Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother: From a Canceled Marvel Reboot to a Houston-Set Faith Thriller

The film blends gritty action with a meditation on grief, faith and fatherhood. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and opened the 18th annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival on October 1, 2026.

KPRC - Click2houston

The project originated after Bassam Tariq was hired to direct Marvel’s reboot of *Blade* in 2021, with Mahershala Ali attached to star. Production delays led Tariq to exit in 2022, and the film was shelved; by July 2026 Ali confirmed the reboot would not move forward. Tariq says the experience taught him “how to think big” and how to test material with audiences.

BLADE Director Bassam Tariq Reveals What He Learned From His Troubled Marvel Experience — GeekTyrant

Tariq’s own life supplied the emotional core of the new film. In 2014 his wife suffered a post-birth infection, leaving him to search the city for breast milk for their infant son. “My son was only breastfed at the time,” he recalled. That frantic quest was transposed into Latif’s opening sequence, where the widower scours Houston for milk after his wife’s death.

Rolling Stone

• Runtime: 112 minutes.

Mahershala Ali Shares the Lessons He Learned From the Nixed ‘Blade’ Film

• Cast includes Mahershala Ali, John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Laith Nakli, Abubakr Ali and teenage actor Adia.

Book and Film Globe

• Latif is a father of three: teenage daughter Fatiha, son Qadir and newborn daughter Aziza who cannot take formula.

Rolling Stone

• The Houston festival features more than 35 feature films and six short-film blocks.

KPRC - Click2houston

By centering a Muslim father-killer, the story challenges stereotypes while portraying the everyday struggles of immigrant-rooted families in Houston.

KPRC - Click2houston

• In a Rolling Stone interview, Tariq reflected that the Blade experience taught him “how to think big” and the value of audience testing, lessons he applied to his new film.

BLADE Director Bassam Tariq Reveals What He Learned From His Troubled Marvel Experience — GeekTyrant

• “You are forced to strike with intention when you use a sword,” — Bassam Tariq

The Guardian

• “It feels a little different in Texas right now,” — Bassam Tariq

The Guardian

• “We were very close to shooting when the pencils went down,” — Bassam Tariq

The Guardian

• “I’m a lot happier that I made this movie,” — Bassam Tariq

The Guardian

• The film’s wider U.S. theatrical release date has not been disclosed.

BLADE Director Bassam Tariq Reveals What He Learned From His Troubled Marvel Experience — GeekTyrant

• While several sources describe the climax as a literal death-and-resurrection, others present it as an ambiguous after-life vision; both readings are attributed to director Tariq.

Inverse

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Mahershala Ali Shares the Lessons He Learned From the Nixed ‘Blade’ Film

*Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother* stands as a singular blend of action thriller and cultural study, born from a shelved superhero project and a personal crisis, and now offering a nuanced portrait of faith-driven fatherhood in contemporary Houston.

The Guardian