If anything, Blade probably had a bigger impact on the comics that the movies. Every future incarnation of Blade has been copying his Wesley Snipes design and persona.
I really have to see Blade now. Unfortunately growing up my mum refused to show it to me because she thought it was much too violent. I can kind of see why she thought that lol
I definitely don't think that The Matrix or Blade tried to copy each other. I think they both were trying to go for a cyber punkish type culture lifestyle which made their styles similar. Both Witkowski Bros and Goyer were big Comic Book fans. The Crow was originally a comic book.
@@LynnHermione Yeah but if you look at Goyer's past work. The Crow almost had the same feel as the matrix. Cyberpunk was very popular in the 90's and they both as young directors wanted the same look and feel. The films were just aspired by the culture and music that was happening during the 90s
When everyone was going on about Black Panther being a black icon because he was a black superhero it genuinely annoyed me because of this. Blade did it first and he did it a long time ago.
Yes, but Blades blackness was inconsequential to the storytelling. Black Panther is about an African Superhero who operates in Africa. Its more of a fantasy wish fullfillment. And Blackpanther as a Character predated Blade by a full decade.
@@incognitofool6516 when you say blades colour was inconsequential to the storytelling, you realise that's a good thing right? Who cares what colour he is, its an awesome movie
Aaaaand this is what this is really about. No one thinks Blade was a Marvel movie. It had no connection to Marvel in the minds of movie goers. This entire theory didn't exist until it became a convenient excuse to discredit Black Panther.
The Flat-top, shades and tactical black leather version of Blade did exist in the comics before the movie. In the mid 90's he was a member of the Nightstalkers with Hannibal King, and part of a supernatural team called the Midnight Sons with Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Morbius and various others. There was a big event storyline involving the Darkhold, in which Blade was possessed by a demon and became the big bad of the story arc.
That version was also in the Spiderman cartoon of the 90's. Must suck to have a good minute and a half of your video be total nonsense to people in the know.
True story. I saved my lunch money for 2 week to buy the series as they released. I loved the dark tone and that they were bagged and didn't they come with a card? 90s comics were the business.
I watched it as well as a kid. What I always thought that stood out about blade as a super hero movie was for the fact that their were no past story development for blade. There was no "How he became to be blade" story arch. It just began right there at the beginning of the movie of him going straight to kicking ass. And you always saw the story through the eyes of the supporting characters, not through him which made him even more mysterious. Everything you learn about blade through most of the films are through supporting characters views, not through him. The only thing you really learn through him is who his mother was cause no one knew not even him. I always thought it would be cool to film a batman movie in the same form. But in any case still to this day no super hero film has ever been film liked blade.
Me and my friends really enjoyed Blade and it influenced our opinions in a positive way. We liked Wesley Snipes and how good of a job he did on Blade and didn't even take his race into consideration.
I read this wrong, i read first time "Blade was Shit" was gonna say something but reading rest that didn't make sense so read, it says "Blade was the Shit".
Blade 2 is such a great superhero movie, while obviously the CGI now looks pretty wonky, it was still a nice step-up from the first movie. Also it had a pretty damn good cast overall of lesser known names that put up good performances with some of the bigger names of that time. Also in interviews, Ryan Reynolds talked about how his role as Hannibal Kane is one of the major reasons he got shown a Deadpool comic, and someone basically told him that this was a very similar feel to Deadpool and obvious that spawned his love for the character and the eventual movie many years later. But to the point of the video, I think that most people that have watched Blade back when it came out, were keenly aware it definitely set some precedents.
Donnie Yen was absolutely wasted in it though :( I might not be remembering it well coz it's been a few years but he deserved to kick more ass than he did.
Iirc he's become too much of a hassle for the franchise, at least in the most recent movie. It got to the point where he refused to even open his eyes for one scene - resulting in them CGI-ing his eyes opening in a hilarious looking post edit.
I remember watching Blade for the first time ever when I was 13, man. It was everything I wanted even though i had no idea it was what I wanted. I knew very little about the character in the comics, as in Im basically just knew of his existence and his appearance, but that was about it. Grew up being a huge comic book fan (everything in the Marvel universe in particular) So this movie really had an impact on me for real.
Agreed especially if Kevin focuses on Blades Race and Woke's it up, OG Blade movies were great because of story not because he was Black. he was black cause he was, still one of my favorite heroes.
@@darrellchaseleggett8117 It's not that he was difficult to work with...Westley Snipes was upset , because the executive producers were more focused on Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel's characters but not on Blade.
I mean, Blade's look really was the black leather, tougher look in the early 90s. My brother had books with Blade from then and he looked like that. More than that, Spider Man TAS had Blade in it dressed similarly. Those looks reinforced the movies, not the other way around.
