Marvel Exec Behind ‘Blade’ Reportedly Fired Because “He Didn’t Sound The Alarm” On Film’s Abysmal Direction: “It’s One Of The Few Times That Anyone Has Actually Ever Heard Kevin Feige Yell At Someone”
In a development which, if true, would be one of the most surprising things to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in recent memory, a new report has claimed that the Marvel executive responsible for their Blade reboot has been sacked for intentionally lying to studio boss Kevin Feige about just how truly disastrous the film was shaping up to be.
RELATED: Former ‘Blade’ Script Writer Denies His Script Was A “Narrative Led By Women”
Though word that the Daywalker’s next cinematic outing would be anything but quality had been raised over the past year by multiple scoopers, it was brought to more widespread attention courtesy of Variety’s Tatiana Siegel, who in her recent Crisis at Marvel exposé detailed how, “As public criticism mounts, Feige is pulling the plug on scripts and projects that aren’t working.”
“Case in point: the Blade reboot,” detailed Siegel. “With Mahershala Ali signed on for the eponymous role of a vampire, things looked promising for a 2023 release date. But the project has gone through at least five writers, two directors and one shutdown six weeks before production. One person familiar with the script permutations says the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons. Blade was relegated to the fourth lead, a bizarre idea considering that the studio had two-time Oscar winner Ali on board.”
And it was in light of this supposed revelation that independent film reporter Jeff Sneider would make a discovery of his own.
Speaking to the topic of Blade during the November 1st episode of his and film critic John Rocha’s The Hot Mic live show, Sneider informed his co-host that while he was unsure if Siegel’s description of the film’s current state was “100% accurate”, he was aware that “the executive who is working on Blade basically tried to obscure what was going to be in this draft from [the film’s writer] Stacy Osei-Kuffour.”
“He either tried to intentionally obfuscate what the draft was going to entail,” said Sneider. “Another source put it as he didn’t sound the alarm on the process and what trouble the project was in.”
[Time Stamp: 13:41]
To this end, the reporter then divulged, “And they’ve been, I’m told, that he was fired.”
“Another source said it was a parting of the ways,” Sneider noted. “I push back against that because I’m like, ‘Who leaves Marvel?’, right? It’s the dream job for most geek executives. I don’t think a lot of people are leaving on their own accord.”
He further detailed how, “My source said, and you know Marvel didn’t comment on anything like this, but they said it’s one of the few times that anyone has actually ever heard Kevin Feige yell at someone. That was the quote. We could change that to ‘raised voice’, but it was one of the few times that this individual had heard Kevin ever raise his voice.”
Drawing his scoop to a close, Sneider asserted, “So the executive on Blade – who I’m not going to name, you can maybe figure out who it is – is no longer with Marvel. And that is confirmed.”
Returning to the now-former Marvel executive’s exit following a brief discussion regarding the state of Blade‘s ongoing rehab, Sneider further detailed, “It was interesting you know about that executive. I called Marvel and asked to speak with [the executive] before going on the air with this story and the person who answered the phone said ‘He’s no longer with the company’, and then they were like, ‘Oh wait, uh, actually, he’s working somewhere else, from a different location.”
“And I was like, that was a weird thing to say,” he opined. “I gave that person a chance to comment, and I just haven’t heard back prior to going on here.”
As to the synopsis of Blade‘s most recent draft provided by Siegel, Sneider would note that, among his sources, “there was push back that that it wasn’t necessarily going to be three women.”
“Yes, there there were drafts where I think that there were strong female characters,” he elaborated. “You could call them lead characters in a sense – you know, what is a lead, and where do we draw the line? – but I think in those drafts Blade was still very much a lead character. I don’t think he was relegated to the fourth lead or that the focus was on anywhere but Blade, but maybe it was Blade and, you know, two strong female characters or whatever it was.”
Sneider concluded, “So I think that there’s you know truth to that element it, but does that make sense to anybody that that someone would get hired to write a Blade movie and Blade would be the fourth character?”
“You know I kind of have to go with [Michael] Starrburry on this, especially if he’s seen all the drafts, right?” he ultimately argued, making reference to the named screenwriter’s recent denial of Siegel’s report. “I don’t know which writer he was in the process – I think that they’re at number six right now, so I don’t know if he was three, or four, or five – but, yeah, it just seems a little farfetched and a little outlandish, but I don’t know. I don’t have Tatiana sources.”
NEXT: Rumor: Wesley Snipes To Reprise Role As Blade In ‘Deadpool 3’
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