New Cancellation Report Cements Blade as the Most Cursed Marvel Character

If Marvel is handing out a prize for its unluckiest property in their extensive catalog of characters, Blade is hard to beat. A new report suggests the daywalker’s long-awaited video game could be canceled outright, and its developer shut down, as part of sweeping cost-cutting at Xbox. Coming on top of the years of chaos surrounding his live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, it’s starting to look less like bad luck and more like a genuine curse hanging over the character.

Fans of Blade looked set to eat well when the character’s introduction to the MCU seemed imminent following a tease in the post-credits scene of Eternals, which was followed by an announcement at The Game Awards in 2023 that Marvel’s Blade,a single-player, mature-rated video game, would be arriving in 2026. However, since their respective announcements, news has been either slow in coming or extremely negative when it has made the headlines.

With no sign of a Blade movie on the horizon, the game is now in doubt after it was reported by The Verge that Xbox owners Microsoft had put game developer Arkane Studio on its list of potential closures as part of a sweeping set of cost cuts by the computer giant. Along with Arkane Studios, Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs are all in the firing line, although there is the possibility that some of them could be sold rather than shut down.  

Marvel’s Blade Was Already in Trouble

The Blade game itself is said to have gone massively over budget and already pushed back the release date to late in 2027. Although Arkane Studios previously insisted everything was fine and asked fans to “let us cook,” it seems that things could be about to go up in smoke instead of delivering a tasty meal.

The situation certainly not ideal for anyone, whether that is the fans, Marvel, or Arkane Studios. Expectations on Marvel’s Blade was even higher than the anticipation for his movie. Two big factors in this was a combination of a quality team in Arkane – which is the team behind popular games Dishonored and Deathloop – and the simple fact that the game seemed the most likely of the two projects to actually make it out into the world.

However, three years on and no footage from the actual game has been released, and since the game’s announcement it has devolved from a highly anticipated release to a “never-going-to-happen” idea that many have already decided they are never going to see. It does not help that Arkane Studios’ sister company, Arkane Austin, was disbanded in 2024 following the flop of their vampire game Redfall. None of it bodes well for Blade.

Marvel Studios Has Not Had Much Luck With Blade’s MCU Debut

Blade’s cinematic misfortune has been running far longer than that of his game. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige originally added Blade to the MCU’s slate in 2019, only to watch the project stumble from one disaster to another in what has been a masterclass of development hell unlike anything else in Marvel Studios’ history.

Oscar winning actor Mahershala Ali was cast as the latest iteration of Blade before the 2019 unveiling of the project, and while he has remained attached to the movie, very few others can say the same. Original director Bassam Tariq’s exit from the project in 2022 was followed two years later by his replacement Yann DeMange. During that time, a merry-go-round of writers provided drafts and redrafts of the script, the setting and time period of the movie changed several times, and costumes made and designed for an early iteration ended up instead finding their way into Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.

Almost seven years on, Blade’s MCU debut – in live-action and discounting his What If…? appearances – is as far away as it has ever been. The movie has no release date, no director, and reportedly no finished script. For some people, Wesley Snipes’ return to his role as Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine and in particular his now iconic line, “There’s only ever gonna be one Blade,” has come a sign that perhaps rebooting the character is simply not meant to happen.  

Of course, things change quickly, and in a couple of years, we could be getting the best Blade movie and game of all time. If Feige can get the right time in to sort out the film, and Microsoft decide to pass off the rights to develop the game to someone else or sell Arkane Studios as a going concern, then Blade may just be able to escape the cursed hell he is currently trapped in.

(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]