User blog:ARTaylor/20 Years of Blade

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of Blade. The film follows the adventures of the Daywalker Eric Brooks as he uncovers a plot by the rogue vampire Deacon Frost to take over the vampire tribes and unleash an ancient vampire god.

The movie was the first in the modern era of superhero films. This came one year after the infamous Batman & Robin film that caused the end of campy superhero movies. Seen as quite dark for its time, the movie was the first to deal with a superhero in a realistic, modern way which has become the standard for all films in the genre.

The film received mixed results from critics but was a box office success. It was also the first financially successful film for Marvel after a several minor failures. The success of the film led to the developments of other Marvel properties including X-Men and Spider-Man, thus ushering in the modern superhero film era. It was followed by two sequels and a live-action television series.

The film was written by David S. Goyer. Goyer created the character of Abraham Whistler for the film. However, when the production was delayed the Whistler was used on Spider-Man in his debut. Avi Arad and Stan Lee served as executive producers. Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan were given credit for creating the character of Blade. The two were also involved in a lawsuit against Marvel for monetary compensation but were unsuccessful.