Did you know the highly detailed and admired costumes in Sinners came from Marvel’s delayed Blade film?

Before introducing Jack O'Connell as an old Irish vampire in Sinners, Ryan Coogler had been planning to work on another project featuring such bloodsucking creatures.

Coogler was expected to direct Blade for Marvel, with Mahershala Ali expected to replace Wesley Snipes as the lead. The project was announced in 2019 as a part of Marvel's upcoming slate. It was scheduled for release by the end of 2023. However, the production has been stuck in a development limbo. Even six years later, we haven't received a definitive update.

Regardless of its release status, Coogler used this knowledge and experience to craft an original vampiric narrative that has become one of the most successful projects of 2025. That's not the only connection the two projects share.

As it turns out, Sinners reportedly used the costumes that were originally meant to be used for Blade. They were designed by Ruth E. Carter, who won Oscars for her work on both the Black Panther films. So, as the Marvel project hit a roadblock, Carter brought those costumes for Sinners. It also made sense because both films are vampire tales set in the past.

Sinners producer and costume designer discuss the film's connection with the MCU's Blade.

Expand Tweet

During a recent conversation with Screenrush, producer Sev Ohanian spoke about Ruth Carter's detailed and period-specific costumes for Blade that were used on Sinners. He said:

“Ruth Carter was working on the Blade movie that ended up not shooting. At one point, that movie was going to deal with, and she’s talked about this before, but at one point, that film was going to deal with the past around the same era as ‘Sinners.’"

He further revealed how Marvel helped him with their request:

"She happened to have a warehouse full of period-appropriate clothes, and it was like, ‘Yo, we got to shoot this movie like tomorrow.’ And Marvel was generous enough and kind enough to let us basically purchase it at a price.”

Before him, Carter herself spoke about it during her interview on the Designing Hollywood podcast in April 2025. She said,

“I was prepping Blade for Marvel, and it was a 1920s Blade story, and it got shut down because of the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike, so I was just in limbo.”

She further added,

“Having done a lot of research for this period piece about a vampire—Blade is a vampire story—Ryan’s wife, Zinzi, who also was a producer on the picture, 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. I can’t do it justice like he can...but 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 actor Delroy Lindo was once supposed to star in Marvel's Blade

A still from Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (Image via YouTube/Warner Bros.)

Before starring in Sinners as Delta Slim, Delroy Lindo was supposed to star in Marvel's Blade. During an interview for Vulture, he was asked what appealed to him about that vampire project. The actor said:

"There were a couple of components. The filmmakers and the top brass at Marvel were very open to my input from the very beginning, and that was encouraging and affirming. And then when I started speaking with the person who was attached to direct at the time, Bassam [Tariq], the writer, the producers, there was just an incredible openness to my input. And, as we started discussing back and forth, the kernels of a character, of a human being started to develop, and that really, really excited me. I think the character was likely going to be a leader of his community. I’m not sure how much can be said, or where things stand with that, per se, and things were still in development."

Even if it didn't materialize, we got to see the 72-year-old actor in a show-stealing turn in another Ryan Coogler film. Surely, it counts for something.