Despite multiple delays, the Marvel Cinematic Universe iteration of the popular hero Blade is still in development, and one of its recently revealed story plans mirrors a prior Marvel success. While the film’s release was originally set for 2023 – and while for a time it was even set to be among Marvel’s 2025 movies – Blade has not yet begun filming. Still, despite some rumors, the film is still alive. With that said, details continue to change, and the final project may diverge significantly from what has yet been discussed.

Blade‘s development hell has been unusual for Marvel Studios. While there are a number of superhero movies struggling in development, the progress on the Mahershala Ali-starring film has been especially slow for an MCU project, dealing with multiple director changes and different visions for what the film should be. It seems that alignment on the film has been surprisingly difficult to find. Still, I can’t help but be fascinated with one of the recent story detail reveals, which could help the film find great success if still present in the final film.

Blade’s 1920s Story Concept Sounds Like A Fascinating Idea For A Marvel Movie

The Film’s Period Setting Would Be Interesting And Unique

On the Designing Hollywood podcast, Robert Meyer Burnett recently spoke with costume designer Ruth E. Carter about various details, including her work on the recent Ryan Coogler film Sinners. As they spoke, Carter, who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on each Black Panther movie, spoke briefly about the upcoming Marvel film. “I was prepping Blade for Marvel, and it was a 1920s Blade story,” she revealed, sharing a surprising detail about the new project that had been previously alluded to in a 2024 report from The Hollywood Reporter.

This previous plan to set Blade in the 1920s is an unexpected but welcome choice. Marvel has played around with time periods to some extent, beginning with Captain America: The First Avenger and its World War II framing. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps set to explore a world inspired by the 1960s, I believe Marvel has become more interested in telling stories from outside their own era. Looking back at one of their biggest box office successes might help to explain why this has occurred.

Blade’s Story Premise Could Have Mirrored A 2019 MCU Movie Hit

Captain Marvel Also Used A Period Setting To Great Success

Throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline, most stories have been told chronologically. One of the biggest exceptions to this, however, is Captain Marvel. While the film’s MCU sequel was an enormous bomb, the first Captain Marvel story was an incredible success for Marvel, grossing more than $1.1 billion worldwide, making it among the highest-grossing hero debuts in the entire franchise. While there are many reasons for this, I believe that the movie’s 1990s setting was a big part of the film’s success with audiences.

Period stories with superhero characters are an incredible amount of fun. Seeing different historical periods examined through the lens of the comic book movie helps to add interesting and subtle details to the shape of the world. Following on Captain Marvel‘s success, a Blade movie set in the 1920s could have helped to show an entirely different time and place in the MCU. I believe this fresh look at that world could have helped the film find great success, though it’s currently unclear what the final story for Blade will be given the number of changes made to it.

Blade Will Need To Explain Where The Hero Has Been In The MCU Whenever Its Story Is Set

If Blade Has Been Around All This Time, There Will Be Questions About His MCU Story During Major Events

The one downside to inserting a familiar character into a period setting is that it becomes difficult to understand where these heroes have been since. If Blade has been hunting vampires since the 1920s, or even before, and is still around, then it is strange that details of his stories have not been discussed in the MCU to this point. Vampires and vampire-hunting are big concepts that could influence the larger MCU in a big way, and there will need to be an explanation why audiences have not yet seen them in the series.

While connected universes are great fun, details like these also pose unique challenges. Captain Marvel’s MCU timeline had to go out of its way to explain the hero’s absence from previous Avengers films, and the same would likely have to be done with Blade’s story. Whenever the eventual film winds up being set, so long as Blade is not a brand-new hero and the film is not an origin story, details will need to be covered concerning what the hero has been up to throughout his career.

I’m not sure if Blade will still wind up being set in the 1920s. The film has gone through several different scripts and directors, and the final project may differ significantly from these proposed details. With that said, I’d love to see a Blade movie set in the 1920s. This new setting could allow for a fresh look at a unique and terrifying side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and could be something genuinely fresh and new. Whatever Blade winds up being, I hope that this detail makes it into the final film.

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