20 years ago, films based on comic book characters could be split into two categories:
there were the Batman movies,
which started the initial comic book movie boom in
1989 with Tim Burton's first take on the Caped Crusader,
but by 1997 had clearly run its course with the release of the much maligned Batman and Robin
then there were all the other comic book movies.
Most of them trying and failing to copy the Batman formula.
There were some outliers, like The Crow and The Mask but because Jim Carrey walked away from
doing a sequel and the tragedy involving Brandon Lee while filming The Crow
we never got proper sequels to those movies.
So by the turn of the century of comic book films needed to evolve. They needed a shift in
direction and that ships would not come from Batman or Spider-man
or the film that gets a lot of credit for starting the second comic book movie boom — 2000's X-men.
It would come from a
character that's only the most hardcore of comic book fans, but no of.
And that's Blade. Blade is one of the most important comic book films in history.
It was the first successful film produced by Marvel, now one of the most powerful studios in Hollywood today
and more importantly, it was the first successful comic book film to focus primarily on a black character.
There was only a year prior that comic book films based on black characters
made it to movie screens at all with the release of Spawn and Steel in the summer of 1997.
While different in tone, Spawn being more edgy and dark,
while still being more wholesome, family-friendly
and a little corny.
The two had something else in common besides being about black superheroes: they were both failures.
Blade was a notable departure for mostly all other comic book films of the 90s.
For one, it was the first movie to come from one of the two major companies,
that's Marvel and DC, to have an R-rating.
18 years before Deadpool made headlines for doing the same
and while some things have not aged particularly well
most notably the CGI
One aspect of Blade that is
timeless is the performance delivered by the film star, Wesley Snipes. You may not remember now
but in the 90s Wesley Snipes was a big deal!
And that was because he seemingly could do anything on screen
whether it was comedy
drama
or action.
Originally, Snipes was supposed to play Black Panther, but because of legal issues his dream of being the king of Wakanda
never materialized.
Still, can you imagine
anyone else playing Blade?
Blade gave Snipes the opportunity to showcase all of his gifts: his supernatural
abilities to shoot off one-liners
His martial arts background
and his natural-born charisma.
The film was a surprise hit in
1998, making over double its budget and spawning two sequels.
Blade 2 released in 2002
was directed by none other than Guillermo, del Toro and is the best film in this series
Then there's Blade Trinity, which is a god-awful movie
but notable because it was the last comic book film to star a black character until Black Panther releases this month.
Blade would appear on the small screen in a one season TV show and a one season anime series a
collaboration between Marvel and famed anime studio Madhouse.
There hasn't been a new Blade film since
2004 and while Black Panther is the first comic book movie to star a black character in a long time,
the Marvel Cinematic Universe
has taken some steps forward as far as showcasing black characters in their films.
You have Terrence Howard and later
Don Cheadle playing War Machine,
Anthony Mackie as Falcon,
Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
and of course
Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther.
But before Black Panther, before the avengers
before the thoughts of Marvel even making movies, it all started with one movie,
and that was
Blade.