Surprising Link Between Sinners and Marvel’s Blade Hints the MCU Reboot May Never Happen
There’s a surprising new connection between the movie Sinners and Marvel’s canceled Blade reboot that’s getting a lot of attention.
It turns out the extras in Sinners wore costumes that were originally made for the Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali. Marvel Studios sold these costumes to the Sinners production team because Blade was supposed to be a period piece set in the past, so the costumes fit perfectly.
This was confirmed by Sev Ohanian in an interview with Screencrush.
It’s pretty common in the movie world to reuse costumes, but this detail shows just how much Marvel’s Blade reboot has moved away from the original period piece idea.
The connection goes even deeper. Ruth E. Carter, the costume designer for Sinners, also worked on the Blade reboot before it got canceled. She explained in an interview that both movies had similar settings, which is why the costumes worked for both projects.
On the John Campea Show, Carter shared more about her involvement with the Blade reboot. She said Marvel’s Blade was going to be set in the 1920s. She was preparing for the film, but the project stopped because of the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
While she was waiting to see what would happen next, she got a call from Ryan Coogler’s team about working on Sinners, which was also a period piece.
“Having done a lot of research for this period piece about a vampire — Blade is a vampire story,” Carter said. “Ryan’s wife, Zinzi, who also was a producer on the picture [Sinners], she gave me a call and said, ‘I’m not gonna tell you the story, but Ryan has a story he’s going to tell you about … It is a period piece about vampires.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, I have already been living in that space for quite a long time prepping Blade, and Blade‘s not going to happen, so let me hear it.’”
Sinners is set in the 1930s Mississippi Delta. It follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack, played by Michael B. Jordan, as they fight against vampires led by Jack O’Connell’s character Remmick.
Carter said she was surprised to find out Coogler was making a period vampire movie right after finishing Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Her story matches rumors that Blade would have been a period film mainly set in the 1920s, with scenes from different times.
To give some background, Marvel Studios got the rights to Blade back in 2011 after New Line Cinema’s trilogy ended. By 2013, Marvel was working on a new version. Mahershala Ali, who was known for playing Cottonmouth in Luke Cage, approached Marvel in 2019 to play Blade.
The studio officially announced Ali as Blade at San Diego Comic-Con later that year. He even had a small voice cameo in Eternals (2021). However, the reboot faced delays, and several directors came and went. By mid-2024, Eric Pearson was rewriting the script, but in October 2024, Marvel removed Blade from its release schedule.
Reports said the story was going to focus on Blade’s daughter and that the movie would be a period piece. Before director Yann Demange left, the story was described as “just Blade killing vampires,” something many fans were ready to see.
Meanwhile, in early 2024, Ryan Coogler began working on Sinners, a period vampire movie rumored to be set in the Jim Crow-era South. Michael B. Jordan stars, and the film quickly grabbed the interest of major studios. Warner Bros. won the distribution rights with a budget close to $100 million. The movie ended up being a big hit with critics and audiences alike.
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