Marvel boss Kevin Feige talks about 'Blade,' 'Punisher,' and more

First up, the never-ending talk of a Blade movie. The seeds were planted for "Blade" starring Mahershala Ali all the way back in "Eternals." Since then, the film has lost its director and been removed from the schedule. Ali has made it known he's still up for it, should things ever get figured out. After a joke related to costumes from a scrapped "Blade" production being used on "Sinners," Feige did note plans are still in place to make it happen. There have been, evidently, four different versions of "Blade" conceived, two of them set in modern times, and two of them period pieces (hence the "Sinners"-style costumes). Marvel has settled on a modern setting and, yes, Ali is still attached to play Blade.

There was also a conversational avenue that touched on something interesting, and clarifying, vis-a-vis Frank Castle, aka the Punisher. Feige was discussing Marvel's ability to cover a swath of tones. Deadpool, a hard-R character, is now in the MCU, and "Daredevil: Born Again," was a TV-MA show on Disney+. The Punisher appeared on that show, and a Disney+ special featuring Jon Bernthal in that role is shooting. However, we had also heard that the Punisher would be appearing in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," and the Spider-Man movies are generally quite light, and not brimming with the swearing and the violent, vigilante justice that the Punisher tends to partake in.

Feige noted the intention is for the Punisher special to be TV-MA, which makes sense. However, he then noted, "When Punisher is in the Spider-Man movie, it’ll be a different tonality." So there you have it. Frank Castle will be in "Brand New Day," but he will be adjusting to the tone of those movies. "Brand New Day" isn't going to be unexpected dark. Of the two options, that's probably the better one.

Of course, if Marvel can't get things geared back up, these Feige missives are going to start being less and less notable.

(h/t The Hollywood Reporter)