Kevin Feige calls himself a failure over still-unmade Marvel’s Blade

Right, Marvel fans, hold onto your hats because today saw the Avengers: Doomsday trailer drop — and as expected, it’s an absolute circus of superheroes. We’ve got pretty much every team and hanger-on you can name: the New Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, all rubbing shoulders. Plus some old standbys like Thor and Steve Rogers popping up to remind us it’s still the MCU, for better or worse.

But if you’ve been keeping score at home, there’s one familiar face that just can’t seem to catch a break: Blade. Mahershala Ali was supposed to be stepping into the iconic role as Marvel’s resident day-walking vampire hunter. Years of stop-start development, a long list of creative shake-ups, and yes, the project’s still stone-dead. They did manage Blade’s cameo (kind of) in Deadpool & Wolverine thanks to the joy of multiverse loopholes, but as for a proper debut? Not happening — at least not by 2026.

Kevin Feige Gets Sweary About Blade

Marvel Studios boss, Kevin Feige, was on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, there to talk about Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Instead, he got hit with a barrage of rapid-fire questions. The one that really cut through — how’s he feeling about Blade being perpetually stuck in development hell?

'I’m feeling very excited that we got Wesley [Snipes] back for a time in Deadpool & Wolverine and like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala.'

Not every day you hear Feige admit defeat, but there you have it.

Avengers, X-Men, Release Dates and Reboots: What’s Happening?

• Horowitz asked if Avengers: Secret Wars might be split into two films (because, of course, it’s 2026 and the trend won’t die). Feige was blunt: 'Not this world.'
• There’s a bit of a scheduling fight brewing — Avengers: Doomsday will launch on the same day as Dune: Part Three. Marvel apparently has no plans to budge, so clear your schedules for a blockbuster duel.
• Will the MCU hit a big shiny reboot after Secret Wars, or will it just keep trucking on with endless connective tissue? Feige isn’t keen on a full reset. He looks to the comics (notably, the Jonathan Hickman run of Secret Wars from ten years back) as his guide for what’s next.
• On the topic of X-Men casting — have any mutants actually signed contracts yet? Feige’s answer: 'Not necessarily.' So, mail still seems to be lost at the Xavier Institute.