I love Blade to this date. I don't get bored of it. The action is cool and that damn blue light, I just love it. They played their part with everything they had, not like most of the costume "superheroes" of today. 👍
I’ve always believed it was the Movie named Spawn (1997) that started it all, outdating Blade by one year… A classic cult movie these days. Which will be re-released after being re-recorded this year.
I was just going to write the same comment...Although Blade surpassed Spawn by pretty much every metric, & is a childhood favorite of mine, Spawn was first, & had a similar dark feel. It was hokier than Blade though, w/bombastic overacting by much of the supporting cast.🤷🏻♀️
Spawn is sort of the intermediary step between the old cartoony comic book movies and modern, they wanted to be dark and serious but with so much of the old style mixed in, it just was an awkward mess. Blade took the full step.
Ah but you forget The Crow (1994) pretty similar in style as well. Really though, I personally would still watch Blade and enjoy it. I don't think I could sit through Spawn or The Crow.
I feel this version of a blade, that was using a katana and wearing leather jacket and trousers was well established in late 90s. I remember him looking like that around 1992 in some ghost rider comics and he had also had some 90s series. Similarly in 1994 he looked like that in Spider-Man cartoon. So his appearance in the first movie felt normal to me.
Yes, I was thinking this too! My first exposure to Blade was in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon and he was sporting the black leather look then, so the movie didn't seem to reinvent the look as much as is implied in this video
Spawn came before Blade and had many of the same themes. It also doubled its budget. It's not highly rated, but it was definitely a first step on the current road.
Your actually right. Bit I think what blade did was made the movie more grounded, spawn was the first of it's budget but every super hero movie before that was set differently this movie still holds up well even if you compare it to the original x men. Blade set the trend. But your right about spawn.
I loved the Blade movies as a kid. And rewatched it when I got older. Love the movies. The third one was meh. But 1 and 2 were just amazing. Music and action, and vampires are great too. So when MCU started to rally about Blade I wanted Weasley to play the role again. Well, the curent MCU cast is great. And yes, the music. I liked the music 20 years ago, but when I got into industrial music and adjacent genres, I appreciate OST even more.
The two fisted onslaught of 2000's X-men and 2002's Spiderman are the initial foray that spawned the now seemingly never ending series of big budget superhero movies we keep seeing hit our screens.
Blade was such an amazing movie, and Wesley Snipe portrayed that character impeccably pretty much like Downey Jr did Iron Man, or Cox did Daredevil imo
Blade was the blueprint and household amongst the superhero genre, vampires & supernatural in general, and leather coat & suit wearing vigilantes. Wesley Snipes really gave the boost to the mcu that we have today
Blade was definitely underrated in not only it's quality and it's influence on our current superhero movie genre. Even the campy show was enjoyable with it's warts and all.
Blades redesign happen around “Rise of the Midnight Sons” in the early 90’s. I was a big Morbius fan. Still am. So when he got his own book I was in. The Blade I knew looked and acted like the film incarnation. I read that in middle school which pre-1994
Okay I was expecting the love for the Daywalker. Was not expecting a Mutant X shout out, thought I was one of the 12 people who invested in/remember that show
Batman Returns and Blade were my introduction to superhero films and made me fall in love with the genre. Though i didnt think all sense of style and character development would be watered down and removed from the genre completely as it is today. But was awesome back when they still hired good writers, and let the directors do their job.
I can wait until it's Disney-fied with all the quirks that come with it. The under-toned themes and CGI soaked settings, mulling down the violence to make it more marketable to kids instead of a mature audience, making the lead character have faults that's 'a feature' that's not usually related to the heroes, interesting emotional moments that's underplayed with a corny joke or a snarky remark, and best of all a supporting character who's a female lead that works as the brain, brawn and characteristics of the protagonist where he'd fail all on his own despite him working alone in his series history (but let's make her more realistic by making her perfect and adding no flaws). A perfect winner for the cinema line-ups!
Watching the first Blade movie in the theaters as a teen was beyond amazing. There was nothing like it before, and honestly, they haven’t made something like it since. Always bet on Black - Wesley Snipes
Thank you, Blade to me is constantly looked over. I was a huge comic book nerd as a kid and I had to hide what I liked. The fact I could refer to Blade as being a comic book movie got my friends down to see Spiderman when it released. I had friends who made fun of 20yr old me who was all about Spiderman, but being able to reference how blade was a side character in Spiderman comics made my hero legitimate.... Now I love in a world where the hobby I had to keep hidden is mainstream and considered cool. Blade was the first step We all took into the greatness of comic book adaptations.
