Mahershala Ali spent years preparing to play Blade. Now he says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was right to describe himself as a failure for never getting the movie off the ground with him.
In a new GQ interview, Ali said he still does not know why the long-delayed Marvel reboot never happened after the studio announced him as Blade in 2019.
Asked about Feige’s earlier admission that he felt like a “gigantic loser and failure” over the project, Ali did not soften his response. “I agree with him,” Ali said. “I agree with him one hundred percent. One hundred percent. He should feel that way.”
Ali said the unfinished movie consumed a significant stretch of his career while he trained, relocated his family and waited through repeated production delays. He has since moved on from Blade and is promoting Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, the new action thriller that reunited him with Bassam Tariq, Marvel’s original director for the reboot.
Ali Says He Trained Until He Injured His Knee
Ali told GQ that he spent a year training for Blade while expecting production to begin. “I trained so hard I blew my knee out,” he said. His preparation included sword work and multiple martial arts disciplines, even as the start date kept moving. Ali said he continued training through the delays because he believed the movie was still going forward.
Ali said he uprooted his family and moved to Atlanta in preparation for filming, only for Marvel to repeatedly postpone production. “We are there waiting to go,” he recalled, describing a cycle of continued delays before the project was further disrupted by the Hollywood strikes.
Ali also told GQ that he had been uncomfortable with Marvel announcing the project so far in advance. He said he prefers doing the work first and announcing it once something has actually been made.
Feige Had Already Taken Responsibility for ‘Blade’
Feige publicly addressed the failed attempt to make Ali’s Blade during a July appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. While discussing the character, Feige said he was excited Marvel had brought Wesley Snipes back for Deadpool & Wolverine but felt “like a gigantic loser and failure” that the studio had not gotten a Blade movie off the ground with Ali.
Feige also explained why Marvel repeatedly resisted moving ahead. He said the studio did not want to simply put Ali in a leather costume and have him kill vampires, and that the scripts they developed never reached the standard Marvel believed the project and its star required.
The troubled production had already gone through major changes. Tariq exited as director in 2022. Yann Demange later took over before departing in 2024, while multiple screenwriters worked on versions of the script. Disney eventually removed Blade from its November 2025 release date and took it off the release calendar altogether.
Ali publicly closed the door on his own involvement this summer. In an earlier GQ interview, he said he had “moved on” and argued that Marvel had the resources and contractual relationship necessary to make the movie if it truly wanted to proceed.
The Failed ‘Blade’ Still Gave Ali Something He Could Use
The years spent preparing for Blade were not entirely wasted. Ali was able to bring the physical skills he developed for the Marvel role into Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, reuniting him with Tariq after their original collaboration fell apart.
Ali previously told GQ that using those skills in Tariq’s film left him feeling “creatively redeemed” after the disappointment surrounding Blade.
The new film stars Ali as Latif, a devout Muslim hitman struggling to balance faith, violence and fatherhood after the death of his wife. Reuters reported from the Toronto International Film Festival that the story explores faith, family, grief and motherhood while following Latif as he raises his children alone. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother opens in select U.S. theaters Sept. 25, with a wider theatrical release planned for October.