Spoilers Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread
- Thread starter bbjeg
- Start date
For me (at the time of the first) yes. Not by the second though as I'd learnt by then
I think a lot of people at the time viewed them as just cool vampire movies. It was mostly comic book/superhero fans who drove the idea that Blade was some kind of sea change in the genre, largely based on the myth that Blade 'saved' comic book movies from obliveon after a string of terrible movies 'nearly destroyed' the chance of studios ever making more.
But the reality is pretty simple. Blade was a solid hit and certainly the first succesful Marvel movie, but otherwise not that remarkable. Superhero movies had always had more misses than hits, The Mask and MiB had already (and recently) put the crown for most succesful cbm well out of Blade's reach, most of the big superhero hits of 2000-2002 were already in development before Blade released and were never on the chopping block in need of being saved, and vampire action flicks were already popular in general anyway. The most unique things about are it being succesful with an r rating and an african american lead, but even that didn't exactly influence Hollywood as much as it should have given how long some executives remained resistent to characters like Deadpool and Black Panther.
But the reality is pretty simple. Blade was a solid hit and certainly the first succesful Marvel movie, but otherwise not that remarkable. Superhero movies had always had more misses than hits, The Mask and MiB had already (and recently) put the crown for most succesful cbm well out of Blade's reach, most of the big superhero hits of 2000-2002 were already in development before Blade released and were never on the chopping block in need of being saved, and vampire action flicks were already popular in general anyway. The most unique things about are it being succesful with an r rating and an african american lead, but even that didn't exactly influence Hollywood as much as it should have given how long some executives remained resistent to characters like Deadpool and Black Panther.
Pretty much. It certainly wasn't promoted as such. It came out during the vampire craze of that period.
Speaking of which, people say Howard the Duck (1986) was the first theatrical feature film based on a Marvel character, but I think the credit for that should go to Red Sonja (1985), since that version of the character was created for Marvel. Counting that one, I'd say all three pre-2000 Marvel feature films fall into the category of movies that the audience didn't recognize as comics-based, since none of them was a superhero movie per se.
The only other Marvel movies we got in the 20th century were TV movie pilots and specials -- Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Captain America, and The Incredible Hulk in the '70s-'80s and Generation X, Nick Fury, and Malibu's Night Man in the '90s -- plus direct-to-video movies of The Punisher, Captain America (unreleased in the US), and Fantastic Four (unreleased) in the '90s. Plus there was the 1944 Captain America theatrical serial, the one where Captain America's secret identity was District Attorney Grant Gardner and he had no shield or superpowers, just a gun.
That's quite the dichotomy for the character's portrayal.
Thank you. Good catch regarding Red Sonja.
FWIW, there is discussion and debate regarding this on the talk page to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_Marvel_Comics_publications .
That was one of the things that was cool about it. I saw it a few times in the theater and each time brought a different bud. After the film ended they would say how much they liked it and then I'd tell them it's based on a comic. The "Damn, comics are cool!" type response was universal and some even started collecting. The #2 piece of feedback was how it was a different and enjoyable twist on vampire stories, especially when compared to other properties around at the time
See, I'm not sure sure about me personally. I remember him being part of the Spider-Man cartoon at some point and thinking it was cool he was in both. But I'm not sure which I saw first.
What did they think was going on in comic books? Square dancing and needlepoint?
My intro to Blade was via the Tomb of Dracula comic in the Seventies, so to me he's always been a comic book character. It interesting that we've seen several of Marvel's "horror" characters in the MCU. Ghost Rider, Blade, Man Thing, Werewolf by Night, Hellstrom/storm and Moon Knight. Like Blade, Moon Knight debuted as an adversary of the title character, Jack Russell the Werewolf by Night.
Just need Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Living Mummy to show up.
Just need Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Living Mummy to show up.
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The corny X-Men cartoons didn't leave a positive impression on the mundanes.
And Jack O'Lantern (I don't even care which version). Classic Halloween monsters aren't complete without a pumpkin-headed villain.
I was first introduced to the character through Spiderman the animated series which the movie took elements from. Or that might be the other way around. The animated series took elements from the unmade script... I'm not sure which is true. But for me that's how I saw Blade. So I was definitely aware of who he was and excited about the movie.
The animated marvel shows of the 90s helped Avi Arad pave the way for the movies.
That may have contributed to the popularity. People didn't realize Blade was a comic book character.
I forgot about the Blade voice cameo at the end The Eternals until someone mentioned it up thread. That's seemed a little random to me, since as far as I know in the comics Blade has no connection to Dane or The Ebony Blade. Bringing the two together in The Midnight Sons would be a nice way to explain it.
Yes. I didn't know it was one back in the day. Heck back then I didn't know the difference between Marvel and DC.
Blade's appearance in the cartoon influences both the comic version and the film. What's funny is that, depending on how good your old-school TV was back in the day, it would be perfectly reasonable to assume the Spider-Man blade was a white guy!
I remember being unclear about this ethnicity in the cartoon, so I might have seen that before the movie then.