Black History Month Superhero #5: Blade
Name: Blade
First Appearance: Tomb of Dracula #10 (1973)
Bio:
So far we’ve seen several of the firsts: first black superhero, first African American superhero, first black superhero from DC and the first black superhero have their own series. As we continue to go in chronological order we have another first, the first Marvel superhero to have a trilogy of films, black or not…he’s the first period.
Born Eric Brooks to a prostitute who had been bitten by a vampire while pregnant, Blade is a half vampire half human (dhampir) vampire hunter (sorry Buffy, he was first). Blade hunts down occult threats all over the globe, specifically the Nightstalkers.
His creators modeled him after a combination of many black actors and athletes but mainly Jim Brown. They armed him with the bandolier of blades and a double edged sword (not a Bible). They also wanted him to look heroic, rebellious and dark by dressing him in an iconic leather jacket….like Fonzie. His stories were typically darker and dipped into the horror genre as he fought vampires, demons and monsters. Oh and Dracula, he reaaaaaaally hates Dracula. They fight a LOT.
Blade notoriously doesn’t play well with others but he has teamed up with a ton of vampire hunters (The Nightstalkers), Spider-man, X-men, Ghost Rider, Michael Morbius and Doctor Strange to name a few. He also cooperated with S.H.I.E.L.D. during the superhero registration act in the Civil War storyline (the Sokovia Accords is what they were called in the Captain America movie).
Fun fact:
He lost his hand after biting it off to save himself, and because he cooperated with S.H.I.E.L.D. they made a special prosthetic arm made out of a gun. A vampire hunter with a gun for a hand…and a leather jacket.
Now, many credit the first X-Men film from 2000 with launching our culture into the modern day superhero cinema climate we see today, but it was actually Blade who got the ball rolling. People forget Wesley Snipe’s Blade was released in the wonderfully magical year of 1998 and according to Box Office Mojo was #29 in the top 100 highest grossing films of the year making $131 million worldwide (which was really good at the time). Take into consideration some of the other top films that were released in 1998: Saving Private Ryan, Mulan, Rush Hour, A Bug’s Life, Godzilla, Prince of Egypt, The Waterboy, The Mask of Zorro, The Truman Show, The Rugrats Movie, Ever After, Hope Floats and The Parent Trap before Lindsay went crazy to name a few (see??? Wonderfully magical). Right in the middle of all that was Blade, an R-rated superhero movie about a black vampire hunter.
Blade was also the first Marvel superhero to have a trilogy of films. That’s right, he had a trilogy before Captain America, Iron-Man, X-men and Spider-man. I’m pretty sure the only other superhero to have a trilogy before him would be the Batman himself, but no one really considers Batman Forever or Batman and Robin to be a direct sequels of Batman and Batman Returns. Probably because Michael Keaton and Tim Burton both left the franchise due to thinking the direction Batman was going in sucked (they were right).
Quick point:
Back in the 90s Marvel went bankrupt and sold the film rights of their popular characters to other studios (Spider-man to Sony, X-Men, Deadpool and Fantastic Four to Fox…..this is why you’ll never see them all team up and this is why it was such a big deal Spider-man showed up in Captain America: Civil War which is under Disney). Blade’s films were through New Line Cinema but Marvel/Disney have the rights back so…maybe we’ll see him in Netflix?
Before his movies however Blade showed up in Spider-man animated series back in the 90s. Does anyone remember that? He was always pissed off and growling. Look up clips on Youtube. He also received his own series creatively called, Blade: The Series, back in 2006 on Spike TV. More recently he showed up in Ultimate Spider-man on Disney XD voiced by Terry Crews.
Powers:
He’s a master of multiple martial arts, swordplay and an excellent marksman. He’s immune to most vampire weaknesses like sunlight and there’s also an enzyme in his bloodstream which makes him immune to vampire bites and hypnosis. He ages very slowly and has superhuman strength, agility, stamina, heightened senses and heals quickly. You don’t want to be on his bad side.