Before Underworld, Resident Evil, and Twilight there was BLADE the most badass and kick ass vampire hunter of all vampire movies in the decades. Badass soundtract, badass quotes or movie lines, badass character, badass actors etc... Obviously you do not know who you fucking with!!!-Blade 💯😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😁😎
It was 1994’s “The Shadow” that gave me hope. It probably wouldn’t do well with today’s critics, but it was and still is one of my favorite comic book movies of all time
Can I make a suggestion Nerdstalgic? When using other films as examples can you put the title of each film in the corner, so those who are interested(such as myself) can view them. What movie was that with Steve Buscemi that you used in this video?
Thing is you can totally still fit Blade into the MCU. None of the other characters were active in the late 90s/Early 2000s, so it's easy to believe Blade was just around doing all this without help from any of the others. And with how Blade 3 ended, it could still easily be tied into the reboot. This all obviously won't be the case, but it's still cool.
@@elgenialbap You said the first good superhero movie, not the first great superhero movie. And Superman 78 is iconic. Batman 89 was the first dark Batman movie. Before that movie, people still saw Batman as the campy character from the Adam West TV show.
I genuinely appreciate how much light you're shining on black accomplishments in film and TV without being preachy about it in any way. Especially since these are the accomplishments people rarely bring up. I gotta give major props to that.
The first Blade was the shit growing up, Wesley did his thing. Race also wasn’t the main thing everyone cared about in movies like today. I don’t even remember thinking about what color skin the character was, it had nothing to do with the movie.
It was also a Hard R. They didn't tone it down, and try to go for a PG13, because they had The Lost Boys, The Crow, and Anne Rice novels to play off of. If you didn't know it was a Comic Book Movie, it didn't have marvel anywhere in it's promotional material. It was just a dark edgy late 90s gothic horror movie, and it also kicked off copycats like Underworld which didn't have Comic Books for them. We're not counting Spawn here, because Spawn was a well known comic book, and it failed.
The statement at the very end, that I took to mean, "don't conflate unreal characters with unreal story", resonates with me today. I am reminded of several years ago when my friend's wife scoffed at he and I, when she overheard us animatedly discussing our ideas on where the next season of the Walking Dead would take us. If memory serves, we were waiting for season 5, maybe 6. Even listening to our enthusiasm couldn't move her past the idea that a show about "zombies" had to be stupid. Just this morning, I finished a re-watch of all 3.5 seasons of Spartacus. I recently shared where I was in this viewing with a new transfer where I work after learning of our shared interest in superhero/scifi/fantasy works. Apparently I am one of "those guys" and we don't really chat anymore unless he wants to bitch about how big Marvel has gotten or tell me what I should be viewing. Fuck that guy. I guess I'm still amazed at how close-minded people can be.
Not sure of the time frames, but I think "The Crow" predates this and serves as a better "Father" to the modern super-hero genre. And I also have to suggest that "Buffy" (despite being mostly a TV show) makes for a much better "Mother" to the modern super-hero genre
It feels awkward to have a conversation of why Blade is not more well respected among the inaugural epoch of superhero films without talking about race. Even the studio didn't expect the film to succeed because of its two Black leads. Moreover, the film had two dark skinned Black leads. This is one of the reasons Blade became central to conversations around the release of Black Panther, before and during, that film's run. In 1998, the studio feared audiences would dismiss Blade as a "black film." That the movie went on to such success is a conversation worth having and I don't see how you do that without discussing race. Good work here and love the channel. All the best to you.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) -- turning fight scenes into supernatural dance scenes. Marvel's characters are supernatural and the fight scenes are rigorously choreographed dance scenes. And the Hong Kong action movies of the 90s were significant for tone, set and costume design.
I just hate how some ppl try to credit Iron-Man and/or X-Men as the movies that started "the current comic book movie craze", of modern times. Blade's success kicked it all off & deserves praise for doing so. I just hope Blade is done justice, when he's finally brought to the MCU. With the success of Black Panther, there's no real reason Blade can't be equally as successful (especially given his past track record of pretty much bringing comic book movies back in the mainstream, for the modern day).
My father was a comic book nerd and he loved blade. I remember being 5 yrs old going to the movie and watching this. And it's still one of my fav movies.
Although Blade precedes it by 3 years, I think the film that truly spread message that "Superhero does not have to wear the exact comic book colorful costume" is Smallville series. It's not a movie, so obviously it's never mentioned as "the kickstarter movie that..." . However, it's a very refreshing new concept that we can see Superman not as superman, but as normal modern teenager growing up. I believe it has a lasting effect that the current movies often show normal modern people finding whatever scraps they can find as a suit instead of skipping right to "Omg!! I'm fully color-costumed!!"
Blade was at one point the most Popular Black Superhero ever adapted and an icon to a Generation of Black Kids who grew up on Hip Hop,Martial Arts Films,Japanese Anime and Video Games. I do consider Spiderman 2002 the Equivalent of Superman 1978 in terms of Cultral Influence and Success,but this is what peaked into the tip of the Gold Rush of Comic Book Films that we have now.
