Have we completely forgotten or simply overlooked Spawn/Blade franchise?

[hitmanyr2k]

The first BLADE movie's affect on superhero films is that it showed that the material could be treated/taken seriously and be a success at the box office.

Blade was a breath of fresh air after the debacle that was Batman and Robin.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Blade was a breath of fresh air after the debacle that was Batman and Robin.

That is true.

 

[The Batman]

Both Superman '78 and Batman '89 already proved that CBM's can be taken seriously and be a Box Office success. Blade was definitely a breath of fresh air after B & R, however.

 

[KevTravels]

Both Superman '78 and Batman '89 already proved that CBM's can be taken seriously and be a Box Office success. Blade was definitely a breath of fresh air after B & R, however.

Great point.

Were many people aware that Blade was actually a comic book hero? Or were they simply thinking he was a vampire hunter?

 

[Spiderine]

General Audiences had little clue that Blade was a Marvel character. It was an action vampire flick with Wesley Snipes who was pretty damn cool at the time. Back when the Marvel name was in very small letters at the beginning of the movie. Blink and you hardly noticed.

 

[Blade X]

I might just be ignorant, but I think Black Panther's majority cast is a big deal

The majority Black cast is definitely a big deal and a milestone. The only other big budget Hollywood film franchise with a mostly Black (and other minorities) cast is the FAST & THE FURIOUS film franchise.

 

[Blade X]

I completely agree with this. Regardless of source material, the Blade trilogy has almost no common ground with any other superhero movie. But it does fit perfectly alongside titles like Underworld, van Helsing, 30 Days of Night, Daybreakers, etc. It's really not relevant to this genre.

Blade has super powers and fight bad guys (vampires) and saves innocent people. THat sounds like a superhero to me.

 

[Blade X]

Honestly I really want to see Blade in the MCU. I don't care if it's a film or a Netflix series, or whatever, just something.

IMO, they should introduce him in the next DOCTOR STRANGE movie.

 

[dataSlave]

The (gag) Toby Maguire Spiderman trilogy was a huge commercial success in the currently popular sequel format. Economically ground breaking even if it was way to saccharine for my taste.

 

[Blade X]

Both Superman '78 and Batman '89 already proved that CBM's can be taken seriously and be a Box Office success. Blade was definitely a breath of fresh air after B & R, however.

While the first SUPERMAN movie was taken seriously by the filmmakers, the 1989 BATMAN movie wasn't taken all that seriously. There were a number of campy/stupid elements in that crappy movie.

 

[Blade X]

General Audiences had little clue that Blade was a Marvel character. It was an action vampire flick with Wesley Snipes who was pretty damn cool at the time. Back when the Marvel name was in very small letters at the beginning of the movie. Blink and you hardly noticed.

Still doesn't change the fact that BLADE was a Marvel superhero movie.

 

[halo10]

This is A list.

BP is the first black hero to be A list like Batman, Spider-man, Iron Man and Superman.

And it's about damn time.

what's more interesting is BP wasn't a huge comic blockbuster in the likes of
Spiderman, Iron Man, Batman and Superman.

Wasn't even on the scale of Capt. America,Thor, Hulk or even Dr Strange range among popularity Marvel Comics.
i think there were even comics like Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu that was registering sales and length more than Black Panther did as solo.

But i still believe what really helped emerge Black Panther was the wow factor effect among critics and viewing audience out of the Civil War film. where i thought it was easily two huge elements that spurned the sensation of this current BP film,.. was the BP himself and the big civil war battle.

Don't get me wrong, a BP was already in the talks for quite soem time as it was, but once he emerged as an instant folk hero to see in Civil War, the green light was instantly clicked on, and power/ability display, colorful costume, weaponry, fantastic action sequences and chase scenes, and an appealing T'Challa character by Chadwick B. was all that brought the wow factor to make BP a major draw at the box office.

 

[KevTravels]

While the first SUPERMAN movie was taken seriously by the filmmakers, the 1989 BATMAN movie wasn't taken all that seriously. There were a number of campy/stupid elements in that crappy movie.

Wasn't that film Incredibly Dark?

 

[halo10]

While the first SUPERMAN movie was taken seriously by the filmmakers, the 1989 BATMAN movie wasn't taken all that seriously. There were a number of campy/stupid elements in that crappy movie.

Tim Burton's Batman series wasn't near the seriousness of Nolans' Dark
Knight, but it was still a major draw and praise among critics and viewing
audiences. In it's own time era, it still has to be considered a folk classic.

 

[psylockolussus]

Most people at the time didn't even know that Blade was a comic book character. Also, the trilogy wasn't even good. I always thought the first two films are overrated.

