How Blade changed superhero movies and no one noticed

tuyettta |Sep 20, 2018

20 years ago, Blade paved the way for The Dark Knight and Logan. And Wesley Snipes' film about a vampire hunter ushered in a new era of superhero movies.

Before - After The Dark Knight - it's two broad categories that people could divide films based on comic books or the superheroes. But to be honest, this genesis came into being a few years before Nolan's trilogy. And it also took off with Batman Begins. Batman of Tim Burton maybe turned this genre around. But it was Blade that guided a new era of the superhero movies.

Blade promo. Image via Twitter

Blade just turns 20! And the reality that this movie, which starred Wesley Snipes, truly laid the foundation of the Marvel revolution, wouldn’t be totally incorrect. In fact, if it hadn't been Blade, the Marvel Universe couldn't even have succeed to existence.

Return to 1998, Marvel was a striving brand nowhere near being a studio to consider. They hold few of biggest names in comic book world. However, audience didn't take the films based on superheroes characters such seriously. Batman and Batman Returns  were revelations. However, one single time the juggernaut start spinning, it took out two productions of Joel Schumacher. That was Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Then Marvel determined to push the envelope by taking some of the lesser known characters such as Blade. Perhaps that's why rapper LL Cool J featured as lead role.

Afterward, even New Line Cinema also took over this project. At that time, writer David Goyer get on board. Also 3 stars considered to portray Blade - Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, and Denzel Washington. Finally, Wesley Snipes became Blade. Nevertheless, it was his fascination with the Black Panther comics that made Snipes interested in playing a ‘Dhampir’. Then, Wesley Snipes said he just approached his character as a cool guy.

Wesley Snipes and N'Bushe Wright in a still from Blade. Image via Facebook

Wesley Snipes himself made Blade. Consequently, the whole superhero character cool enough for mainstream. Not many years after the first Blade, Marvel created X-Men and the first Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire. And at that moment, people enshrined Snipes as Blade with Blade II. Due to the impact of Blade, no one knew what to make of it. A comic book movie, a horror movie, or just a ‘nonsensical action movie’? But later, it did the inconceivable.

Blade then knocked Saving Private Ryan - a movie of Steven Spielberg, off the no.1 position. But even more, because of it, the whole world finally realize superheroes could be multi-layered, just same as ‘regular’ characters. Nowadays, at post-Black Panther world, Blade maybe look simplistic. If it hadn't succeed, the superhero genre couldn't have gotten all the support. And furthermore, Black Panther also might not succeed. In truth, Snipes was so desperate to play the lead, also made play for a script to evolve a movie based on Black Panther.

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