This version of Blade didn't exist in the comics when the movie was made but this concept didn't premiere in the Blade movies. This version of Blade and Whistler first appeared in "Spider-Man: The Animated Series"
20 yrs before Black Panther , Blade was the first Black super hero film of Marvel Studio ( it was one of Marvel's studio first project (Licensing film project) )
If anything, Blade probably had a bigger impact on the comics that the movies. Every future incarnation of Blade has been copying his Wesley Snipes design and persona.
Yup. Only other time I can think of Blade being shown outside of the comics was in 90s Spider-Man animated cartoon. And he looked like Tombstone.
Jason Aaron ruined Blade cool Factor. Brother just cringe now. Talks a lot and doesn't exude respect.
This exactly. Because comic movies still didn't have the foothold it did POST Blade, before iron man.
I saw you in Jeremy Jahns comment section.
@@___chief866 imo blade started a resurgence that iron man solidified
Telling people that this predated Matrix, explodes their minds. Blade was so ahead of its time
I really have to see Blade now. Unfortunately growing up my mum refused to show it to me because she thought it was much too violent. I can kind of see why she thought that lol
I mean its only by ONE year
I definitely don't think that The Matrix or Blade tried to copy each other. I think they both were trying to go for a cyber punkish type culture lifestyle which made their styles similar. Both Witkowski Bros and Goyer were big Comic Book fans. The Crow was originally a comic book.
Except Matrix had been in preproduction for years at this point and was already being filmed when Blade came out.
@@LynnHermione Yeah but if you look at Goyer's past work. The Crow almost had the same feel as the matrix. Cyberpunk was very popular in the 90's and they both as young directors wanted the same look and feel. The films were just aspired by the culture and music that was happening during the 90s
When everyone was going on about Black Panther being a black icon because he was a black superhero it genuinely annoyed me because of this. Blade did it first and he did it a long time ago.
Yes, but Blades blackness was inconsequential to the storytelling. Black Panther is about an African Superhero who operates in Africa. Its more of a fantasy wish fullfillment. And Blackpanther as a Character predated Blade by a full decade.
@@incognitofool6516 when you say blades colour was inconsequential to the storytelling, you realise that's a good thing right?
Who cares what colour he is, its an awesome movie
That's what I was thinking
Aaaaand this is what this is really about. No one thinks Blade was a Marvel movie. It had no connection to Marvel in the minds of movie goers.
This entire theory didn't exist until it became a convenient excuse to discredit Black Panther.
I know right!
The Flat-top, shades and tactical black leather version of Blade did exist in the comics before the movie. In the mid 90's he was a member of the Nightstalkers with Hannibal King, and part of a supernatural team called the Midnight Sons with Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Morbius and various others. There was a big event storyline involving the Darkhold, in which Blade was possessed by a demon and became the big bad of the story arc.
That actually sounds so legit.
That version was also in the Spiderman cartoon of the 90's. Must suck to have a good minute and a half of your video be total nonsense to people in the know.
And now we have the game!
Switchblade
True story. I saved my lunch money for 2 week to buy the series as they released. I loved the dark tone and that they were bagged and didn't they come with a card? 90s comics were the business.
Blade was the shit! Omg that movie was so intense as a kid
I watch too as kid!
I watched it as well as a kid. What I always thought that stood out about blade as a super hero movie was for the fact that their were no past story development for blade. There was no "How he became to be blade" story arch. It just began right there at the beginning of the movie of him going straight to kicking ass. And you always saw the story through the eyes of the supporting characters, not through him which made him even more mysterious. Everything you learn about blade through most of the films are through supporting characters views, not through him. The only thing you really learn through him is who his mother was cause no one knew not even him. I always thought it would be cool to film a batman movie in the same form. But in any case still to this day no super hero film has ever been film liked blade.
*Charisma and Bad-Assery playing a tragic character.*
Me and my friends really enjoyed Blade and it influenced our opinions in a positive way. We liked Wesley Snipes and how good of a job he did on Blade and didn't even take his race into consideration.
I read this wrong, i read first time "Blade was Shit" was gonna say something but reading rest that didn't make sense so read, it says "Blade was the Shit".
I had no idea Blade was a comic book movie until years later. It totally feels more like 00s than 90s
I got a Batman tattoo on my chest before I figured it out. So now I'm basically a walking comic book Cross-Over.
What's more ironic is that, Blade was a low tier character in Marvel. It's the comic book you buy when you see it at flea markets.
@@oneyedthing And yet, the movie version of this low tier character is what brought God-tier Marvel characters to the big screen!
Blade 2 is such a great superhero movie, while obviously the CGI now looks pretty wonky, it was still a nice step-up from the first movie. Also it had a pretty damn good cast overall of lesser known names that put up good performances with some of the bigger names of that time.
