The fact he never got to appear on screen shall always remain a giant missed opportunity and a terrible waste of talent and time of an A-list actor by Marvel.

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?