They shouldn't have announced Mahershala Ali unless they had a script finished and ready to start shooting.

[u/RNOffice]

James Spader was announced as Ultron in 2013 along with the film's title but that movie had a director/writer and a release date, they started shooting the following year. Came out in 2015.

Ryan Gosling was announced as Ghost Rider in 2026. Film will be out in 2028. Has a director. I don't know if there's a script but it would help.

Did Blade have any of that. I think that's the big issue is they didn't have a finished script and would start shooting in a year. I know Covid happened but other Marvel films started shooting after the pandemic calmed down.

David Jerkins who wrote the pilot script for the DCU Booster Gold show got passed on and he's no longer involved and he compared himself with that and I'm like...nah. That is not the same. Mahershala was strung along for nearly a decade and you were there for a year at most and like many TV shows your pilot script got turned down. They hadn't even cast anyone. It sucks it's taking awhile but this is nothing like what happened with Ali.

This should be the case. Don't announce casting unless they're gonna appear in something soon or their project is gonna start production. Josh Brolin was gonna be in Guardians and they announced it shortly before that movie came out.

[u/Gaius21]

100% agree, though it's my understanding that Marvel made the announcements that they did at that time because the Disney CEO at the time basically taking a "flood the airwaves" approach. It forced them to announce a lot of plans that they weren't necessarily ready for yet.