Mahershala Ali agrees Marvel boss is a ‘gigantic loser and failure’ for not getting Blade reboot made

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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently called himself a “gigantic loser” for failing to get a Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali off the ground — and the actor agrees.

Moonlight star Ali was first announced to be taking over the role originated by Wesley Snipes at Comic-Con 2019. Earlier this year, he confirmed that the project was dead in the water.

In a new interview with GQ, Ali was asked why the film didn’t happen.

“That’s a Kevin Feige question,” he responded.

“They had, as you said, a two-time Oscar-winning actor under contract and you got billions of dollars. That’s a question for them,” he continued.

Mahershala Ali has slammed Marvel’s Kevin Feige over the studio’s failed ‘Blade’ reboot (Getty Images for Universal Pictu)

“I don’t mean anything personal to you, but I don’t know why it didn’t. To this day, I don’t know why it didn’t happen. I just know that it was — Kevin, he said it was the biggest failure of his career and I agree.”

Ali was referring to Feige’s comments on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in July, in which he said he was “very excited” they were able to bring in Snipes for an appearance in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, but that he felt “like a gigantic loser and failure that we didn’t get [the Blade reboot] off the ground with Mahershala.”

After the GQ interviewer read Feige’s quote back to Ali, the actor responded: “I agree with him. I agree with him one hundred percent. One hundred percent. He should feel that way. I agree.”

The House of Cards star explained: “I spent a year training. I trained so hard I blew my knee out. I was just waiting for them. [They were] pushing it back, pushing it back, pushing. I’m still training. I’m training. I’m learning sword work. Name the martial art, I’m training in it. And I literally moved, uprooted my family, moved to Atlanta.

“We are there waiting to go. And they just keep pushing it back, pushing it back, pushing it. It doesn’t happen. And then it’s a strike,” he said, referring to the months-long SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023.

Wesley Snipes played the original Blade in the 1998 film directed by Stephen Norrington (New Line Cinema/Warner Bros)

After its 2019 announcement, Marvel’s Blade reboot was set to hit cinemas in 2023; however, production was stalled for numerous reasons. The film lost two directors over those years — original director Bassam Tariq, who left the project in 2022, and then Top Boy’s Yann Demange, who exited in 2024 — before its second release date of November 2025 was pulled from Marvel’s schedule.

However, Ali said he was “grateful it didn’t happen because I don’t think we would get this film,” referencing Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, directed by Tariq.

Ali is currently earning rave reviews for his turn as a devoutly religious hitman struggling to balance work, faith and fatherhood after the death of his wife.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is out in theaters September 25 in the U.S. and November 20 in the U.K.