Also in interviews, Ryan Reynolds talked about how his role as Hannibal Kane is one of the major reasons he got shown a Deadpool comic, and someone basically told him that this was a very similar feel to Deadpool and obvious that spawned his love for the character and the eventual movie many years later.
But to the point of the video, I think that most people that have watched Blade back when it came out, were keenly aware it definitely set some precedents.
Donnie Yen was absolutely wasted in it though :( I might not be remembering it well coz it's been a few years but he deserved to kick more ass than he did.
I think the first one was better. Better action. The 1st one was gritty. With one of the best intros of all time.
Wesley Snipes is a wonderful actor. I'd love to see him play Blade again.
Some people are going to say he's too old but Wesley still looks good I know he can pull off playing the Daywalker again just one last time.
I'd like 2 see him play an older version (like old man logan) but pass the mantel to a young protégé or something 🤷🏾♂️
@@matonio877 it's not a fucking Mantle. He's a hybrid, with his own destiny. He dies, that's it.
@@JagoShogun well excuse the fuck outta me
Iirc he's become too much of a hassle for the franchise, at least in the most recent movie. It got to the point where he refused to even open his eyes for one scene - resulting in them CGI-ing his eyes opening in a hilarious looking post edit.
About to show this to a friend of mine later. Watching the first blade movie. Such a good fun time
I remember watching Blade for the first time ever when I was 13, man. It was everything I wanted even though i had no idea it was what I wanted. I knew very little about the character in the comics, as in Im basically just knew of his existence and his appearance, but that was about it. Grew up being a huge comic book fan (everything in the Marvel universe in particular) So this movie really had an impact on me for real.
I love that scene when they're in the shower and all the blood is flowing and Blade comes in there and cleans house.
opening scene of the film, absolutely love it!
It’s like “Blood Rave: nothing to fear. Daywalker: shit I gotta run.”
As much as I’m excited for the MCU Blade, nothing will be the original.
Blades actor is natuourisly bad to work with. It's why they never brought him back after his run ended
@@darrellchaseleggett8117 The best was to Ryan Reynolds interview after blade 3. Top 5 superhero interview.
you mean beat? the original will always be the original because it is the original
Agreed especially if Kevin focuses on Blades Race and Woke's it up, OG Blade movies were great because of story not because he was Black. he was black cause he was, still one of my favorite heroes.
@@darrellchaseleggett8117 It's not that he was difficult to work with...Westley Snipes was upset , because the executive producers were more focused on Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel's characters but not on Blade.
I mean, Blade's look really was the black leather, tougher look in the early 90s. My brother had books with Blade from then and he looked like that. More than that, Spider Man TAS had Blade in it dressed similarly. Those looks reinforced the movies, not the other way around.
I love Blade to this date. I don't get bored of it. The action is cool and that damn blue light, I just love it. They played their part with everything they had, not like most of the costume "superheroes" of today. 👍
Same
Yes! The Blue Hue . Work's.. it's actually on right now . Hahaha Peace always watch these over and over.. David S Goyer is greatness.. gave us a lot
I love you too, man. Thanks.
I’ve always believed it was the Movie named Spawn (1997) that started it all, outdating Blade by one year… A classic cult movie these days. Which will be re-released after being re-recorded this year.
I was just going to write the same comment...Although Blade surpassed Spawn by pretty much every metric, & is a childhood favorite of mine, Spawn was first, & had a similar dark feel. It was hokier than Blade though, w/bombastic overacting by much of the supporting cast.🤷🏻♀️
Spawn is sort of the intermediary step between the old cartoony comic book movies and modern, they wanted to be dark and serious but with so much of the old style mixed in, it just was an awkward mess. Blade took the full step.
Spawn sucked just like steel so that's why blade is the one which is cult classic.
Yeah, but Blade is good and I can’t stand Spawn. And audience and critics agree.
Ah but you forget The Crow (1994) pretty similar in style as well. Really though, I personally would still watch Blade and enjoy it. I don't think I could sit through Spawn or The Crow.
I feel this version of a blade, that was using a katana and wearing leather jacket and trousers was well established in late 90s. I remember him looking like that around 1992 in some ghost rider comics and he had also had some 90s series. Similarly in 1994 he looked like that in Spider-Man cartoon. So his appearance in the first movie felt normal to me.
Yes, I was thinking this too! My first exposure to Blade was in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon and he was sporting the black leather look then, so the movie didn't seem to reinvent the look as much as is implied in this video
Yeah that bugged me too. I first saw Blade in the 94 Spider-Man cartoon and he had the leather jacket design.
Nightstalksers #1 in 1992, part of the Rise of the Midnight Sons crossover and the "supernatural" line of comics, had Blade in that outfit.
