Blade and Booster Gold Both Dead in the Same Day

"They had me under contract, they have billions of dollars. If they wanted to do the movie, we would've done the movie. So we're not doing the movie."

That was Mahershala Ali speaking to GQ about Marvel's long-troubled Blade film, confirming what most people had already assumed: the project is dead, and he's done answering questions about it. Within hours, DC got its own version of the same gut punch. Booster Gold writer David Jenkins posted on Threads: "My Booster Gold won't be moving forward. Can't improve on Mahershala's lovely statement so I'll just apply it here as well."

Two high-profile superhero projects, from rival studios, publicly buried on the same afternoon. I can't remember the last time something like this happened, and the symmetry is almost too clean. Both had been in development for years. Both had talent attached who clearly wanted to make them. And both died not with a dramatic blowup but with quiet resignation from the people who were supposed to be leading them.

Ali's frustration is palpable in the full GQ interview. "For whatever reason, that project is not for me," he said. "If they wanted to do it, we would've done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on." He added: "Those questions are for them. They didn't want to do it, so they should answer that question." Jenkins, the creator of Our Flag Means Death, didn't elaborate much beyond pointing to Ali's words as a perfect encapsulation of his own situation. He had confirmed turning in his pilot script just this past June.

Booster Gold lives on, apparently

Shortly after Jenkins' announcement, The Wrap reported that DC Studios plans to continue developing Booster Gold with a new creative team. No lead actor has been cast, and no replacement writer or showrunner has been named. So the project isn't technically cancelled; it's just lost the person who was actually writing it, which at this stage of development is functionally the same thing.

James Gunn first announced Booster Gold as part of DC's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate back in 2023, calling the character "one of comics' really popular cult heroes" and describing the show as "basically the superhero story of imposter syndrome." He said the project was "going pretty strong" in February 2025. Jenkins signed on to write the pilot that July. By April 2026, Gunn's update had softened to the series being "in development." That's a trajectory I've seen before, and it rarely ends with a show actually airing.

The DCU slate has already shed several announced projects. The Authority has been paused. Paradise Lost and Waller have gone quiet. Supergirl underperformed at the box office. What's actually coming next is Lanterns in August, Clayface in October, and the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow in July 2027.

Marvel's situation with Blade is arguably worse. Ali was attached to the role since 2019, and the film cycled through multiple directors and scripts before quietly fading out. At least DC is claiming it still wants to make Booster Gold. Marvel hasn't even offered that much for Blade. When both of your biggest superhero studios lose flagship projects on the same day, and both times the talent is the one breaking the news because the studios won't, that's a communication problem as much as a development one. Fans deserved to hear it from Gunn and Feige, not from the people who got cut loose.