Culture news Marvel refused this project: it became one of the best fantasy sagas of the 2000s
In 2024, Marvel is one if not THE most powerful and lucrative franchise in the entire film industry. However, before becoming hegemonic in Hollywood, the studios refused a project which subsequently became a major dark fantasy saga.
One vampire can hide another
Our story begins well before the 2009 takeover of Marvel Entertainment by Disney for the tidy sum of 4 billion US dollars. We are in the early 2000s and Marvel Studios is banking on its day-walking hunter to track down the box office. The first Blade film starring Wesley Snipes in the title role was released in 1998 and proved successful enough to launch a franchise. Blade II, directed by Guillermo del Toro, emerges from its lair four years later, and repeats the feat of the first. But before concluding the trilogy with a dispensable third film, a sharp-toothed competitor has entered Blade territory.
Underworld with Kate Beckinsale arrived in cinemas in 2003 and quickly became “cult” for an entire generation of adolescents. Without knowing it, filmmaker Len Wiseman has just launched a franchise that will last until 2016 with the theatrical release of the fifth and final part: Underworld: Blood Wars. However, another project could have seen the light of day, but was rejected by Marvel Studios. Indeed, according to the star actress of the Underworld saga, a crossover with Blade was in development.
At least that’s what she said during the Blood Wars promotional campaign. This Blade x Underworld film would have followed the events of Blade: Trinity (2004). Nevertheless, Marvel Studios ultimately declined the offer, preferring to keep his vampiric superhero to better introduce him later in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The North American firm had just recovered the rights to the character from New Line Cinema.
The Underworld saga:
- Underworld (2003)
- Underworld 2: Evolution (2006)
- Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans
- Underworld: New Era (2012)
- Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)
Blade in the MCU
If the future of Selene (Underworld) is not assured – no project has been formalized since Blood Wars in 2016 – that of Blade, although tumultuous, should be bright. Announced in 2019 by Kevin Feige, the Blade film starring Mahershala Ali will be released in early November 2025 and will be part of phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following several postponements, script rewrites and departures within the production teams which punctuated a development that was chaotic to say the least, Blade will finally show its fangs.