After finally getting a release date announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Marvel Studios Blade has hit a speed bump. The same day that it was reported Hugh Jackman would reprise his role as Wolverine in Deadpool 3, it was also reported that director Bassam Tariq has dropped out of directing Blade. Tariq was hired to direct Blade in September 2021, so he had been working on the project for over a year, and with the film set to begin production in November 2022, Marvel Studios will need to work hard to find a director fast if they want to keep the movie on track to meet the planned November 3, 2023 release date.

Marvel Studios has dealt with issues like this before, most notably when Edgar Wright departed Ant-Man just three months before filming; most recently Jon Watts departed Fantastic Four and was replaced by WandaVision director Matt Shakman. Marvel Studios likely is hard at work looking for directors to helm Blade, and here are a few suggestions the studio should consider that would make a great Blade movie.

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Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

     Warner Bros. Pictures

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, collectively billed as Adil & Bilall, are most famous for having directed 2020’s Bad Boys For Life and also worked with Marvel Studios on Ms. Marvel, where they directed the season premiere and season finale. Most notably, they are also the directors of the canceled film Batgirl which will sadly never see the light of day.

The duo has expressed interest in directing a superhero movie even after the Batgirl situation, and given their good working relationship with Marvel Studios (Kevin Feige even sent them an apology note regarding Batgirl’s cancelation) the duo seems like strong contenders for Blade. Given their previous action movie and television experience, Adil & Bilall would be both a great pick for Blade and also a good PR move for Marvel Studios, giving one of their big-budget tentpole films to directors that their biggest competitor treated so poorly.

Gina Prince-Bythewood

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Riding high off the financial and critical success of The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood should be at the top of every studio’s list to helm a film for them, and she is more tailor-made for Blade than one might expect. Her previous films include Love & Basketball, Beyond the Lights, and the Netflix superhero film The Old Guard. Prince-Bythewood spent two years attached to Sony Picture’s Silver & Black, which was a team-up of two Spider-Man characters, Black Cat and Silver Sable. That movie never made any traction, and Marvel Studios could take Sony’s loss as their gain and get her to direct Blade.

Prince-Bythewood’s involvement would add a lot of credibility to Blade. One, her history as an athlete shines through in her action scenes as she has a real understanding of how to frame an action sequence. The other is a thematic connection, as much of Prince-Bythewood’s filmography deals with characters trying to find their place in a world they feel lost in, possibly attributing to her own experience being an adopted child. With Blade a half-human and half-vampire hybrid who did not know his parents, Prince-Bythewood could make this a more personal film and give it rich thematic importance.

Wanuri Kahiu

     Netflix

Wanuri Kahiu is a celebrated Kenyan filmmaker who has been nominated for multiple awards and nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards including winning Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay for her 2008 film From a Whisper which portrayed the aftermath of the 1998 bombings at the United States embassy in Kenya. Her 2018 film Rafiki became the first movie from Kenya to screen at the Cannes Film Festival. Most recently, she directed the underrated romantic comedy Look Both Ways starring Riverdale’s Lili Reinhart for Netflix.

Marvel Studios is always looking for talented filmmakers to bring their characters to life, and they tend to look in a wide variety of places from established directors to television directors who are waiting for their cinematic breakout. Hiring Kahiu not only gives them a talented filmmaker but gives one of the most underrated directors her largest canvas yet to reach the widest audience.

Amma Asante

     TSG Entertainment

Marvel Studios’ depiction of Blade will need to find a way to distinguish itself from the past cinematic portrayal. One element that can be explored is that Blade’s comic book counterpart is British, and with that British filmmaker Amma Asante makes for a bold pick to direct Blade. Her four films: A Way of Life, Belle, A United Kingdom, and Where Hands Touch all take place in Europe and explore various aspects of European history and the Blade movie is rumored to span many decades.

Both Belle and A United Kingdom both also explore race and identity in British society, an element that one might not have thought about for a Blade movie but one that seems both important and thematically rich. This is an element about the character that has been downplayed in other depictions, and with a filmmaker like Asante, it could come to the forefront and say something new about the character.

Hiro Murai

     FX

One of the most talented and underrated filmmakers working today, Japanese director Hiro Murai has helmed some of the best episodes for hit television series like Legion, Barry, and Atlanta and is an executive producer on the hit FX series The Bear. He has also directed several high-profile music videos, most prominently with Childish Gambino including the iconic ‘This is America’ music video which won the award for Best Music Video at the Grammys in 2019.

While some might dismiss the idea of hiring a music video or television director, as it would come off as Marvel Studios hiring someone they can easily control it is incredibly short-sighted to ignore the strong directors working in those fields. Acclaimed filmmakers like Michael Gondry and David Fincher got their start in music videos, and Marvel Studios’ ability to recognize the talented work of television directors like the Russo Brothers paid off for them. One look at the work of Hiro Murai, and it is clear this is a director with untapped potential who would craft a unique film, particularly in regard to Blade would deliver on some incredible visceral action.