the studio.

Changes at Marvel

Disney CEO Bob Iger, himself, previously confirmed that Marvel Studios would have a much lighter release schedule going forward to emphasize quality over quantity.

“We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three,” Iger said during a May earnings call.

Mahershala Ali remains attached to star as the titular vampire hunter previously portrayed in theaters by Wesley Snipes in the original New Line Cinema trilogy.

The script is undergoing its latest rewrite at the hands of Eric Pearson, who previously worked on Thor: Ragnarok along with the upcoming MCU releases Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four. Pearson is also the fourth writer brought in to work on the script after Michael Starrbury, Nic Pizzolatto and Michael Green.

A Sharp Blade

While no story details have been released by Marvel Studios, it is reportedly one of the things the studio has “nailed down” for the film. One aspect fans have speculated could make an appearance in Blade is the Ebony Blade, which made a brief appearance in one of the post-credit scenes for 2021's Eternals.

The blade was shown to be in the possession of Dane Whitman, portrayed in the film by Kit Harington, after the abduction of Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo by the celestial Arishem. He is stopped from picking up the sword by a voice off-screen later confirmed to be Mahershala Ali's Blade.

Blade is scheduled to release on November 7, 2025.