Spawn came before Blade and had many of the same themes. It also doubled its budget. It's not highly rated, but it was definitely a first step on the current road.
Your actually right. Bit I think what blade did was made the movie more grounded, spawn was the first of it's budget but every super hero movie before that was set differently this movie still holds up well even if you compare it to the original x men. Blade set the trend. But your right about spawn.
Blade, spawn, and the crow were my first movies i seen as kid and got me into the superhero comics/movies and movies in general.
One of the most underrated movies ever
These movies are so underrated. The 2nd one is my favorite.
Blade is the predecessor to X-Men, Spider-Man and Nolan's Batman. We owe almost everything to this movie. And it's damn good.
Mark: They called me a madman
RDCWorld been knowing this fr
Tim Burton Batman films, The Crow, Darkman, Spawn....
I loved the Blade movies as a kid. And rewatched it when I got older. Love the movies. The third one was meh. But 1 and 2 were just amazing.
Music and action, and vampires are great too.
So when MCU started to rally about Blade I wanted Weasley to play the role again. Well, the curent MCU cast is great.
And yes, the music. I liked the music 20 years ago, but when I got into industrial music and adjacent genres, I appreciate OST even more.
The two fisted onslaught of 2000's X-men and 2002's Spiderman are the initial foray that spawned the now seemingly never ending series of big budget superhero movies we keep seeing hit our screens.
Blade was such an amazing movie, and Wesley Snipe portrayed that character impeccably pretty much like Downey Jr did Iron Man, or Cox did Daredevil imo
Oh the days of being a nerd before it was cool .
Blade was the blueprint and household amongst the superhero genre, vampires & supernatural in general, and leather coat & suit wearing vigilantes. Wesley Snipes really gave the boost to the mcu that we have today
Blade was definitely underrated in not only it's quality and it's influence on our current superhero movie genre. Even the campy show was enjoyable with it's warts and all.
I kinda remember Blade in the 90s cartoon sporting Black Leather too.. came out a few years before the movie.
This never stopped being pretty cool.
The blood rave scene… Shiiiiit, it still slaps
Blades redesign happen around “Rise of the Midnight Sons” in the early 90’s. I was a big Morbius fan. Still am. So when he got his own book I was in. The Blade I knew looked and acted like the film incarnation. I read that in middle school which pre-1994
Stan Lee credited Blade with starting the modern Superhero movie craze
Whats funny is they started out R rated and somehow forgot to make R rated movies until Deadpool came along.
@@matthayes533 definitely. the genre could have developed more great R rated movies
Bro, I literally just watched Blade for the first time yesterday! Awesome movie. Also, great video!
Wesley Snipes was a wonderful actor. I would love to see him play the older version of Blade just like Logan 🙏🙏🙏🙏
My favourite line from the movie "MOTHERFUCKER YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?!"
Okay I was expecting the love for the Daywalker. Was not expecting a Mutant X shout out, thought I was one of the 12 people who invested in/remember that show
At least 1 dozen of us.
Only a couple of us out there like the so bad it's good genre🤟
I'm surprised he didn't throw Nightman in there.
Blade's also the initial foray that spawned the now seemingly never ending series of big budget superhero movies we keep seeing hit our screens.
Batman Returns and Blade were my introduction to superhero films and made me fall in love with the genre. Though i didnt think all sense of style and character development would be watered down and removed from the genre completely as it is today. But was awesome back when they still hired good writers, and let the directors do their job.
Blade also started “bullet time” before The Matrix!
Blade/Wesley Snipes was so badass!! I remember watching those movies all the time when the Syfy channel would rerun them all the time lol
I can wait until it's Disney-fied with all the quirks that come with it. The under-toned themes and CGI soaked settings, mulling down the violence to make it more marketable to kids instead of a mature audience, making the lead character have faults that's 'a feature' that's not usually related to the heroes, interesting emotional moments that's underplayed with a corny joke or a snarky remark, and best of all a supporting character who's a female lead that works as the brain, brawn and characteristics of the protagonist where he'd fail all on his own despite him working alone in his series history (but let's make her more realistic by making her perfect and adding no flaws).
A perfect winner for the cinema line-ups!
Watching the first Blade movie in the theaters as a teen was beyond amazing.
There was nothing like it before, and honestly, they haven’t made something like it since.
Always bet on Black - Wesley Snipes
It also introduced martial arts as a way to pad out dynamic fight scenes. Burtonman had a little of that, but Blade made it a staple.
My dad loved the first two movies, and he didn’t even know Blade was a Marvek character until I told him xD.
