Original Blade star pokes fun at Marvel's reboot after it loses second director

Blade star Wesley Snipes looks to have poked fun at Marvel's struggles to reboot the 1998 action-horror movie, following director Yann Demange's recent exit.

Earlier this month, it was announced that the ill-fated film had hit another snag when Demange, whose previous works include White Boy Rick and Top Boy, became the second filmmaker to step down since it was formally announced in July 2019. Before Demange signed on, Mogul Mowgli's Bassam Tariq had been lined up to direct, but he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

"Blade, lordylordylordy," Snipes teased on Twitter, alongside the side eye emoji. "Folks still lookin for the secret sauce, ridin snowmobiles in traffic, kinda rough. Daywalkers make it look easy, don't they?"

Back in the late '90s, Snipes played Blade's titular character, a vampire hybrid who uses his unique, half-human abilities to hunt down bloodsuckers. His reason for disliking his kind? His mother was attacked by a fanged fiend when she was pregnant, and died from her wounds during childbirth. In the movie, Blade finds himself facing off against Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), a vampire hellbent on unleashing the blood god La Magra, and ridding the world of mortals.

Directed by Stephen Norrington, the movie – which was distributed by New Line Cinema, since Marvel Studios didn't own the rights to the character before August 2012 – was considered a commercial success, earning over $131 million at the worldwide box office, and spawned two sequels: Guillermo del Toro's Blade 2 and David S. Goyer's Blade: Trinity.

Mahershala Ali was heard as Blade in the post-credits scene of Eternals, as he questioned off-screen whether Kit Harington's Dane Whitman is ready to wield the Ebony Blade. He is set to reprise the role in Blade's solo movie, sharing the screen alongside fellow confirmed cast members Delroy Lindo, John West Jr., Milan Ray, and Mia Goth.

As it stands, Marvel's Blade is aiming for a November 7, 2025 release, though that seems kind of unlikely now. We'll be sure to keep you updated. In the meantime, check out our breakdown on all that's to come across Marvel Phase 5.