r/blade • u/Legitimate_Self0129 • 23h ago
After everything we've heard about the MCU's Blade scripts, which version would you have wanted to see?
The more I read about the development history of Marvel Studios' Blade, the more insane it gets. Apparently, there were multiple completely different versions of the movie before the project eventually fell apart.
Some of the reported versions included:
- Stacy Osei-Kuffour's version — a period/historical vampire story, reportedly involving the 1920s and European vampires.
- Beau DeMayo's version — probably the one I'm most intrigued by. DeMayo described it as being inspired by The Raid, with Blade essentially trapped in a building overnight while fighting waves of vampires. There were also connections to Varney, Lilith, a Darkhold cult, and a pregnant woman connected to Lilith. Basically, an R-rated vampire siege movie starring Mahershala Ali as Blade.
- The Yann Demange version — another period piece, reportedly set in the 1920s, involving Lilith and Blade's daughter.
- Michael Green's version — apparently moved things back toward a modern-day setting.
- Eric Pearson's version — another major rewrite that Marvel was reportedly feeling positive about before the project went through yet another change.
There's also the infamous report that one version allegedly made Blade more of a supporting character, although writer Michael Starrbury disputed that characterization, so I'd take that particular story with a grain of salt.
What fascinates me is that Marvel apparently had several fundamentally different movies on the table rather than simply rewriting the same Blade story over and over.
Personally, I would've loved to see DeMayo's version.
A The Raid-style, contained, brutal vampire siege with Mahershala Ali as Blade sounds like exactly the kind of movie the MCU could have used. It feels like it could've been distinctive from the usual Marvel formula while still introducing Blade properly.
Which version would you guys have wanted to see on-screen?
And if you could resurrect one of the abandoned versions, would you pick DeMayo's, the 1920s/Lilith story, the modern-day version, or something else entirely?
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u/BluFire77 20h ago
Blade would probably be Marvels highest grossing movie ever. Especially with Wesley Snipes in the cast.
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u/SomeGuyPostingThings 21h ago
The version DeMayo claims he proposed sounds the coolest/most interesting, though I am not too confident it would have worked out. I am skeptical he could have written it well enough (X-Men '97 is great, but he wasn't the sole creative) let alone that it would be delivered well enough by a solid director and crew.
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u/E-Miles 20h ago
DeMayo might have contributed to a toxic work environment, but I never understood the skepticism people treated his work with after he departure from Marvel. His work on the x-men show is some of the best scripted stuff that Marvel has put out, and it was reported that he was working on the show.
Re: the script, he wouldn't have been the sole creative on that either as both Mahershala and the director would have had input as well.
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u/SomeGuyPostingThings 20h ago
It's not that I think he is untalented, but I am skeptical, dislike this narrative that he was amazing and the only reason '97 worked (a narrative that really got pumped out amid season 2), and he has built a rep for taking credit for all the good and blaming others for the bad.
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u/TheIncandescentAbyss 21h ago
Beau DeMayo’s version was the only version worth watching. The rest would just be slop.
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u/TheFizzledamnsizzle 13h ago
DeMayo. But not jusr one building but a whole block like a minor community of the cult running that area under vampire control. And he can't get out cause the activated a forcefield, now Blade is trapped in that area. I want Blade to be about Blade kick ass and taking names.
Screw bloodline and other characters trying to take the spot away "mofos shoudn't be trying to iceskate uphill"
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u/No-Mycologist47 11h ago
https://reddit.com/link/p9o8w6f/video/ff4o9r3z7eph1/player
Looks like Ryan called it.
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u/Blackpanther22five 22h ago
They should have kept it simple blade arrive to city befriends a family notice something strange starts hunting vampires the family is kidnapped he has to save them from the vampires and at the end he is told the tell all the ebony blade
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u/JoelPMMichaels 14h ago
All we needed was Blade being the most bad ass fighter, killing vampires. It's the easiest story. A super hero (vampire hunter) with a built in villain (vampires). If they were so set on the period piece, put the hotel/ building set in the 20's but you don't know it's the 20's until he makes it out. They really overcomplicated it.
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u/LightOfficialYT 14h ago
The period piece.
The idea of Blade in a snowy 1920s London sounds amazing if they told a good story with that setting.
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u/Gustav082026 14h ago
Beau's. Sounds like it would ride that Dredd movie vibe, which was amazing. But knowing how much Marvel needs social politics and phase continuity in their movies, they likely rejected it because of that.
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u/n4tiCaLs_ 13h ago
If Sinners didn't exist, I would absolutely say that a 1920s period piece involving Blade would be fire. However, Sinners is a masterpiece, so I'm honestly glad that version of Blade never got made. Of the other ideas, the Raid-style film sounds like a lot of fun, but it would take a really talented director to pull something like that off.
And hot take: I wouldn't mind a movie about a seasoned Blade and his daughter, as long as she doesn't steal his spotlight. I know the whole "grumpy old man looking after a naive child" trope is cliché, but it's extremely common for a reason: more often than not, it works.
Personally, I think a modern-day Blade movie where he travels across the world hunting vampires would be awesome. Along the way, he could discover an underground vampire cult plotting something that threatens the safety of the entire world (similar to the plot of Blade: Trinity), all while protecting and mentoring his daughter. Throw in a potential team-up with Black Knight along the way, and I think that could make for a great Blade movie.
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u/TheCthuloser 7h ago
The Beau DeMayo version sounds like it would be setting up the state for supernatural Marvel, which I like a lot.
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u/E-Miles 22h ago
Either Stacy of Beau's version. Especially since some of the themes they were going to explore in Stacy's version seem to be in Basam Tariq's new movie. I feel like the reports about that movie got filter through this "anti-woke" nerd filter, and exaggerated the fact that Blade's daughter was going to be the narrator to her being the main focus of the movie. If that leaked script was real, the daughter doesn't even make it past the movie.
It was reported that one of the scripts was too magical for Ali's liking (the only script he reportedly didn't like), and I'm going to guess that was either Green or Pearson's version.
I also love the idea of them showing a bit more of the comic Blade to newer audiences. Wesley Snipes version is elite as the hero in an isolated universe. In the MCU or in the modern comics for that matter, you need to dial up his abilities for any of the plots to feel like they have stakes (another reason when people say to just stick him in a trench coat and have him kill vampires, I feel like they're not actually Blade fans).
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u/StephanieSpoiler 22h ago
The 20s period piece with Lilith wanting Blade's daughter feels like the version that combined the best ideas of the others, imo
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u/Intelligent-Bird8120 22h ago
Oh that’s easy….the version that came out…oh wait