Marvek. That's a sick name
@@CuzjuddMarvel insert character lol
Thank you, Blade to me is constantly looked over. I was a huge comic book nerd as a kid and I had to hide what I liked. The fact I could refer to Blade as being a comic book movie got my friends down to see Spiderman when it released. I had friends who made fun of 20yr old me who was all about Spiderman, but being able to reference how blade was a side character in Spiderman comics made my hero legitimate.... Now I love in a world where the hobby I had to keep hidden is mainstream and considered cool. Blade was the first step We all took into the greatness of comic book adaptations.
Before Underworld, Resident Evil, and Twilight there was BLADE the most badass and kick ass vampire hunter of all vampire movies in the decades. Badass soundtract, badass quotes or movie lines, badass character, badass actors etc...
Obviously you do not know who you fucking with!!!-Blade 💯😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😁😎
It was 1994’s “The Shadow” that gave me hope. It probably wouldn’t do well with today’s critics, but it was and still is one of my favorite comic book movies of all time
Honestly Blade is the best non-MCU marvel movie.
Spiderman 1 and 2 are better but Blade is good.
Completely subjective. I’d personally say that honor belongs to Logan (2017)
Yes. You people can't stand a black superhero takes the cake. You people can't handle it!
Spider-Man 2 and Into the Spider-Verse are better imo
@@frontandcenter7941 im not white and as much as i like blade 1 and 2 i must give it to spiderman 2
That pearl scene always makes me laugh, that's what frost says 😭🔦 LOL 😂
Is Pearl male or female? I've been trying to figure it out for the last two decades.
Can I make a suggestion Nerdstalgic?
When using other films as examples can you put the title of each film in the corner, so those who are interested(such as myself) can view them.
What movie was that with Steve Buscemi that you used in this video?
Thing is you can totally still fit Blade into the MCU. None of the other characters were active in the late 90s/Early 2000s, so it's easy to believe Blade was just around doing all this without help from any of the others.
And with how Blade 3 ended, it could still easily be tied into the reboot.
This all obviously won't be the case, but it's still cool.
Let’s not forget, Blade came out around the height of the 90’s vampire movies. Sliding a comic movie right in was genius
One of the best channels on RUclips! We appreciate the quality content!
Blade was the first good superhero movie, it changed the game, the second too, and both Hellboys.
Superman 78 & Batman 89:
Are we a joke to you?
Those are good, but Blade is great. Is the point Hollywood started taking comics seriously.
@@elgenialbap You said the first good superhero movie, not the first great superhero movie. And Superman 78 is iconic. Batman 89 was the first dark Batman movie. Before that movie, people still saw Batman as the campy character from the Adam West TV show.
@@KalKratos you know what, you're right, my bad writing "good" instead of great, I'm totally with you about the Bats and Sups Movies.
I honestly did not know that Blade was a comic book movie until recently. I loved watching them when I was a kid
I genuinely appreciate how much light you're shining on black accomplishments in film and TV without being preachy about it in any way.
Especially since these are the accomplishments people rarely bring up.
I gotta give major props to that.
The first Blade was the shit growing up, Wesley did his thing. Race also wasn’t the main thing everyone cared about in movies like today. I don’t even remember thinking about what color skin the character was, it had nothing to do with the movie.
It was also a Hard R. They didn't tone it down, and try to go for a PG13, because they had The Lost Boys, The Crow, and Anne Rice novels to play off of. If you didn't know it was a Comic Book Movie, it didn't have marvel anywhere in it's promotional material. It was just a dark edgy late 90s gothic horror movie, and it also kicked off copycats like Underworld which didn't have Comic Books for them. We're not counting Spawn here, because Spawn was a well known comic book, and it failed.
Imo, it was matrix before matrix at least in terms of style
"Some MFs are always tryna ice skate uphill"
my dad showed me this film before i saw any MCU film. being a 10yr old, i was mostly pissing myself
He looks so cool, I remember how even non comic games started to add characters a lot alike Blade.
I absolutely loved this film as a kid. I really wish they'd make more films like this mow, that have horror elements in them too.
The statement at the very end, that I took to mean, "don't conflate unreal characters with unreal story", resonates with me today.
I am reminded of several years ago when my friend's wife scoffed at he and I, when she overheard us animatedly discussing our ideas on where the next season of the Walking Dead would take us. If memory serves, we were waiting for season 5, maybe 6. Even listening to our enthusiasm couldn't move her past the idea that a show about "zombies" had to be stupid.
Just this morning, I finished a re-watch of all 3.5 seasons of Spartacus. I recently shared where I was in this viewing with a new transfer where I work after learning of our shared interest in superhero/scifi/fantasy works. Apparently I am one of "those guys" and we don't really chat anymore unless he wants to bitch about how big Marvel has gotten or tell me what I should be viewing. Fuck that guy.
I guess I'm still amazed at how close-minded people can be.
What about - The Crow from 94, it is a comic book movie with a dark serious esthetic, that seems to influence blade.
