How Marvel’s Failed Blade Movie Led To Mahershala Ali’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Marvel’s Blade Failure Accidentally Gave Mahershala Ali His Most Exciting Movie In Years

Published Oct 8, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.

Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.

It's been more than a decade since we first heard reports their Marvel Studios was "doing something with Blade." Kate Beckinsale famously revealed there were discussions about a Blade / Underworld crossover, but these fell through because Marvel had other ambitions. Then, in 2019, Marvel boss Kevin Feige unveiled Mahershala Ali as the MCU's new Blade. It should have been the beginning of a bright new future for the Daywalker, but instead it all fell through.

Ali wasn't the only one left disappointed by the collapse of Marvel's Blade plans. Director Bassam Tariq was the first to work on the reboot, and he has openly discussed Blade's behind-the-scenes issues. “When you're in a big project like Blade," he said, "what I found really difficult was there were a lot of different collaborations for everything. I didn't know which way north was. Afterward, I had to kind of disconnect from everybody. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but it was one of those things where I had to find myself again.” And yet, despite that comment, one relationship continued beyond Blade.

Mahershala Ali New Action Movie Explained

For Bassam Tariq, Blade was the opportunity of a lifetime; although he only had a limited filmography behind him, he'd been invited to work on a major MCU blockbuster. Tariq doesn't seem to hold anything against the likes of Kevin Feige, but he was undoubtedly crushed when his MCU dreams crumbled to ashes. Instead, he has moved on to something fresh and new; not another chapter in an ongoing shared universe, but a standalone that's been widely praised as an idiosyncratic action movie that—not coincidentally—features Mahashala Ali as the star of the show.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is an unusual action film in which a soft-spoken assassin is left to take care of his young family after his wife’s death. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is something of a surprise next step for the almost-MCU alum, because this is a story that replaces action with a faith-based character journey. As our review explains, “Although it opens with a gritty, physical clash between Ali and a target in the tight confines of public bathroom, the vast majority of what follows is devoid of the kind of action many viewers may expect.”

But here's the wonderful thing; as good as Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother may be, it wouldn't have happened if Tariq hadn't worked on Blade. We have the collapse of a major MCU movie to thank for something that's far better than any reboot.

Speaking to Esquire, Tariq admitted Blade had cultivated Tariq's interest in martial arts. "While I was working on Blade, I picked up the sword," he explained. "My teacher, Sensei Ryan Robertson, taught me the sword is an extension of you. It’s an extension of your ego. You have to strike with intention." Tariq blended his rekindled interest in martial arts with a personal tragedy from 2014, when his wife's post-birth infection left him in a "needle in a haystack" quest to find breast milk in New York City.

Tariq credits Feige for revolutionizing his whole approach to storytelling, teaching him the importance of "cheer moments" that will get people up out of their seats. And, of course, Blade was where he first met the man he'd cast as star of Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother; the two enjoyed working together enough to build a stronger relationship, and Ali jumped at the chance of reuniting with Tariq after reading the script. Putting all the pieces together, and it makes Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother feel like Blade's true legacy. We may well be the better for how all this turned out.