Fans of Blade are defending the film on social media following comments that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would not exist today without Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the X-Men films.Blade fans have taken to Twitter to explain that the modern superhero genre would not be possible were it not for the groundbreaking success of Marvel's 1998 action-horror blockbuster. Many pointed out that Blade was the first successful Marvel movie, placing the company on Hollywood's radar after years of low-budget, unprofitable superhero films. Through the pitch-perfect casting of Wesley Snipes as the titular Daywalker, Blade established many of the tropes and genre conventions that are seen in nearly every film in the MCU.
It's true that both Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Bryan Singer's X-Men had a massive impact on cinema's fascination with superheroes, but Blade was a turning point for Marvel Studios. As Marvel Comics declared bankruptcy in 1996, there was a great deal of pressure placed on Blade to perform and potentially generate an entirely new revenue stream. Despite the character's obscurity to 90s audiences, the film was a success, earning more than double it's production budget of $45 million.
While Wesley Snipes hung up his leather trench coat, fans of the vampire-killing hero can expect more from Blade in the near future. A Marvel Cinematic Universe film based on the character is currently in development and will be released as a part of Phase Four. The film stars Mahershala Ali as Eric Brooks AKA Blade and is directed by Bassam Tariq.
When speaking on the upcoming film, Tariq said, "What's exciting about the film that we're making is [there] hasn't been a canon for Blade, as we're reading through the comics and everything. Him being a daywalker is the one thing that's been established, and you know we can't deny what Wesley Snipes did, which was he basically got this whole ball rolling," continued Tariq.
At the time of writing, the MCU iteration of Blade does not yet have a release date.
Source: Twitter