 

[halo10]

Both Blade & Spawn were made back in the 90s. They might have contributed a little bit to BP, but I don't think they really helped that much considering that 20 years have passed and except for the first Blade movie, these movies weren't very well received critically and financially. BP's success has a lot more to do with MCU's brand recognition imo.

Initially i think the first Blade film stayed more to the huge Mavel fan base
and B-movie like goers, but it generated legs and interest even with
the non-comic general audience. Also what could have helped it further
was the vampire factor which long has been huge among general public.

And so true that Blade wasn't in the general critics as sensational
must see and i'm willing to bet that they saw it as guilty pleasure than
a cult classic mainstay. $37 million box office opening was more than
enough to spin more Blade sequel and eventual trilogy.

Spawn featured a black human character but as a burnt-disfigure
and full costumed creature feature, i'm not sure it's recognized by many
as a black superhero film. And again as u pointed out, it's just not critically
acclaimed and nothing investing in at he box office to even think about
more Spawn films. It was clearly one and done.

 

[halo10]

Most people at the time didn't even know that Blade was a comic book character. Also, the trilogy wasn't even good. I always thought the first two films are overrated.

Interesting, as i thought the first two Blade films were quite appealing
-especially Blade 2. while the 3rd Blade film (Trinity) and its' awful Dracula character was just so awfully done.

 

[Blade X]

Wasn't that film Incredibly Dark?

Visually, it was dark and a couple of scenes with the Joker were a LITTLE dark. Now granted, the film was darker than the 60's BATMAN TV series and film, but for the most part the movie wasn't all that dark.

 

[Blade X]

Tim Burton's Batman series wasn't near the seriousness of Nolans' Dark
Knight, but it was still a major draw and praise among critics and viewing
audiences. In it's own time era, it still has to be considered a folk classic.

I thought that the movie sucked when I first saw it back in 89, and I still think it sucks today. The only good thing about that stupid movie was the Joker (who was focused more on then Batman was in that film).

 

[Blade X]

Interesting, as i thought the first two Blade films were quite appealing
-especially Blade 2. while the 3rd Blade film (Trinity) and its' awful Dracula character was just so awfully done.

I agree. The first two BLADE films were great. The third film sucked.

 

[Ipodman]

Heck, get Wesley Snipes back as Blade

 

[80s Bullock]

Blade is mostly just an action-horror movie to me, nothing particularly "comic book movie in the superhero way". There is a good question to this, we don't call movies that are based on books "book movies", so movies like "Road To Perdition" aren't "comic book movies" to me. It's interesting to define.

Other movies: Spawn (like the character) sucked. Steel - just ROFL. There is also Hancock (I know..., but more comic book movie to me than Blade).

 

[kaypain]

Blade and Spawn came out in a social media less era.

The social media elevates the hype for Black Panther this era. It's that darn simple.

We haven't forgotten anything. Blade was what it was, the hype for that movie was street hype and good ol promotion in the movie theaters. I remember the first time I saw the poster for Blade. I knew my Grandma wouldn't take me to see an Rated R movie but my drunk ass dad will. I mean he took me to see The Players Club in theaters as a kid... The Players Club lol

And when comparing the source material of Blade and Spawn to Black Panther they differentiate tremendously

 

[KevTravels]

Blade and Spawn came out in a social media less era.

The social media elevates the hype for Black Panther this era. It's that darn simple.

We haven't forgotten anything. Blade was what it was, the hype for that movie was street hype and good ol promotion in the movie theaters. I remember the first time I saw the poster for Blade. I knew my Grandma wouldn't take me to see an Rated R movie but my drunk ass dad will. I mean he took me to see The Players Club in theaters as a kid... The Players Club lol

And when comparing the source material of Blade and Spawn to Black Panther they differentiate tremendously

Man, I had to see The Players Club on TNT years after

 

[Bayne]

Blade has super powers and fight bad guys (vampires) and saves innocent people. THat sounds like a superhero to me.

Except that description would qualify most sci-fi action heroes (technology is a superpower) and a lot of horror action heroes, and probably a ton of regular action heroes, too (John McClane may not know he has superpowers, but the audience sure knows no real person can actually survive all that BS).

Distilling the idea to this simplistic of a level completely removes any usefulness or practicality from talking about superheroes as a separate genre.

For me, a superhero should be heroic (ie, not just driven by revenge, like Blade is for the most part), their capabilities should be somewhat unique (not necessarily one of a kind, but even a Kryptonian cannot be considered 'super' if they're completely surrounded by other kryptonians - and most of blade's abilities are just like the vampires around him), and they should have a visually recognizable style that sets them apart (Blade's trenchcoat looks cool, but is a massive 90s cliche seen in tons of similar action movies). And like I said, in Blade's case, his movies already fit perfectly into a different, pre-existing genre (the vampire action genre), so it makes far more sense to view him in that light.