10 Reasons Why The Blade Movies Still Matter
8. It Gave Us The First Black Superhero Lead
While the imminent arrival of Black Panther in cinemas worldwide is without a doubt a significant step forward for broader racial representation in Hollywood blockbusters, we shouldn't forget that when the first real Marvel movie landed almost 20 years ago, it had a black lead.
Wesley Snipes was at the height of his star powers when he first played Blade. While his best remembered work tends to be his action material - Passenger 57, Demolition Man - Snipes had established himself as a very versatile actor with such wide-ranging roles as New Jack City, White Men Can't Jump and Jungle Fever.
His charisma is a huge part of what makes the Blade movies so entertaining and rewatchable to this day, and his performance clearly gave a few pointers to the many actors who took on Marvel comic book roles in his wake.
That said, there's no denying that Blade doesn't represent so significant a step forward for diversity as Black Panther, given that it was the work of a white director and writer, with a largely white cast beyond Snipes, N'Bushe Wright as Blade's ally Dr Karen Jensen, and Sanaa Lathan as Blade's mother Vanessa.