It was Batman 1989. The Crow was freakin awesome though!!
It didn't influence blade that's for sure.
I half expected that you might have mentioned Spawn (1997)
"This movie's fantastic" - Abed Nadir
Cool. Cool cool cool cool.
Cool. Cool cool cool cool.
7:23 nice transition there
Absolutely agree! Studying film history is so important!
Not sure of the time frames, but I think "The Crow" predates this and serves as a better "Father" to the modern super-hero genre. And I also have to suggest that "Buffy" (despite being mostly a TV show) makes for a much better "Mother" to the modern super-hero genre
Blade terrified me as a kid but I loved it and it will forever be nostalgic to me
It feels awkward to have a conversation of why Blade is not more well respected among the inaugural epoch of superhero films without talking about race. Even the studio didn't expect the film to succeed because of its two Black leads. Moreover, the film had two dark skinned Black leads. This is one of the reasons Blade became central to conversations around the release of Black Panther, before and during, that film's run. In 1998, the studio feared audiences would dismiss Blade as a "black film." That the movie went on to such success is a conversation worth having and I don't see how you do that without discussing race. Good work here and love the channel. All the best to you.
6:35
"Merry Mutants" was supposed to be X-Men original comic title.
Nice reference.
What an absolutely iconic movie. It holds up even now
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) -- turning fight scenes into supernatural dance scenes. Marvel's characters are supernatural and the fight scenes are rigorously choreographed dance scenes.
And the Hong Kong action movies of the 90s were significant for tone, set and costume design.
Thank u for talking about this. This is one of the few movies I itch to see at least once a year.
I just hate how some ppl try to credit Iron-Man and/or X-Men as the movies that started "the current comic book movie craze", of modern times. Blade's success kicked it all off & deserves praise for doing so. I just hope Blade is done justice, when he's finally brought to the MCU. With the success of Black Panther, there's no real reason Blade can't be equally as successful (especially given his past track record of pretty much bringing comic book movies back in the mainstream, for the modern day).
My father was a comic book nerd and he loved blade. I remember being 5 yrs old going to the movie and watching this. And it's still one of my fav movies.
Reminds me of the dialogue at the end of Blade 3---something like 'there has always been BLADE, and there will always be BLADE.'
I didn't get a noti for this! Glad you did a video on this. Blade rarely gets it's credit
I need to rewatch Blade now 👍
The Crow was an R rated comic film that came out in 1994.
There is an anime show about Blade on TV from Japan's animation studios in the anime industry on G4, I think.
Although Blade precedes it by 3 years, I think the film that truly spread message that "Superhero does not have to wear the exact comic book colorful costume" is Smallville series. It's not a movie, so obviously it's never mentioned as "the kickstarter movie that..."
.
However, it's a very refreshing new concept that we can see Superman not as superman, but as normal modern teenager growing up. I believe it has a lasting effect that the current movies often show normal modern people finding whatever scraps they can find as a suit instead of skipping right to "Omg!! I'm fully color-costumed!!"
Still love that last killing line in the first blade. This movie really managed to ice skate uphill.
Blade was at one point the most Popular Black Superhero ever adapted and an icon to a Generation of Black Kids who grew up on Hip Hop,Martial Arts Films,Japanese Anime and Video Games.
I do consider Spiderman 2002 the Equivalent of Superman 1978 in terms of Cultral Influence and Success,but this is what peaked into the tip of the Gold Rush of Comic Book Films that we have now.
This version of Blade didn't exist in the comics when the movie was made but this concept didn't premiere in the Blade movies.
This version of Blade and Whistler first appeared in "Spider-Man: The Animated Series"
Your writing does not go unnoticed.
I personally enjoyed the Thomas Jane Punisher.. At the time, it was epic.
Oh, and Snowball from Blade 2?, didn't get enough play.
Talks about Blade 1. Shows clips from the entire trilogy 🤩
5:50 I had completely forgotten Ellen was in Batman.
20 yrs before Black Panther , Blade was the first Black super hero film of Marvel Studio ( it was one of Marvel's studio first project (Licensing film project) )
I haven't rewatched blade in ages, but it was truly one of my favorite movies as a kid.
Damn your editor is on point with these transitions
I think its also a good idea to recognize that Blade came out in 98, Batman and Robin came out in 97.
Blade had been updated years before the movie came out, in the comic Nightstalkers.
Dont forget the Blade from Spiderman Animated Series in the 90s, with the tech and leather
"Some motherf-ers are always trying to ice skate uphill."
Don't forget about the Nightstalkers comic from the 90s. It was the first to put Blade in the Leather and give him a big ass sword.
Blade soundtrack plus mortal kombat movie soundtrack and watching power rangers and WWE I was always hype as a kid with my lil brother
In 1994, this* was pretty cool. This* was The Crow.