Even Though Mahershala Ali is Done With BLADE, He’s Grateful Marvel Helped His New Movie Get Made
Mahershala Ali may have officially nailed the coffin shut on Marvel’s Blade, but all that time preparing to play the Daywalker wasn’t completely wasted.
In a strange twist, the abandoned Marvel project ended up helping Ali and director Bassam Tariq make Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, an action thriller that currently holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Ali spent more than a year preparing for Blade, training for the physical demands of playing Marvel’s legendary vampire hunter. After years of development problems, however, the movie never came together.
When Deadline asked Ali about all that preparation, he revealed that some of it ultimately benefited his new film.
"Oh, absolutely. For a year, yeah. A little more than a year. I'm actually really grateful. They helped pay for our movie, so thank you. I got to go train for a year, so at this point, I'm so grateful that they made a wonderful contribution to our film."
That’s a pretty great way to salvage a frustrating situation. Marvel essentially helped Ali get into fighting shape for another movie, and that training found a home in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
There’s another interesting connection between the two projects. Tariq was once attached to direct Blade before leaving the Marvel production, and he eventually reunited with Ali for this MGM Studios action thriller.
Ali plays Latif, a religious hitman who is also a loyal and devoted father. His violent profession and family life eventually crash into each other, sending him across Houston on a mission to protect his children while taking out anyone who gets in his way.
The movie has received a fantastic early response from critics praising what Ali, Tariq, and their collaborators created together.
As cool as it might be to imagine Ali eventually picking up the sword and putting on Blade’s shades, he isn’t interested in giving Marvel another shot. His MCU involvement ultimately amounted to an off-screen appearance in Eternals and his likeness being used for the character in Season 1 of Marvel Zombies.
When asked about his future with Blade and Marvel, Ali made his position crystal clear: "I'm done. I'm doing this and anything moving forward," he confirmed. "I'm over that. I'm done with that."
That pretty much closes the book on Ali’s version of Blade. Marvel Studios had plenty of trouble finding its footing in the years following Avengers: Endgame, but Blade remains one of its biggest missed opportunities.
Ali was ready to play the character, Tariq was originally going to direct, and there was plenty of enthusiasm surrounding the project. Somewhere in the TVA, maybe there’s a timeline where the whole thing actually worked.
In this one, Marvel’s attention has moved toward Doctor Doom, mutants, and the MCU’s next era. Ali has moved on as well, but the time and resources Marvel invested in Blade helped him make the movie that came next.
That’s certainly not where anyone expected this story go, but getting Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother out of the wreckage of Blade isn’t a bad consolation prize.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother hits theaters September 25.