When Blade premiered in 1998, superhero cinema was on life support. Batman & Robin had turned the genre into a caricature the year before, Marvel Comics was broke and desperate, and a shared cinematic universe seemed unthinkable. Superheroes were fading into irrelevance.Then Wesley Snipes stepped across a blood-soaked floor wearing black leather, carrying a katana on his back, and was ready to change everything. From the opening rave to the final rooftop showdown, Blade exposed a dying genre to its future. Blade became both a cult hit and Marvel’s lifeline. It was the first superhero movie that looked, sounded, and fought like the future.

The film was based on the Marvel Comics character created in the 1970s and follows Blade, a half-human, half-vampire warrior who dedicates his l

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