Canceling the Blade release date is a good thing for Marvel

As already discussed here Cave of the geeksthis approach always seemed wrong. Look, we live in a world where an over-the-top animated movie about Spider-Men from the multiverse is also a heartfelt story about a boy coming into his own. With the right creative team, any character can be used to tell any type of story. But also… Blade is kind of just a guy who kills vampires. He debuted as a supporting character in a 1970s Dracula book and only launched his own series intermittently, even after the films increased his profile.

To be fair, Black Panther wasn’t exactly the richest character either. His best stories came in the 1990s, when Christopher Priest and Reginald Hudlin (incidentally the first black writers to cover the character since his debut in 1966) took over his solo book. But his film came from Ryan Coogler, a director with an uncanny flair for blockbusters. Coogler wisely surrounded T’Challa with other, arguably richer characters to give his story a personal journey.

And even Coogler’s talents were no match for the massive Marvel machine that smothered all the communal sadness and hope Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with Universe Building by La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine and Everett K. Ross. In other words, it’s really, really hard to turn a fairly one-note character into something rich and compelling that makes a blockbuster film and is, you know, a cultural phenomenon. Nothing about reports of Marvel’s demise blade Developments suggest that this ambition should be realized, making the film’s removal from the list something of a mercy.

This grace is especially true given the current state of the MCU. While the return of Robert Downey Jr. and the Russos brought some looks back to the MCU, it also disappointed those who wanted to see previously introduced characters get more screen time. With Destin Daniel Cretton retiring Avengers 5 And 6Shang-Chi may not get the lead role he could have, despite starring in one of the more successful origin stories recently. Does the presence of Downey Jr. and his multiverse shenanigans mean Sam Wilson can’t continue his story as Captain America and leader of the Avengers? Will Monica Rambeau simply be dumped into the X-Men world and never seen again?

The MCU has enough compelling characters to continue the universe without Iron Man and Steve Rogers. They just need better projects. blade would never have been one of these projects. Like its main character, both human and vampire, Ali blade The film would have been both a standalone project with a new character and part of a larger cinematic line. Although Blade himself becomes stronger through being a hybrid, the film seemed to collapse under the contradictions.

The sun has set over the Daywalker. Hopefully Marvel can dedicate the same resources to developing a compelling film for one of their other great characters that can take the franchise forward instead of backwards.